Do Minister Stanford’s comments on Kiwi jobs apply to seafarers on the MV Buffalo?

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) says Immig­ra­tion Min­is­ter Erica Stanford’s tough talk on employ­ers pri­or­it­iz­ing migrants over Kiwi work­ers must be backed up by her Gov­ern­ment in the case of loss of 32 sea­farer jobs on the MV Buf­falo.

Min­is­ter Stan­ford stated this week that employ­ers will be stripped of accred­it­a­tion for not genu­inely try­ing to hire New Zeal­anders.

Ms. Stan­ford noted that “we have New Zeal­anders who are des­per­ate for jobs and need to be giv­en the first oppor­tun­ity for those,” and that this applies to sec­tors includ­ing trans­port­a­tion and logist­ics.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Carl Find­lay says des­pite this, the Gov­ern­ment is dither­ing while New Zea­l­and sea­farer jobs are on the chop­ping block.

He says the Mari­time Uni­on is cur­rently in a struggle to retain exper­i­enced, qual­i­fied New Zea­l­and sea­farers on the cement ves­sel MV Buf­falo.

“This is the exact scen­ario Min­is­ter Stan­ford is talk­ing about – skilled New Zea­l­and work­ers fight­ing to keep their jobs in the trans­port sec­tor.”

The ves­sel’s char­ter­er, glob­al cement cor­por­ate Holcim, is seek­ing an exemp­tion from the Gov­ern­ment under the Mari­time Trans­port Act to replace the New Zea­l­and crewed MV Buf­falo with a for­eign-flagged ves­sel using a non-NZ crew, who will receive lower wages and inferi­or con­di­tions.

“This is a blatant attempt to replace skilled Kiwi work­ers with a cheap­er, for­eign crew. It is the very defin­i­tion of what Min­is­ter Stan­ford is sup­posedly crack­ing down on,” says Mr Find­lay.

The Mari­time Uni­on is call­ing on Asso­ci­ate Trans­port Min­is­ter James Mea­ger to reject Holcim’s applic­a­tion for exemp­tion.

“Min­is­ter Mea­ger needs to listen to his col­league, apply her logic to his own port­fo­lio, and put New Zea­l­and work­ers first. He must inter­vene and can­cel any exemp­tion that would allow Holcim to dump its New Zea­l­and crew and under­mine our domest­ic ship­ping industry.”

“The gov­ern­ment can­’t talk tough on Kiwi jobs out of one side of its mouth while sign­ing off on Kiwi jobs being axed. Min­is­ter Mea­ger must act now to save these sea­farer jobs on the MV Buf­falo and pro­tect New Zealand’s ship­ping cap­ab­il­ity.”