Day: 21 December 2005

Maritime Union calls for fishing industry wage hike

The Mar­itime Union has wel­comed the announce­ment by Min­is­ter of Immi­gra­tion David Cun­liffe that the cur­rent sys­tem reg­u­lat­ing over­seas crews in the fish­ing indus­try will be over­hauled.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says offi­cial recog­ni­tion that crews are being under­paid and exploit­ed is an impor­tant first step.

Mr Han­son says he agrees with the Gov­ern­ment the seafood indus­try is impor­tant for New Zealand, but this does not trans­late into allow­ing employ­ers to do what­ev­er they want.