Day: 3 September 2009

Where does Minister of Transport Steven Joyce stand in regional ports furore?

The Mar­itime Union is ask­ing where the Gov­ern­ment and the Min­is­ter of Trans­port stands on the future of region­al ports after Fonter­ra announced it was with­draw­ing from some region­al ports in favour of trans­port­ing goods by long dis­tance rail last month.

Jobs are under threat, casu­al­iza­tion is hit­ting work­ers hard, and the via­bil­i­ty of region­al ports is under a cloud after the deci­sion, which has cre­at­ed intense debate in the regions and the trans­port indus­try.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the union’s nation­al exec­u­tive met with a Fonter­ra rep­re­sen­ta­tive ear­li­er this week.