Maritime Union Stands with Pike River Families and calls for Corporate Manslaughter Laws

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) is giv­ing its full sup­port to the Pike River fam­il­ies, who are today call­ing on Par­lia­ment to strengthen the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) and urgently intro­duce Cor­por­ate Man­slaughter laws into New Zea­l­and legis­la­tion.

MUNZ Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Carl Find­lay says the cost of health and safety neg­li­gence is meas­ured in the lives of work­ing people.

Mr Find­lay says MUNZ today marks the 15th anniversary of the Pike River tragedy remem­ber­ing those who paid the ulti­mate price for health and safety fail­ures.

“The Mari­time Uni­on stands with their fam­il­ies today in say­ing ‘enough is enough.’”

Mr Find­lay says the his­tory of the New Zea­l­and water­front, like min­ing and forestry, is marked by avoid­able death and injury.

“Work­ers have been harmed where profit has been pri­or­it­ised over safety, and this must stop,” Mr. Find­lay says.

The Mari­time Uni­on strongly endorses the call to bol­ster the exist­ing Health and Safety at Work Act while strength­en­ing it with the addi­tion of a Cor­por­ate Man­slaughter pro­vi­sion.

Mr. Find­lay says the pro­sec­u­tion of former Ports of Auck­land CEO Tony Gib­son, which, des­pite res­ult­ing in a con­vic­tion that is under appeal, high­lighted a flaw in New Zealand’s health and safety frame­work.

“The case of the pre­vi­ous CEO at Ports of Auck­land shows we need laws that reflect the sever­ity of this issue.”

“Stronger laws are the way to pro­tect work­ers. When CEOs and dir­ect­ors face the threat of a cor­por­ate man­slaughter con­vic­tion, which car­ries per­son­al con­sequences bey­ond a fine for the com­pany, it changes beha­viour.”

To hon­our the Pike River 29, and work­ers from all indus­tries, we must strengthen health and safety laws, says Mr Find­lay.