Major changes coming to New Zealand waterfront employment

The New Zealand water­front indus­try is on the brink of a new era, thanks to years of orga­niz­ing work and the ded­i­ca­tion of one water­front work­er in par­tic­u­lar.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Nation­al Sec­re­tary Craig Har­ri­son says the Union has nego­ti­at­ed a new col­lec­tive employ­ment agree­ment with ISO, a major New Zealand steve­dor­ing com­pa­ny owned by Aus­tralian cor­po­rate Qube.

Mr Har­ri­son says some of the key com­po­nents of the agree­ment were around improved ros­ter­ing, avail­abil­i­ty, and sol­id increas­es in wage rates.

He says the agree­ment is “ground break­ing”, and sets a new stan­dard in the steve­dor­ing indus­try.

“Put sim­ply, these inno­v­a­tive improve­ments will mean water­front work­ers have the oppor­tu­ni­ty for work life bal­ance, dig­ni­ty, and the abil­i­ty to plan their per­son­al and fam­i­ly life.”

Mr Har­ri­son says the ‘avail­abil­i­ty’ clause is a major step for­ward, which com­pen­sates work­ers for time they are expect­ed to be avail­able for work.

This is a major issue on the water­front, where ship­ping delays can play hav­oc with work sched­ules and the lives of work­ers.

The new­ly nego­ti­at­ed agree­ment comes after years of legal bat­tles.

Mr Har­ri­son cred­its two MUNZ mem­bers in Tau­ran­ga, George Lye and Mana Tamatea, for stick­ing with the Union dur­ing some tough years.

ISO employ­ee and MUNZ mem­ber George Lye went to the Employ­ment Court with the back­ing of the Union over his pre­vi­ous ISO employ­ment agree­ment breach­ing the zero-hours law (sec­tion 67D of the Employ­ment Rela­tions Act). The Court found in his favour.

In June 2022, the Employ­ment Rela­tions Author­i­ty upheld a per­son­al griev­ance case brought by Mr Lye against ISO.

ISO was ordered to pay $22,500 in com­pen­sa­tion for fail­ing to com­pen­sate him for requir­ing him to be per­ma­nent­ly avail­able for work, and $15,000 for humil­i­a­tion and loss of dig­ni­ty suf­fered as a result of his inabil­i­ty to plan any aspect of his life with cer­tain­ty.

Mr Lye was pre­sent­ed with a spe­cial Sol­i­dar­i­ty Award at a Mar­itime Union din­ner in Auck­land last week for his role.

Mr Har­ri­son says the new ISO Col­lec­tive Agree­ment will deal with major issues in the port indus­try all around New Zealand, but espe­cial­ly in Tau­ran­ga.

“The Port of Tau­ran­ga has built an out­sourced labour busi­ness mod­el on the exploita­tive treat­ment of work­ers, and this sit­u­a­tion is now going to start to change.”

Mr Har­ri­son says there has been a mas­sive prob­lem get­ting work­ers into the indus­try, as unso­cial con­di­tions, lack of a career path, and a high risk envi­ron­ment have made it unat­trac­tive.

He says MUNZ will use the new col­lec­tive agree­ment as the basis for an Fair Pay Agree­ment in the ports sec­tor.

The Union has recent­ly appoint­ed a nation­al orga­niz­er who will be vis­it­ing all ports in New Zealand in the com­ing months.