Ports action puts Auckland businesses and jobs at risk

“The Ports of Auck­land man­age­ment decision not to settle a col­lect­ive agree­ment and to con­tin­ue with plans to dis­miss the cur­rent work­force and con­tract out the Port jobs dis­reg­ards the impact that more indus­tri­al unrest will have on Auck­land busi­nesses”, CTU pres­id­ent Helen Kelly said today.

“The issues raised by the Port regard­ing labour util­isa­tion have been addressed by the uni­on but it is determ­ined to con­tin­ue with its con­tract­ing plans regard­less of the fact that it has the option to settle this mat­ter and provide secur­ity of ser­vices to Auck­land busi­nesses. It is act­ing against the interests of all those that use the Port and could dra­mat­ic­ally affect busi­ness in Auck­land in already tough times”.

“The Port man­age­ment acknow­ledged in medi­ation last week that the uni­on pos­i­tion met its labour util­isa­tion con­cerns and would bring big sav­ings to the Port but in a high handed and arrog­ant way it has decided not to sort this dis­pute out and is also not giv­ing any thought to how the Auck­land eco­nomy will suf­fer”.

“The work­ers at the Port have made every effort to address the Port’s con­cerns and save their jobs”, Helen Kelly said.

“The Port seems to have no regard for its work­ers or the people of Auck­land who rely on ships get­ting in and out.  It is liv­ing in a dif­fer­ent world from the rest of us if it thinks Auck­land busi­ness needs this unne­ces­sary dis­pute”, she said.