Labour Minister Margaret Wilson says she will consider calling a conference on port operations if mediation fails in the ports dispute.
Replying to questions in Parliament yesterday, Ms Wilson said that although mediation was under way, depending on the outcome and advice she received she would be willing to consider an industry conference.
She said several of the participants in the dispute suggested the idea to her, but it was not appropriate to take it further until mediation had been completed,
NZ First MP Peter Brown, who raised the issue, was taken aback by the minister's willingness, but other Opposition MPs saw more sinister connotations.
Act leader Richard Prebble said dangling the prospect of a conference to the Waterside Workers Union would torpedo any chance of mediation succeeding as the union would see it as a chance to create a "monopoly."
Mr Prebble said Ms Wilson was "inviting the union not to agree to anything in mediation and have a violent picket on Sunday and she will reward them with a conference."
Ms Wilson said the conference could look "at the need for a productive and innovative stevedoring industry, which does provide the high-quality jobs in a healthy and safe environment."
Mediation talks on the dispute will resume today, when Carter Holt Harvey, Mainland Stevedoring and the union will meet again with a mediator in Wellington.
The three-month-old dispute is over Carter Holt Harvey using the Tauranga-based Mainland Stevedoring to load logs on to ships at South Island ports.
The union has accused Carter Holt Harvey of trying to break local unionised workers, and is threatening further pickets if talks fail.
- NZPA
Meeting a 'maybe' in ports feud
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