Maritime Union corrects misleading information from Ports of Auckland CEO

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has corrected misleading information from the CEO of Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL) on the current industrial dispute.

POAL chief executive Tony Gibson was quoted in the New Zealand Herald today saying no official response for further negotiations in the current industrial dispute had been received from the Maritime Union.

He described the Union actions as “misleading”.

In response, Maritime Union National President Garry Parsloe has released a letter sent by the Maritime Union last week (27 January 2012) to Mr Gibson, that clearly shows this is not the case.

In the letter, which is available online, the Maritime Union confirmed its position on management’s offer, and specifically requests port management to return to negotiations.

The letter identifies a number of areas where the Maritime Union had offered to work with management on labour utilization issues to find a negotiated settlement.

While it was acknowledged by POAL management that these changes “significantly addressed the labour utilisation issues at the port” and were “big” in terms of cost savings, management had rejected settling the collective employment agreement.

Mr Parsloe says too much time was being taken up in the dispute by dealing with material that was intended to confuse and obscure the basic issues of the dispute – the right of workers to secure jobs and decent conditions.

“We’d prefer the energy to be spent on negotiations, rather than having to continually rebut this rubbish that is being spread in the public domain by POAL management.”