Maritime Union opposes outsourcing at Ports of Auckland
The Maritime Union of New Zealand says outsourcing at Ports of Auckland cannot replace a skilled in-house workforce.
Read MoreMaritime Union of New Zealand
Representing New Zealand maritime workers since 2002
Job Security
Maritime Union calling for international support for Telecom engineers
The Maritime Union has added its weight to the struggle of Telecom lines engineers fighting to protect their jobs.
Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says maritime workers will be supporting the Telecom lines engineers, who are members of the EPMU, in their battle against contracting out.
He says a special national executive meeting of the Maritime Union has been called for Monday, which will be followed by communications with the International Transport Workers Federation based in London and its New Zealand union affiliates, as well as Australian maritime unions.
Read MoreJob losses averted at Port Otago
The Maritime Union of New Zealand says an agreement it has reached with Port Otago Limited is a “win win” situation that will prevent job losses.
Maritime Union National President Phil Adams says a meeting of 150 cargo handlers held yesterday at Port Chalmers voted in favour of a proposal hammered out by the Unions and the Company.
Members of the Maritime Union of New Zealand and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union attended the meeting.
Mr Adams says the proposal will see no compulsory redundancies amongst the workforce.
“We believe the workforce will respond to the Company’s efforts by continuing to ensure a high level of productivity.”
Read MoreUnions unite in Ports of Auckland labour blunder
The Ports of Auckland has been put on notice from Unions that it will have to train its own workforce rather than fly in staff from other ports.
The port company wants to transfer skilled labour from Wellington and Lyttelton to keep up with work after 12 weeks ago laying off a substantial number of workers.
Maritime Union of New Zealand National Vice President Garry Parsloe says the situation is a result of the port company ignoring Union advice.
“They were told there were too many redundancies, and it would create a shortage of skilled workers. Now this has happened.”
He says that the Maritime Union would only agree for Unionised workers being transferred into Auckland if there was a written commitment from the Ports of Auckland to train a sufficient number of its own workforce.
Read MorePublic Meeting for Port of Timaru – Thursday 17 September 2009
The Maritime Union of New Zealand is hosting a public meeting on the future of the Port of Timaru. The meeting will be held at “Robbies” (Hibernian Hotel), Latter Street, Timaru on Thursday 17 September starting at 7.30pm sharp.
All concerned local people are invited to the meeting, including port workers, unions, business, industry, farmers, and all those concerned with the future of the port.
For more information see the Port of Timaru campaign website.
Read MoreGovernment can put New Zealanders in containers, but it can’t give them jobs shipping them
The Maritime Union has a message for the Government: instead of jailing New Zealanders in containers, it would be better to have them working on the containers by rebuilding coastal shipping.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins announced today a “container unit” will be set up at Rimutaka Prison to house surging numbers of prisoners, the latest embarrassing step in New Zealand’s failure to confront the real issues behind crime.
Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says New Zealand workers have been forced out of maritime employment in their own country by allowing overseas labour to be exploited on the New Zealand coastal waters.
He says that due to the “open coast” policy introduced by National in the 1990s New Zealand had seen its shipping industry taken apart, while many other countries reserved their domestic merchant shipping and fisheries for local industry.
Read MoreFonterra milking New Zealand taxpayers
The Maritime Union has hit back at “socially irresponsible” Fonterra pulling out of regional ports and says the dairy giant’s profits are being subsidized by the taxpayer.
Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says Fonterra has come out with “weak excuses” for its decision to pull out of some regional ports in favour of transporting products by long distance rail.
Mr Hanson says the future of the New Zealand transport industry seems to be in the hands of one man, Fonterra General Manager of Supply Chain Strategy Nigel Jones.
“Fonterra holds the fate of whole regional economies in their hands because of their size and influence, but seem to have no accountability to anyone but themselves.”
Read MoreMaritime Union joins rallies and digs deep in Telecom lines engineers dispute
The Maritime Union has upped its industrial and financial support of Telecom lines engineers in their employment dispute.
Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says a national meeting of Union representatives from ports and ships this morning voted an initial $10,000 to support Telecom lines engineers in their struggle for secure jobs.
Maritime Union members from New Zealand ships and the waterfront joined rallies in Auckland and Wellington this morning alongside the lines engineers and other supporters.
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