Port unions take action on Russian flagged ships

The two unions rep­re­sent­ing work­ers in New Zealand ports say their mem­bers are reluc­tant to work Russ­ian flagged ships in New Zealand ports and are look­ing at meth­ods of protest fol­low­ing the out­break of war.

Both New Zealand unions are affil­i­at­ed to the Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion, which has called for an imme­di­ate cease­fire in hos­til­i­ties, for the con­flict to return to the diplo­mat­ic lev­el, and respect for inter­na­tion­al human rights and human­i­tar­i­an law, fol­low­ing the mil­i­tary esca­la­tion in Ukraine.

Rail and Mar­itime Trans­port Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Wayne But­son says work­ers may deliv­er let­ters of protest to the Cap­tain of any Russ­ian flagged ves­sels in New Zealand ports.

He says it is impor­tant to note any protest was not anti-Russ­ian crews, but against aggres­sion and war deci­sions at the lead­er­ship lev­el.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Nation­al Sec­re­tary Craig Har­ri­son says many Russ­ian and Ukrain­ian crews worked in New Zealand waters as both nations had big mar­itime indus­tries.

The Mar­itime Union had dealt with exploita­tion and mis­treat­ment and assist­ed in the repa­tri­a­tion of crew mem­bers from both coun­tries.

He says there is not a large num­ber of Russ­ian flagged ves­sels in New Zealand ports but there are some includ­ing large fish fac­to­ry trawlers in ports such as Lyt­tel­ton.

Many ‘Flag of Con­ve­nience’ ves­sels had Russ­ian and Ukrain­ian crew.

There would prob­a­bly be issues around crew mem­bers want­i­ng to repa­tri­ate to their home coun­try, he says.