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.