Port proposals to reduce worker protections when contracting out unhelpful

Mem­bers of the Mari­time Uni­on were frus­trated today that in medi­ation the Ports of Auck­land has tabled a doc­u­ment that presses ahead with reduc­tions to job secur­ity for whar­fies.

Mari­time Uni­on pres­id­ent Garry Parsloe said that com­pany pro­pos­als not only reduce employ­ee pro­tec­tions in the event of con­tract­ing out, but also con­tin­ue to insist on the remov­al of employ­ment secur­ity that would res­ult in whar­fies hav­ing no guar­an­teed days off, no pro­tec­tion against cas­u­al­isa­tion and a pack­age that would sig­ni­fic­antly reduce their pay.

“The Port today tabled an agree­ment that only con­tained three changes from their pos­i­tion in Decem­ber that lead to the con­tract­ing out pro­pos­al,” Garry Parsloe said.

“The changes today include a guar­an­tee for full timers of 160 hours work per month and 96 hours for part timers and it includes a pro­vi­sion to vary hours with 24 hours notice and can­cel shifts with 8 hours notice.  Apart from that noth­ing else has changed.”

“Des­pite the uni­on offer­ing a range of sig­ni­fic­ant pro­pos­als to change the cur­rent agree­ment, the Port con­tin­ues to insist on a whole new agree­ment which removes basic secur­ity.”

Garry Parsloe said Port pro­pos­als would see the lack of any guar­an­teed week­ends off, where cur­rently work­ers have one week­end off in three; no lim­its on the employ­ment and util­isa­tion of cas­u­al staff and a pro­pos­al to pay cas­u­al work­ers up to $10 per hour less than per­man­ent staff; the remov­al of enti­tle­ment to rehab­il­it­a­tion when injured; the remov­al of 5 days leave for work­ers to spend with a part­ner after the birth of a new baby; and a num­ber of oth­er changes which will sig­ni­fic­antly reduce pay and con­di­tions.

“When chal­lenged today about wheth­er or not the pro­pos­al by the Port to increase pay by 10% is more than off­set by the cuts in pay and con­di­tions in oth­er areas and in addi­tion to a com­plete remov­al of employ­ment secur­ity, the Port could not respond.”

“The company’s offer to have a non bind­ing, yet to be developed code of prac­tice around some addi­tion­al issues that would be developed by Port man­age­ment over the next few months post set­tle­ment, is simply unac­cept­able and unjus­ti­fied,” Garry Parsloe said.

Medi­ation is con­tinu­ing and will pro­ceed to facil­it­a­tion if needed.

The Mari­time Uni­on is com­mit­ted to achiev­ing a set­tle­ment and intends to con­tin­ue to use the next two days to try to do that, Garry Parsloe said.