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.