Victory for Lyttelton Port Workers against unlawful health monitoring

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) has wel­comed this week’s decision by the Employ­ment Rela­tions Author­ity (ERA) which has ruled against Lyt­telton Port Company’s (LPC) attempt to uni­lat­er­ally impose a man­dat­ory health mon­it­or­ing policy on MUNZ mem­bers. 

MUNZ Assist­ant Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Ray Fife says the out­come is a major win for the rights and well-being of port work­ers, ensur­ing that health mon­it­or­ing pro­ced­ures must be sub­ject to col­lect­ive bar­gain­ing and can­not be forced without agree­ment.

The dis­pute arose after LPC intro­duced a man­dat­ory health mon­it­or­ing policy in July 2024, cov­er­ing aspects such as car­di­ovas­cu­lar dis­ease, dia­betes, and mobil­ity, along­side hear­ing, sight, and res­pir­at­ory test­ing. 

MUNZ says the policy went bey­ond the scope of the col­lect­ive agree­ment between LPC and the uni­on.

This week’s decision by the ERA has con­firmed the Health Mon­it­or­ing Policy was incon­sist­ent with the Col­lect­ive Employ­ment Agree­ment and there­fore unlaw­ful.

The decision reaf­firms that LPC can­not expand health test­ing require­ments bey­ond those agreed upon without the uni­on’s con­sent, says Mr Fife.

“This determ­in­a­tion by the ERA rein­forces the import­ance of col­lect­ive bar­gain­ing in pro­tect­ing work­ers’ rights.”

Mr Fife says MUNZ has ensured any changes affect­ing work­ers’ health and pri­vacy must be done through nego­ti­ation.

He says the ERA rul­ing high­lights the need for employ­ers to act in good faith and respect the agree­ments they have signed with work­ers. 

MUNZ remains com­mit­ted to ensur­ing that any future health and safety meas­ures at Lyt­telton Port are imple­men­ted with full con­sulta­tion and agree­ment.