Ports of Auckland wharfies flag 7-day strike

Thursday 9th February 2012 3 Comments

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has issued Ports of Auckland with a new seven-day full strike notice.

The industrial action will start at 7am on Feb. 24, and is on top of a partial notice already in place from 7am on Feb. 15 until 7am on Feb. 22. The partial strike will see wharfies refuse to work on containers moved by the port subsidiary Conlinxx. President Garry Parsloe says the week-long strike is in response to industrial action set to threaten workers livelihoods.

“These industrial actions are intended to focus the attention of management on the real issues, and the importance of secure jobs to our members,” Parsloe said in a statement.

If progress is made and management return to negotiations then industrial action may be reconsidered, he said.

This is the union’s seventh strike against the Ports of Auckland by the 300 unionised workers amid a protracted dispute over management’s desire to cut costs by increasing use of casual labour.

The dispute has cost the port contracts with shipping line Maersk and dairy exporter Fonterra Cooperative Group, who have shifted to Port of Tauranga and Port of Napier.

(BusinessDesk)

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

On 9 February 2012 at 2:39 pm Scuffer said:

Maersk and Fonterra had decided to move long long before any disruptions the scuttlebutt would have been creepin information back way quicker than any grapevine, these type of decisions are not made overnight and anyone who cares to believe that is so needs to start singing the king is in the altogether. This is an attempt to control our ports by outside interests through classroom bully techniques.

On 10 February 2012 at 9:46 pm John said:

Forget about the personal recrimination, the nit picking, point scoring detail. This is a classical industrial dispute. Both are at fault. Neither will admit it. Managers and workers have lost personal contact. Even the Queen, today, goes out and meets ordinary people, "On Walkabout", and her people respect her for it. This dispute has progressed because both parties have much to learn and neither will admit it.

On 11 February 2012 at 3:11 pm John72 said:

Standback and have a look at themselves. Go for a 24hr "walk about" and have a look at the rest of the world. This is a classical Industrial Dispute. Both sides have problems but because it has draged on for so long, there is now no personal, friendly, contact. Only agressive recrimination and self defence. Can either party say "Inspite of the problems, what we like about the other party is....."? This concentration on criticizing the other party and defending themselves will not fully solve anything. It might get the port moving again but will it alleviate the ill feeling, which is the real problem? Perhaps a 3rd party could offer fresh blood to both sides. A 3rd party would offer a fresh look at the true problem.