Napier maritime workers boosted by international support

Work­ers on the Mar­itime Union pick­et line at the Port of Napi­er were told ear­ly this morn­ing that tens of thou­sands of dol­lars of sol­i­dar­i­ty dona­tions were flood­ing in from around the world.

A hard­ship fund is being set up to look after the work­ers, many of whom are casu­al work­ers, as they face a tough Christ­mas.

A round the clock pick­et has been held since 6am Sat­ur­day and will con­tin­ue until res­o­lu­tion of the dis­pute.

Rain has not damp­ened the spir­it of the work­ers who are receiv­ing strong sup­port from local peo­ple.

Groups of work­ers have been arriv­ing from around North Island ports today to relieve the pick­et line.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says some local work­ers have spent near­ly every wak­ing hour on the pick­et line, and have been told by the Union to go home and get some rest.

“The lev­el of com­mit­ment here is incred­i­ble.”

Mr Han­son says the work­ers have the full sup­port of the Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion (ITF) that rep­re­sents mil­lions of work­ers around the world.

“The ITF have iden­ti­fied the Port of Napi­er as a port that is attack­ing secure jobs, and this is already hav­ing a major effect on ship­ping in the port.”

Medi­a­tion takes place today in Napi­er between the Union and man­age­ment.