Maritime Union opposes outsourcing at Ports of Auckland

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand says out­sourc­ing at Ports of Auck­land can­not replace a skilled in-house work­force.
Mar­itime Union Auck­land Branch Local 13 Pres­i­dent Gar­ry Parsloe says any moves to con­tract out work by port man­age­ment would meet strong resis­tance.
Ports of Auck­land Man­ag­ing Direc­tor Jens Mad­sen has claimed in media inter­views that out­sourc­ing parts of Ports of Auckland’s work­force was being dri­ven by the need to han­dle peak demand.
But Mr Parsloe says the work­force cur­rent­ly employed by the Port Com­pa­ny are one of the most flex­i­ble work­forces in New Zealand.
“Mar­itime Union mem­bers at Ports of Auck­land work 24/7 in all weath­er. They under­take high­ly skilled duties oper­at­ing heavy equip­ment in a chal­leng­ing envi­ron­ment.”
He says the focus of man­age­ment should be on main­tain­ing its cur­rent work­force at a lev­el where it can ser­vice its cus­tomers.
Mr Parsloe says Mr Mad­sen’s claims that out­sourc­ing was com­mon prac­tice over­seas neglect­ed to take into account that it was also a com­mon source of major indus­tri­al con­flict between man­age­ment and work­ers.
Mar­itime work­ers around the world were fight­ing out­sourc­ing and job inse­cu­ri­ty tooth and nail.
“We have no doubt out­sourc­ing will be used to reduce the terms and con­di­tions that our mem­bers receive under the terms and con­di­tions of the Col­lec­tive Employ­ment Agree­ment recent­ly nego­ti­at­ed in good faith with the Com­pa­ny.”
He says work­ers feel that they have been deceived by the Port Com­pa­ny man­age­ment fol­low­ing major redun­dan­cies in 2009.
Mr Parsloe says man­agers were warned at the time that they would be left under­staffed.
He says the cur­rent agree­ment con­tains the flex­i­bil­i­ty to meet the ‘peaks and troughs’ of ship­ping.
“The out­sourc­ing con­cept from the Ports of Auck­land man­age­ment is about try­ing to cov­er a lack of skilled, per­ma­nent staff. If it is such a good idea, why not out­source the man­agers?”
Mr Parsloe says dur­ing the glob­al eco­nom­ic down­turn, the hard work of mar­itime work­ers saw an increased prof­it of $4.6 mil­lion for the Ports of Auck­land.
The prof­it from the Port Com­pa­ny is returned to the peo­ple of Auck­land through the Auck­land Region­al Coun­cil and has con­tributed over $200 mil­lion in the past five years.