Tripartite Accord positive step for Auckland

Mak­ing the most of Auckland’s port and water­front is a step clos­er with for­mal approval of a Tri­par­tite Accord between Auck­land Coun­cil, the Port of Auck­land Lim­it­ed and port work­ers rep­re­sent­ed by the Mar­itime Union of New Zealand.

The ground­break­ing accord got the green light at Thursday’s Gov­ern­ing Body meet­ing, cement­ing the rela­tion­ship between the three part­ners and set­ting a foun­da­tion for good faith, co-oper­a­tion and long-term strate­gic align­ment.

“The Accord will sup­port how the Make the Most of Auckland’s Port and Water­front (the Port Plan) is deliv­ered and reflects our com­mit­ment to get bet­ter val­ue and returns from our strate­gic assets, and improve out­comes for Auck­lan­ders, port work­ers and the port,” says May­or Wayne Brown.

“The plan was the result of a col­lab­o­ra­tive process I ini­ti­at­ed dur­ing the devel­op­ment of the Long-Term Plan 2024–2034 so get­ting the Accord in place to under­pin the plan, is an achieve­ment.”

Under the plan, Auckland’s port land, assets and oper­a­tions are retained under coun­cil own­er­ship, with the port con­tribut­ing $1.1 bil­lion in prof­its to Auck­land Coun­cil over the next 10 years.

“The Plan and Accord pro­vide the port, unions and coun­cil a clear direc­tion, shared goals and an agreed way to work col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly togeth­er. This Accord acknowl­edges the needs of our own­er Auck­land city, our work­force and unions, whilst main­tain­ing port oper­a­tional reli­a­bil­i­ty and secu­ri­ty for our cus­tomers. We believe strong rela­tion­ships between all par­ties will lead to bet­ter out­comes for every­one,” says Port of Auck­land Gen­er­al Man­ag­er Peo­ple and Legal, Phil Doak

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Local 13 Auck­land Sec­re­tary Grant Williams con­grat­u­lates May­or Wayne Brown and Auck­land Coun­cil­lors for their vision in reach­ing this Tri­par­tite Accord.

“This is the right deci­sion going for­ward, ensur­ing the Port of Auck­land remains under local con­trol con­tribut­ing to the city’s pros­per­i­ty and work­ing for the ben­e­fit of our com­mu­ni­ty. We look for­ward to work­ing togeth­er to keep Auck­land mov­ing.”

Devel­oped by a work­ing group of del­e­gates from all three part­ners, the Accord includes agreed com­mit­ments around health and safe­ty, trans­paren­cy and col­lab­o­ra­tion.

It also enables the estab­lish­ment of the Tri­par­tite Forum to sup­port con­ver­sa­tions, coor­di­na­tion and joint over­sight. It will meet reg­u­lar­ly, form­ing work­ing groups to address spe­cif­ic issues col­lec­tive­ly.

The May­or will for­mal­ly sign the Tri­par­tite Accord on behalf of Auck­land Coun­cil at the first tri­par­tite forum.