Australian-owned stevedoring company ISO was breaking the law when it tried to prevent Maritime Union representatives access to its Whangarei workplace at Northport.
In a 17 December 2021 finding, the Employment Relations Authority ordered ISO to comply with access provisions under the Employment Relations Act (2000).
ISO has been ordered to pay a penalty of $15,000, of which $5,000 goes to the Crown and $10,000 to the Maritime Union.
Maritime Union of New Zealand Craig Harrison says a strong message has been sent to employers who try to undermine the right of workers to meet with union reps on the job.
He says the issue at Northport arose when ISO blocked access to Maritime Union representatives on the basis of COVID-19 regulations.
The Employment Relations Authority did not agree with ISO’s interpretation of the law.
Mr Harrison says the determination was crystal clear there had been an ongoing breach of the employer’s obligations to allow access.
The Employment Relations Authority determination states “It is important to deter employers from readily concluding that access rights can be denied with little consideration of reasonable restrictions which would allow access.”
ISO has regularly been in the news around issues of worker wellbeing and safety.
A Maritime Union member took a case against his employer ISO, over the availability clause he was offered in an employment agreement.
On 3 November 2021, the Employment Court ruled the availability clause ISO had offered the employee was not compliant with the Employment Relations Act (2000).
The Judge agreed with the view of the plaintiff and the Maritime Union that, under the law, employees need to be paid for their “availability” for work.
In another health and safety case, ISO was sentenced in the Gisborne District Court in February 2021 after being convicted of exposing an individual to risk of harm or illness.
Shannon Brooke Rangihuna-Kemp, 29, an ISO employee at Eastland Port in Gisborne, died from crush injuries after she was hit by a log that fell from a trailer load she was about to scan on 8 October 2018.
