Ports of Auckland workers ratify agreement

Mar­itime Union mem­bers at the Ports of Auck­land have rat­i­fied their col­lec­tive employ­ment agree­ment with Ports of Auck­land.

The new agree­ment was rat­i­fied by a meet­ing of mem­bers at the Ports on Thurs­day 25 June 2009.

The agree­ment will be signed next week. Details of the agree­ment are being kept con­fi­den­tial.

Fast food jobs shows National Government’s contempt for young workers

The Mar­itime Union says the Nation­al Gov­ern­men­t’s plan to act as a com­pul­so­ry recruit­ment agency for McDon­alds fast food chain is a trav­es­ty.

Social Devel­op­ment Min­is­ter Paula Ben­nett has described an agree­ment between WINZ and McDon­alds that will pro­vide up to 7000 unem­ployed work­ers for the fast-food chain’s growth plans over the next five years.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the scheme has two ben­e­fi­cia­ries – a Gov­ern­ment with a fail­ing jobs pol­i­cy, and a glob­al cor­po­ra­tion that will suck prof­its out of New Zealand.