Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says National’s announcement of attacks on workers rights will be fought hard.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the restrictions on union access to workplaces was a serious attack on the right of New Zealand workers to organize.

“National have now dropped any pretense of moderation in their policies – the phoney war is over and National’s agenda of tax cuts for the rich, privatization and now tearing up the basic rights of working people is out there for all to see.”

He says that National is embarking on a repeat of extremist 1990s policies but doing it in a more cunning way.

“The fact they have a smiley face fronting it this time around does not change the sinister intention.”

He says the attack on workers and their organizations is not surprising as the Government had failed to deal with unemployment, which was now rising again, and were looking to go on the offensive.

Mr Fleetwood says any attacks on workers would be met with fierce resistance.

He says unionized workers are one of the few obstacles to National creating a New Zealand where a majority of people would face an increasingly grim situation of high unemployment, poor wages, casualization and unaffordable housing and food.

“Unionized workers have better wages, better conditions, and safer workplaces – all reasons why National wants to bag unions and drag us back to the nineteenth century when workers had no rights.”

Mr Fleetwood says there is one way that New Zealand workers will “catch up with Australia.”

“That is to unionize and negotiate better pay.”

“The problem is that workers are getting less and less of a share of the wealth they produce which is being sucked up as corporate profits that accumulate to the already wealthy.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union would campaign hard against any Government that threatened the hard won rights of the working class to organize.

He says all working New Zealanders must realize that the divide and rule approach of National was hurting their interests.

ENDS

For more information, contact Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood on 021364649

The Maritime Union says police have better things to do than expending major resources on running surveillance operations on union pickets and political groups.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the Union is concerned at the level of police presence at public events revealed in a list of 84 police “operations” in 2008/2009. Peace Action Wellington obtained the records through an Official Information Act request.

Police in Wellington and Auckland ran several operations during industrial disputes, including on Maritime Union members engaged in a legal strike in late 2008 at Ports of Auckland.

Mr Fleetwood says the Union was unhappy about its members having to pay taxes to fund their own surveillance by police for legal and above board industrial activity.

“We question why these resources can’t be directed to investigating dangerous work places and illegal work practices on the job around New Zealand where workers are killed and injured on a regular basis.”

He says he did not see why there was a need for a major police presence or substantial observation at many of the events, especially when it was claimed police resources were over stretched.

“They might want to pop down to have a look as part of their daily rounds, no problem, but this appears to be at a different level.”

Mr Fleetwood says despite claims that police were there to look after the rights of demonstrators, the reality was that law enforcement appeared a lot more active when it came to workers and less so when it came to employers.

“The right to lawful pickets and demonstrations is a hard won right, a democratic right, and certainly in our Union we have a long memory about how police powers have been used to undermine workers rights.”

There had been a number of incidents in recent years such as the use of paid police informants used to spy on legitimate groups and the “terror raids” of 15 October 2007 which showed that there was a tendency for police powers to expand, and a culture of state control and surveillance to grow, unless challenged.

The Maritime Union was also concerned at the implications of the Search and Surveillance Bill that is currently before parliament, and which has generated widespread concern amongst many as undermining long standing rights of citizens.

“As it has been said before, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”

ENDS

For more information, contact Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood on 021364649

The Maritime Union has upped its industrial and financial support of Telecom lines engineers in their employment dispute.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says a national meeting of Union representatives from ports and ships this morning voted an initial $10,000 to support Telecom lines engineers in their struggle for secure jobs.

Maritime Union members from New Zealand ships and the waterfront joined rallies in Auckland and Wellington this morning alongside the lines engineers and other supporters.

The lines engineers are members of the EPMU.

Hundreds of jobs of Telecom lines engineers are threatened by attempts by Telecom contractor Visionstream to force workers to become “dependent contractors”.

Mr Hanson says this dispute affects all New Zealand workers and maritime workers were very aware of the serious nature of this attack by employers.

He says the Maritime Union is 100% behind the lines engineers.

“If Telecom and Visionstream are allowed to get away with this, it will be open season on all workers. Their actions must be exposed and stopped. Workers need secure jobs.”

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union is contacting international maritime unions and working with affiliates of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and the International Transport Workers’ Federation to build support.

He says Telecom imports through ports will come under close scrutiny if they are related to the current dispute and broadband rollout.

The Maritime Union and the EPMU are part of the “Oil and Gas Alliance” which unites workers in the off shore oil and gas industry.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is made up of 681 unions representing 4,500,000 transport workers in 148 countries.

The Maritime Union has added its weight to the struggle of Telecom lines engineers fighting to protect their jobs.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says maritime workers will be supporting the Telecom lines engineers, who are members of the EPMU, in their battle against contracting out.

He says a special national executive meeting of the Maritime Union has been called for Monday, which will be followed by communications with the International Transport Workers Federation based in London and its New Zealand union affiliates, as well as Australian maritime unions.

“Telecom and Visionstream imports through New Zealand and international ports will now come under close scrutiny especially if they are related to the current dispute and the broadband rollout.”

He says all workers should realize the threat to their livelihoods through contracting out and Telecom was forcing workers into financial risk at a time of great insecurity.

“This is a major dispute and all workers should be supporting the Telecom lines engineers because it is them today and us tomorrow.”

“This type of contracting out forces employees into becoming dependent contractors in order to reduce their wages and conditions.”

He says maritime workers will be supporting rallies by Telecom lines engineers on Monday in Wellington and Auckland.

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union and the EPMU are part of the “Oil and Gas Alliance” which unites workers in the offshore oil and gas industry and were working closely together.

New Zealand affiliates of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) include the Maritime Union of New Zealand, the EPMU, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, the Merchant Service Guild, the National Distribution Union and the Aviation and Marine Engineers Association.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is made up of 681 unions representing 4,500,000 transport workers in 148 countries. It is one of several Global Union Federations allied with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The Maritime Union says that membership in a union is the best strategy for workers to get protections at a time of international economic turmoil.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says that while both major political parties have been outlining pre-election “job transition policies” to assist redundant workers, the best guarantee for workers to do even better was to join a union today.

Mr Hanson says while minimum redundancy provisions, retraining and Working for Families were all part of the mix, workers needed to unionize to protect wages and conditions, especially as unemployment and job security would be major issues for 2009.

“The last National Government in the 1990s oversaw a collapse in union membership due to the anti-worker Employment Contracts Act, with a subsequent collapse of wages and conditions for workers, and we are still trying to regain lost ground a decade later.”

He says if a new National Government was elected, its promises to both cut taxes and keep services would be impossible in a recession, and they would “revert to form” by finding ways to cut down the share of national income that went to workers.

“Regardless of who is elected, workers should seek to negotiate better than the minimum.”

Mr Hanson says redundancy agreements are the norm in Union negotiated agreements, but many non-unionized workers were in an vulnerable position as the labour market tightens and unemployment rises due to global conditions.

“The best guarantee that workers can have to ensure they have good wages and conditions, and provisions for redundancy, is to be a member of a union that negotiates well on their behalf.”

Mr Hanson says strong regulations to protect workers from the worst of the fallout from the global economic meltdown were important, but a strong independent Union movement was the key to advancing workers interests.

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) have announced an ‘agreement in principle’ to form a major new transport union.

A joint negotiating team has outlined a process for the formation of the new amalgamated Union that will cover both maritime workers in ports and on vessels, Rail and other Transport Industry workers.

Further negotiations will now take place on the final structure of the new Union, with the final proposal to be voted on by all members of the RMTU and MUNZ.

RMTU National Secretary Wayne Butson says both parties agree that much work has yet to be done on finalizing the rules and structures of the new Union and to resolving any outstanding issues.

MUNZ General Secretary Trevor Hanson says both parties have agreed to establish a process to further the establishment of the new Union and have committed to a timetable agreed by both parties.

The new Union would bring together all workers in New Zealand ports in one Union, and would have a major influence on the logistics chain by uniting workers in different areas of the land transport sector.