Workers under threat from slack regulation of industry standards

The Mar­itime Union is warn­ing that New Zealand work­ers are under threat due to lack of reg­u­la­tion and enforce­ment of stan­dards in indus­try.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Joe Fleet­wood says a lax atti­tude and a view that work­ers are expend­able is present in indus­try and Gov­ern­ment.

“The Prime Min­is­ter espe­cial­ly has worked hard to dis­con­nect him­self as being respon­si­ble for any­thing except appear­ing on the cov­er of mag­a­zines and radio chat shows.”

Mr Fleet­wood says the real­i­ty is that New Zealan­ders and over­seas work­ers were being harmed in the work­place due to slack reg­u­la­tion.

He says there are three clear exam­ples that should be mak­ing peo­ple ask ques­tions.

“As the inquiry for the Pike Riv­er dis­as­ter goes on, we are see­ing a pic­ture of lack of reg­u­la­tion and lack of respon­si­bil­i­ty in key areas. Why are we not demand­ing account­abil­i­ty at the top lev­el?”

“The Prime Min­is­ter has said the bod­ies of the work­ers would be recov­ered but this had not hap­pened.”

“The Prime Min­is­ter has stat­ed that New Zealand min­ing reg­u­la­tions are infe­ri­or to Aus­tralia. What has he done about it, and what is he intend­ing to do about it?”

Mr Fleet­wood says the deaths of work­ers in the mar­itime indus­try includ­ed two as yet unex­plained sink­ing of over­seas fish­ing ves­sels work­ing out of New Zealand ports, the Oyang 70 and the No 1 Insung.

“Once again, the poor stan­dards that are per­mit­ted in this indus­try are like­ly to have been a con­tribut­ing fac­tor.”

The recent ground­ing of the Rena should have been a fur­ther wake up call about the decline of stan­dards in the mar­itime indus­try, but even this dra­mat­ic event had failed to cause last­ing con­cern.

“The Euro­pean Union is cur­rent­ly decid­ing whether it will even per­mit Fil­ipino trained sea­far­ers in their waters. This is not even an issue in New Zealand. Why not? Are we hap­py just to wait for the next inci­dent?”

He says Mar­itime Union mem­bers work in the off­shore oil and gas indus­try and would insist on high stan­dards, but there was no con­fi­dence in the Gov­ern­men­t’s atti­tude.

Mr Fleet­wood says the real­i­ty is work­ers have to take the lead and make the work­place safe.

“In the cur­rent envi­ron­ment, prof­it comes first for many employ­ers and that has a big impact. Unless we have strong unions on the job to defend health and safe­ty, and leg­is­la­tion that is backed with some teeth, then we will see more and more pre­ventable deaths and injuries.”