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.