Maritime Union puts forward 2008 election goals

The Mar­itime Union has announced its pri­or­i­ties for the 2008 elec­tion.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the Union wants to see the return of a Labour-led Gov­ern­ment to con­tin­ue what he describes as incre­men­tal but pos­i­tive moves to devel­op the mar­itime and trans­port indus­tries.

Mr Han­son says the Mar­itime Union is strong­ly endors­ing the New Zealand Coun­cil of Trade Unions (CTU) elec­tion pol­i­cy doc­u­ment, espe­cial­ly regard­ing key issues such as wages, employ­ment rela­tions, health and safe­ty, ACC, and trans­port.

He says the CTU has iden­ti­fied spe­cif­ic mar­itime issues such as amend­ing sec­tion 198 of the Mar­itime Trans­port Act to ensure that domes­tic coastal ship­ping is not dis­ad­van­taged in rela­tion to for­eign ships, and oppos­ing com­mit­ments on Mode 4 in bilat­er­al and region­al free trade agree­ments relat­ing to the move­ment of cross-bor­der labour.

“We want to see the return of a Labour-led Gov­ern­ment which has the sup­port of pro-work­er minor par­ties in an MMP envi­ron­ment.”

Mr Han­son says it is a time of great chal­lenges in a trade-dri­ven indus­try.

He says it is a mixed out­look for the indus­try with poten­tial threats to jobs com­ing from an inter­na­tion­al down­turn in trade caused by the cur­rent finan­cial cri­sis, but poten­tial for expan­sion in the off­shore oil and gas indus­try.

“A move back to a Nation­al Gov­ern­ment at a time of inter­na­tion­al reces­sion would cre­ate a repeat of the 1990s in our indus­try which saw the dec­i­ma­tion of job secu­ri­ty, a lack of plan­ning and mind­less dereg­u­la­tion that has caused a lot of down­stream prob­lems.”

Spe­cif­ic goals for the Mar­itime Union:

• New Zealand ship­ping. The Mar­itime Union endors­es the Sea Change doc­u­ment but believes that rapid­ly evolv­ing cir­cum­stances require a more ambi­tious approach. Cab­o­tage for New Zealand ship­ping is not off the table. The com­mit­ment to New Zealand ship­ping in the Sea Change plan is seen as a good first step. It is back on the agen­da for Aus­tralia and the option for a trans-Tas­man cab­o­tage arrange­ment could be con­sid­ered. (NB Cab­o­tage is where domes­tic ship­ping is giv­en pri­or­i­ty on coastal ship­ping routes.)

• Casu­al­iza­tion needs to be addressed. The casu­al­iza­tion review ini­ti­at­ed by the Labour Gov­ern­ment and New Zealand First has start­ed the ball rolling. The long term solu­tion can only lie in a reg­u­lat­ed labour mar­ket. Work­ers are not com­modi­ties. The flow on effect of a casu­al­ized work­force is an unskilled, demor­al­ized work­force with low pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. The social prob­lems caused by casu­al­iza­tion are pro­found. A nation­al reg­is­ter of trained, bona fide mar­itime work­ers is one option to ensure nation­al stan­dards and qual­i­ty jobs are a pri­or­i­ty.

• Free trade. The Mar­itime Union has crit­i­cized free trade arrange­ments on a num­ber of lev­els. The own­er­ship and con­trol of New Zealand’s mar­itime and trans­port infra­struc­ture is in dan­ger of being trans­ferred to over­seas con­glom­er­ates and free trade will under­mine invest­ment reg­u­la­tions. The use of short-term casu­al labour being import­ed across bor­ders to dri­ve down wages and con­di­tions is a major inter­na­tion­al issue that is not yet ful­ly appre­ci­at­ed in New Zealand. The role of free trade agree­ments in under­min­ing local con­trol and secure work is a seri­ous con­cern. The Mar­itime Union notes the rel­e­vant crit­i­cisms of free trade from the Green Par­ty and Alliance Par­ty.

• Port ratio­nal­iza­tion. The Mar­itime Union views the cur­rent sys­tem of ports engaged in mutu­al­ly destruc­tive com­pe­ti­tion as unsus­tain­able. How­ev­er the Union rejects pri­va­ti­za­tion or cor­po­rate monop­o­lies pro­mot­ed by vest­ed inter­ests as the answer. A nation­al ports pol­i­cy needs to dri­ve the mod­ern­iza­tion process, to get past the parochial approach of ports, and which retains New Zealand own­er­ship and con­trol of ports.

• Train­ing. The lack of new entrants into the indus­try espe­cial­ly in growth areas such as off­shore oil and gas is a seri­ous con­cern. The young peo­ple of New Zealand have the right to train­ing and careers in their own indus­try. The Mar­itime Union sup­ports indus­try sug­ges­tions around the estab­lish­ment of a train­ing facil­i­ty for this area. A career path for young work­ers is vital for both the indus­try and for New Zealand’s future.

• Health and safe­ty. Phase out of Methyl Bro­mide.

• Pub­lic own­er­ship. Sup­port the buy­back of rail and fer­ries. Sup­port pub­lic own­er­ship of ports.

• Kiwisaver. Sup­port cur­rent Kiwisaver sys­tem while ensur­ing nation­al super­an­nu­a­tion is not down­grad­ed.