Ports of Auckland and MUNZ to use Employment Relations Authority facilitator

Friday 13th April 2012

Ports of Auckland and the Maritime Union have agreed to go to the Employment Relations Authority for facilitation after eight months of industrial action.

The parties have undertaken a last-ditch attempt at mediation to work through the port’s offer of a collective agreement to the union workforce, which it had previously attempted to replace with external contractors. The sides will now make an application to the Employment Relations Authority’s facilitation process, as agreed in the Employment Court two weeks ago.

“Both the port company and the union wanted to try mediation one more time,” Garry Parsloe, MUNZ president told BusinessDesk. “The mediation failed and now we are off to facilitation - it will give us some direction.”

“You don’t get told what to do in mediation,” he said.

Port management said in a statement they are hopeful facilitation will assist by providing the parties with clear recommendations made by a neutral but experienced third party.

MUNZ yesterday rejected what it called a “cut and paste” collective agreement offer from the port after the first day of mediation between the two parties. The offer included a 10 percent pay rise, with full-time employees having 160 hours of guaranteed work in a four week cycle, while further performance bonuses of up to 10 percent are included in the package.

The shift roster would also take into account staff preferences, with preferred shifts and days off being distributed fairly and reasonably.

Parsloe dismissed it saying “it just looks like a cut and paste of rhetoric from December – there is nothing fresh at all.”

The dispute, which started in September, has caused rolling strikes and lock-outs resulting in the loss of contracts with shipping line Maersk and dairy exporter Fonterra for the port.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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