Maritime workers oppose Ports of Auckland privatization sneak plan

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand says any attempt to pri­va­tize the Ports of Auck­land will be met with mas­sive oppo­si­tion.

The Gov­ern­ment wants to repeal a law requir­ing a ref­er­en­dum before shares are sold in the port as part of Super City leg­is­la­tion.

Mar­itime Union Auck­land Branch Local 13 Sec­re­tary Rus­sell Mayn says the work­force at the port is firm­ly opposed to any part or full pri­va­ti­za­tion of the port.

“There is no man­date for it, the pub­lic want to keep own­er­ship of their port, just like they did in the 1990s when Nation­al tried to flog it off then and failed.”

Mr Mayn says the cur­rent moves by the Local Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter Rod­ney Hide are about lin­ing up the port for pri­va­ti­za­tion in the future.

“It would­n’t sur­prise me if they already have the For Sale signs wait­ing in the base­ment.”

Mar­itime Union Nation­al Vice Pres­i­dent Gar­ry Parsloe says it would be very easy for the Port to fall into over­seas own­er­ship with prof­its being sucked out of the region, and the port serv­ing the inter­ests of glob­al ship­ping and port oper­a­tors rather than New Zealand.

Mr Parsloe says there would be a mas­sive pub­lic back­lash if the pri­va­ti­za­tion of the port was attempt­ed through the Super City process, and the Mar­itime Union would be sup­port­ing any com­mu­ni­ty cam­paign to oppose pri­va­ti­za­tion.

The Mar­itime Union was involved in the 2006 Keep Our Port Pub­lic cam­paign in Christchurch when the Christchurch City Coun­cil was involved in a failed attempt to part pri­va­tize the Port of Lyt­tel­ton.