Port of Tauranga is responsible for worker harm

The Mari­time Uni­on has backed calls by whistle blowers at Port of Taur­anga who have come for­ward after suf­fer­ing ser­i­ous work­place injur­ies.

Sev­er­al work­ers spoke to News­hub after suf­fer­ing chron­ic injur­ies while driv­ing long shifts on con­tain­er straddles, but had to remain anonym­ous for fear of retri­bu­tion by employ­ers.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says Port of Taur­anga gets glow­ing ref­er­ences as a prof­it­able busi­ness in the media – but that profit is obtained from unsat­is­fact­ory work­ing prac­tices.

Mr Har­ris­on was a water­front work­er at Ports of Auck­land for 19 years and worked as a straddle driver dur­ing that time.

He says many work­ers through­out New Zea­l­and end up with chron­ic injur­ies from work­ing with port machinery, and he him­self suffered a neck injury.

Mr Har­ris­on says long shifts and a relent­less drive for profit over the well­being of work­ers were under­ly­ing issues, and the Port of Taur­anga was notori­ous for the bad con­di­tions of many work­ers inside the port gates.

“The prob­lem is the busi­ness mod­el at Port of Taur­anga.”

Mr Har­ris­on says that Port of Taur­anga con­tracts out much of its steve­doring work to smal­ler oper­a­tions.

He says these con­tract­ing com­pan­ies have one way of mak­ing a profit – by push­ing their work­ers to the lim­it.

“12 hour shifts or more are the norm, cas­u­al­iz­a­tion, irreg­u­lar shifts, and people work­ing unsafe hours because they need the money.”

He says the people in charge of the Port and its share­hold­ers are not inter­ested in what hap­pens to work­ers.

Mr Har­ris­on says he does not accept the Port’s claims that safety is its num­ber one pri­or­ity, and he says man­age­ment just want the issue out of the pub­lic eye.

“They are inter­ested in profit, they have set up oper­a­tions so they col­lect the cash, but insu­late them­selves from the con­sequences.”

Mr Har­ris­on says any port will be more pro­duct­ive in the long term if its work prac­tices and infra­struc­ture are sound, and this was the goal for the Mari­time Uni­on.

He says the Mari­time Uni­on is call­ing for a nation­al inquiry into health and safety at New Zea­l­and ports after a num­ber of deaths and ser­i­ous injur­ies in recent years.

Chron­ic injur­ies should be part of such an inquiry, he says.

There was a cul­ture of retri­bu­tion in some ports, where man­age­ment would tar­get any work­er who stood up for safety or their rights.

He says the Uni­on is organ­ising work­ers in the Port of Taur­anga and loc­al steve­dores to improve con­di­tions of work.