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.”