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Labour employment relations policy deals with important issues

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand has wel­comed the release of the Labour Par­ty’s pol­i­cy for employ­ment rela­tions today.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says it is impor­tant that the pol­i­cy has focussed on pro­vid­ing pro­tec­tions for work­ers in a time of glob­al eco­nom­ic tur­moil.

“The Mar­itime Union posi­tion is that we need to pay more atten­tion to the job secu­ri­ty and sta­bil­i­ty for work­ers, and this pol­i­cy has tak­en these issues on board.”

Lockwood’s comments show it’s time to sort out short-term labour

The Mar­itime Union says that action must be tak­en to pro­tect both local jobs and over­seas work­ers in New Zealand indus­tries after recent com­ments from Oppo­si­tion immi­gra­tion spokesper­son Lock­wood Smith about over­seas work­ers caused an uproar.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says a pro­gres­sive down­ward pres­sure on wages, con­di­tions and local jobs is spread­ing through­out large areas of the New Zealand econ­o­my, includ­ing the hor­ti­cul­ture and viti­cul­ture sec­tor.

“We are very aware of this prob­lem in the fish­ing indus­try and with flag of con­ve­nience ship­ping, and also with attempts to dis­place water­front labour.”

Concerns with port takeover threat

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand has warned against the takeover of New Zealand ports after ship­ping giant COSCO announced its inter­est in buy­ing into New Zealand ports this week.

The Chi­nese state owned multi­na­tion­al cor­po­ra­tion COSCO is one of the world’s largest ship­ping lines.

Mar­itime Union spokesper­son Vic­tor Bil­lot says the Union is opposed to hand­ing con­trol of ports over to glob­al oper­a­tors.

Maritime Union puts forward 2008 election goals

The Mar­itime Union has announced its pri­or­i­ties for the 2008 elec­tion.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the Union wants to see the return of a Labour-led Gov­ern­ment to con­tin­ue what he describes as incre­men­tal but pos­i­tive moves to devel­op the mar­itime and trans­port indus­tries.

Mr Han­son says the Mar­itime Union is strong­ly endors­ing the New Zealand Coun­cil of Trade Unions (CTU) elec­tion pol­i­cy doc­u­ment, espe­cial­ly regard­ing key issues such as wages, employ­ment rela­tions, health and safe­ty, ACC, and trans­port.

Maritime Union supports bill to help casual workers

The Mar­itime Union says a new employ­ment Bill before Par­lia­ment is good news for casu­al work­ers.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says that many New Zealand work­ers are strug­gling with the inse­cu­ri­ty of casu­al work.

The Mar­itime Union wel­comed the Bill which fea­tured increased pow­ers for Labour Inspec­tors to deter­mine whether work­ers were fixed-term or per­ma­nent employ­ees, and tests to deter­mine whether a work­er has pro­gressed from casu­al to per­ma­nent employ­ment.

Maritime Union criticizes Myanmar connection in free trade deal

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand says a free trade deal signed with ASEAN nations includ­ing the mil­i­tary dic­ta­tor­ship of Myan­mar is bad for work­ers.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says a free trade deal includ­ing Myan­mar will boost the vio­lent­ly anti-work­er regime in Myan­mar and threat­ened work­ers rights.

He says the Mar­itime Union has many con­cerns about the treat­ment of Burmese mar­itime work­ers, some of whom work in New Zealand waters, and who have been mis­treat­ed and abused in the past.

Action on casual workers welcomed

The Mar­itime Union has wel­comed a Gov­ern­ment announce­ment that it intends to improve pro­tec­tions for casu­al work­ers.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the Union has been argu­ing since 1991 that the prac­tice of employ­ing casu­al labour on the water­front is degrad­ing and unfair.

“It is sim­i­lar to the sit­u­a­tion of a cen­tu­ry ago when work­ers lined up for work at the port gate, and many were vic­tim­ized or refused work.”

Maritime Union comes to aid of Russian crew in Ports of Auckland

The Mar­itime Union is tak­ing action to recov­er the unpaid wages of a Russ­ian crew aboard an arrest­ed ship in the Ports of Auck­land.

Mar­itime Union Local 13 Pres­i­dent Denis Carlisle says the Union has been assist­ing the crew aboard the ‘South­ern Pearl’ and is now rep­re­sent­ing the crew mem­bers.

Temporary workers plan a recipe for disaster

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand has attacked plans by employ­ers to bring in migrant labour into the seafood indus­try after mass lay­offs in the same sec­tor.

A week after Sealord con­firmed it would axe 323 jobs from its Nel­son mus­sel fac­to­ry, two South Island seafood com­pa­nies Tal­leys and Aotearoa Seafood have applied to import 100 migrant labour­ers.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says that the use of tem­po­rary labour being import­ed from over­seas threat­ens local employ­ment.

Maritime Union backs public ownership plan for rail and ferries

The Mar­itime Union says Gov­ern­ment plans to bring rail and fer­ries back under pub­lic own­er­ship would be a major step for­ward for New Zealand.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the move is long over­due and is required to bring New Zealand’s trans­port infra­struc­ture up to world stan­dards.

“We need an inte­grat­ed trans­port sys­tem in New Zealand that has a sub­stan­tial pub­lic-owned com­po­nent for secu­ri­ty and sta­bil­i­ty.”