Port unions demand stronger penalties for negligent employers

New Zealand’s two port uni­ons have spoken out on Work­ers Memori­al Day (28 April), demand­ing improve­ments to health and safety in New Zea­l­and ports.

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) and Rail and Mari­time Trans­port Uni­on (RMTU) rep­res­ent thou­sands of port work­ers through­out New Zea­l­and.

Lead­ers of the two uni­ons say port work­ers are being killed and hurt due to sys­tem­ic prob­lems in the industry, and things have to change.

MUNZ Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says the string of deaths and ser­i­ous acci­dents at Ports of Auck­land over the last few years was a glar­ing example of the prob­lem, which had recently been exposed by an inde­pend­ent report.

How­ever, health and safety fail­ures were endem­ic through­out New Zea­l­and ports, with deaths and ser­i­ous injur­ies in sev­er­al con­tain­er ter­min­als and bulk steve­doring areas such as log­ging yards.

“There are a num­ber of causes, includ­ing a profit driv­en cul­ture not a health and safety cul­ture, but a big prob­lem is employ­ers refus­ing to see Uni­ons as the legit­im­ate rep­res­ent­at­ives of work­ers.”

Rail and Mari­time Trans­port Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Wayne But­son says many employ­ers are simply pay­ing fines but not chan­ging their prac­tices in mean­ing­ful ways.

He says the les­son of Pike River was that health and safety had to come first, but ongo­ing health and safety fail­ures in ports were indic­at­ing the les­son had not been learned.

“Port work­ers work long hours in tough con­di­tions. Their labour keeps food on our table and deliv­ers the neces­sit­ies of life to all New Zeal­anders. In return, they are simply ask­ing to come home safely at the end of their shift to their loved ones.”

Both uni­ons are in favour of stronger laws and enforce­ment of cur­rent laws by reg­u­lat­ors, and say cor­por­ate man­slaughter laws need to be on the table.

The two uni­ons are seek­ing an inde­pend­ent review of health and safety in ports by the Gov­ern­ment.