NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Economy / Employment

Helen Kelly: Workers accept flexibility in port dispute

By Helen Kelly
NZ Herald·
25 Jan, 2012 04:30 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The union says Ports of Auckland needs to return to the bargaining table otherwise months of disruption could follow. Photo / Dean Purcell

The union says Ports of Auckland needs to return to the bargaining table otherwise months of disruption could follow. Photo / Dean Purcell

Opinion

Both sides of the industrial dispute at Ports of Auckland see it as a matter of vital importance for the future. To the union, jobs are at stake. To the employer it's whether the port remains viable. Today each side states its case.

It is hard to imagine that the Port of Auckland would really consider dismissing its entire workforce and contracting in new labour at a lower price - but that is what it is setting about doing and last Friday it presented its plans to do this to the Maritime Union.

The port and union have been in negotiations for a new collective agreement and when the port has not been able to get entirely the new agreement it wants (one which removes any guarantee of hours or work), it has decided to replace these workers with contract workers who will, because of their precarious employment status, accept this type of arrangement.

The port workers already have incredible flexibility in their collective agreement. They can be rostered to work any shift, night and day, seven days a week. While 53 per cent of them are at least guaranteed five shifts a week, 27 per cent are only guaranteed three shifts per week and 20 per cent are casual with no guarantees. But this is not enough for the port. They want everyone to work like the casuals.

And for Aucklanders this contracting is also a privatisation of the services of their port. The port is owned by the [Auckland] council and makes money for ratepayers by providing services to ships. To be honest, the Government was probably hoping John Banks would win the Auckland mayoralty and the port would be privatised but the next best thing would be to privatise the services at the port (the profitable bit!).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The port management has painted a picture of the port as being unproductive and that the workers are to blame for this. Strange then that in September last year, the port had a party for the workers to recognise their high productivity, and equally strange that report after report into our ports rate them (including Auckland) as performing well. I guess to justify what the port is undertaking, it has to create a crisis - and try to paint the workers as lazy.

The 2011 Annual Review of the port notes that they had "a pleasing year" with a "new record high" of container volumes. In a port magazine for customers (Interconnect, September 2011) they said "POAL's staff hours per container have decreased 16 per cent since 2007". Yet now we are told the port is in a crisis.

The port released false information about the workers' wage levels (they are paid $27 per hour regardless of night/day/weekends). It has corrected this now but the headlines they created linger in people's minds. The port has been equally reluctant to admit that the union has proposed changes to working arrangements that will improve productivity further, and that these have been rejected.

In mediation, the union agreed to major changes in working conditions. These include more flexibility in rosters, changes to overtime rosters, and greater use of part-timers. Port management said these offers addressed major concerns and were "big" in terms of costs savings. But then they said they didn't want to settle the agreement. Why not? This is highly irresponsible.

It is reported that Tony Gibson, the port chief executive, earns $750,000 a year. That seems a lot if it is true. I am sure he works hard. But he is in the media constantly criticising his own workforce who earn a tiny fraction of what he does.

Discover more

Opinion

Richard Pearson: No time for tinkering in port dispute

25 Jan 04:30 PM
New Zealand

Extra freight key reason for port's expansion

26 Jan 04:30 PM
New Zealand

Plan for big carpark on waterfront labelled 'obscene'

26 Jan 04:30 PM

If the port's board is pursuing an agenda to contract out jobs and sack all the workers, then it is the board which should be sacked.

In the end this dispute is about two things - whether the workers for the Port of Auckland will be dismissed to be replaced by a casualised workforce (along the same lines as Tauranga where there have been three deaths in 15 months) and whether Auckland ratepayers are losing the value of their port by stealth to those who simply want to make more and more profit out of our assets through privatisation.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The workers at the port have taken strike action and may take more in order for a collective agreement to be agreed and to save their jobs. At a time when the Auckland economy is so slow, given a deal is on the table, the management of the port should be told to get off its high horse and settle this dispute. Many business owners and their workers will be very anxious that the port is not interrupted.

But what choice do the workers have if there is no chance of agreeing a collective agreement - their only other option to avoid disruption is to completely accede to the port's demands to sacrifice their family life and put themselves on call, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That can't be what we ask them to do.

The board and chief executive of the port are now on a very damaging course of action. They need to take stock of the situation and return to bargaining with a reasonable position. Otherwise there will be months of disruption if not longer. There will be a huge loss of goodwill, years of bitterness about the port, loss of confidence among exporters and shippers - and who knows what else. One thing is for sure, it will be extremely damaging to all concerned.

We are asking for the people of Auckland to support these workers and save the port. More information on this issue can be found at http://www.portsofauckland.com

Helen Kelly is president of the Council of Trade Unions.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Employment

Premium
Business|economyUpdated

18,800 people booked for NZICC; anaesthetists, ophthalmologists the latest

03 Jul 10:39 PM
Property

Ikea opening ‘around Christmas trading period’, plans for traffic mitigation at Sylvia Park

01 Jul 10:57 PM
Premium
Property

Watch: First look inside City Rail Link’s unique new Te Waihorotiu Station

30 Jun 03:00 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Employment

Premium
18,800 people booked for NZICC; anaesthetists, ophthalmologists the latest

18,800 people booked for NZICC; anaesthetists, ophthalmologists the latest

03 Jul 10:39 PM

Anaesthetists to meet April 30-May 5, ophthalmologists November 5-9 next year.

Ikea opening ‘around Christmas trading period’, plans for traffic mitigation at Sylvia Park

Ikea opening ‘around Christmas trading period’, plans for traffic mitigation at Sylvia Park

01 Jul 10:57 PM
Premium
Watch: First look inside City Rail Link’s unique new Te Waihorotiu Station

Watch: First look inside City Rail Link’s unique new Te Waihorotiu Station

30 Jun 03:00 AM
Premium
Liam Dann: Never mind the swear words, our politicians need to raise the quality of debate

Liam Dann: Never mind the swear words, our politicians need to raise the quality of debate

28 Jun 05:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP