MUNZ welcomes party support for coastal shipping and fair conditions for maritime workers

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and has wel­comed sup­port from Labour, the Greens and the Alli­ance for its elec­tion policy pro­pos­als to rebuild coastal ship­ping and pro­tect the pay and con­di­tions of New Zea­l­and port work­ers and sea­farers.

MUNZ asked each polit­ic­al party for its response to five pro­pos­als:

• under­writ­ing New Zea­l­and-flagged, New Zea­l­and-crewed ships to build a domest­ic fleet
• devel­op­ing a Nation­al Ports Strategy built on pub­lic own­er­ship
• fund­ing trans­port pro­jects on the bene­fits they deliv­er, regard­less of mode
• extend­ing New Zea­l­and labour law and wages to sea­farers on inter­na­tion­al ships in New Zea­l­and waters
• requir­ing inter­na­tion­al ship­ping lines to be trans­par­ent about crew pay and con­di­tions

Labour, the Greens and the Alli­ance provided sup­port­ive responses. The oth­er parties did not respond.

MUNZ Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Carl Find­lay says New Zea­l­and needs a Gov­ern­ment that backs the mari­time sec­tor.

“New Zea­l­and is a trad­ing nation, but we are overly depend­ent on inter­na­tion­al ship­ping lines to move our exports and trucks to move cargo domest­ic­ally. Coastal ship­ping gives New Zea­l­and resi­li­ence, cuts our depend­ence on expens­ive impor­ted fuel, and provides good, well-pay­ing jobs to Kiwis. It’s encour­aging to see these parties back­ing our sea­farers and port work­ers,” he says.

“We encour­age our mem­bers to take these responses into account when they vote.”

Mr Find­lay says MUNZ looks for­ward to work­ing with these parties to turn their com­mit­ments into action.

Author­ized by Carl Find­lay, Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and, 220 Wil­lis Street, Wel­ling­ton.