Join your union

Maritime Union calling for international support for Telecom engineers

The Maritime Union has added its weight to the struggle of Telecom lines engineers fighting to protect their jobs. Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says maritime workers will be supporting the Telecom lines engineers, who are members of the EPMU, in their battle against contracting out. He says a special national executive meeting of the Maritime Union has been called for Monday, which will be followed by communications with the International Transport Workers Federation based in London and its New Zealand union affiliates, as well as Australian maritime unions.

The Mar­itime Union has added its weight to the strug­gle of Tele­com lines engi­neers fight­ing to pro­tect their jobs.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says mar­itime work­ers will be sup­port­ing the Tele­com lines engi­neers, who are mem­bers of the EPMU, in their bat­tle against con­tract­ing out.

He says a spe­cial nation­al exec­u­tive meet­ing of the Mar­itime Union has been called for Mon­day, which will be fol­lowed by com­mu­ni­ca­tions with the Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion based in Lon­don and its New Zealand union affil­i­ates, as well as Aus­tralian mar­itime unions.

“Tele­com and Vision­stream imports through New Zealand and inter­na­tion­al ports will now come under close scruti­ny espe­cial­ly if they are relat­ed to the cur­rent dis­pute and the broad­band roll­out.”

He says all work­ers should real­ize the threat to their liveli­hoods through con­tract­ing out and Tele­com was forc­ing work­ers into finan­cial risk at a time of great inse­cu­ri­ty.

“This is a major dis­pute and all work­ers should be sup­port­ing the Tele­com lines engi­neers because it is them today and us tomor­row.”

“This type of con­tract­ing out forces employ­ees into becom­ing depen­dent con­trac­tors in order to reduce their wages and con­di­tions.”

He says mar­itime work­ers will be sup­port­ing ral­lies by Tele­com lines engi­neers on Mon­day in Welling­ton and Auck­land.

Mr Han­son says the Mar­itime Union and the EPMU are part of the “Oil and Gas Alliance” which unites work­ers in the off­shore oil and gas indus­try and were work­ing close­ly togeth­er.

New Zealand affil­i­ates of the Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion (ITF) include the Mar­itime Union of New Zealand, the EPMU, the Rail and Mar­itime Trans­port Union, the Mer­chant Ser­vice Guild, the Nation­al Dis­tri­b­u­tion Union and the Avi­a­tion and Marine Engi­neers Asso­ci­a­tion.

The Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers’ Fed­er­a­tion (ITF) is made up of 681 unions rep­re­sent­ing 4,500,000 trans­port work­ers in 148 coun­tries. It is one of sev­er­al Glob­al Union Fed­er­a­tions allied with the Inter­na­tion­al Trade Union Con­fed­er­a­tion (ITUC).

Share the Post:

Related Posts