Work stoppage announced for Ports of Auckland

Work­ers at the Ports of Auck­land have issued a strike notice in order to hold a stop work meet­ing between 12 noon and 4.30pm on Fri­day 5 June 2009 to dis­cuss employ­ment issues.

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand announced the stop­page after medi­a­tion with port com­pa­ny man­age­ment about new work con­di­tions for union mem­bers to avoid redun­dan­cies took place on Thurs­day 21 May.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Local 13 Pres­i­dent Denis Carlisle says the stop­work meet­ing will bring togeth­er work­ers at the Port to dis­cuss ongo­ing nego­ti­a­tions around their expired col­lec­tive employ­ment agree­ment, which had been impact­ed by a man­age­ment plan to slash jobs.

Ports of Auck­land man­age­ment announced on Tues­day 12 May they are effec­tive­ly shut­ting down the per­ma­nent work­force at the Bledis­loe Ter­mi­nal at the Ports of Auck­land with the loss of 29 jobs.

Mr Carlisle says the union view is that this is an attempt to force changes on the work­force through restruc­tur­ing that they could not achieve by nego­ti­a­tion. Only a Col­lec­tive Employ­ment Agree­ment on accept­able terms will pre­vent unac­cept­able change tak­ing place.

He says Ports of Auck­land is a prof­itable pub­lic enter­prise and needs to main­tain a skilled, secure work­force for when eco­nom­ic con­di­tions improve.

“The Mar­itime Union rejects the need for redun­dan­cies in the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion, and will con­tin­ue to fight for accept­able con­di­tions for all mem­bers.”