International maritime unions gather in Wellington

Mari­time uni­ons from around the Pacific are rep­res­en­ted in Wel­ling­ton this week for the second three-yearly con­fer­ence of the Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and.
The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and has wel­comed del­eg­a­tions from the All Japan Dock­ers Uni­on, the Inter­na­tion­al Long­shore and Ware­house Uni­on (ILWU) from the west coast of North Amer­ica, and the Mari­time Uni­on of Aus­tralia, who have made present­a­tions at the con­fer­ence on indus­tri­al and polit­ic­al issues.
Mari­time Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Tre­vor Han­son says sev­er­al key themes have emerged from the Con­fer­ence.
“We have com­mit­ted to the fight for secure per­man­ent jobs in a safe envir­on­ment, for cab­ot­age and a ration­al policy in the ship­ping and ports industry, and for fair trade not free trade.”
Mr Han­son says one ser­i­ous con­cern emer­ging from the Con­fer­ence was the exploit­a­tion of labour through the move­ment of short-term, cas­u­al­ized labour between and with­in coun­tries under so-called “free trade” deals.
He says that the need for cab­ot­age and the right to strike in sup­port of oth­er work­ers or polit­ic­al issues were oth­er issues of interest for del­eg­ates.
The Con­fer­ence was opened on Tues­day by Min­is­ter of Labour Ruth Dys­on and addressed on Tues­day by CTU Sec­ret­ary Car­ol Beau­mont and Green MP Sue Brad­ford.
Del­eg­ates put ques­tions to the speak­ers about issues such as cab­ot­age and the con­cern of the Mari­time Uni­on about cur­rent free trade nego­ti­ations and the impact on jobs and con­di­tions.
NZ First deputy lead­er Peter Brown will speak at the Con­fer­ence today.