FIRE IN MY BELLY WOMENS CONFERENCE

By Fiona Mansell MUNZ National Women’s Rep

Firstly, thanks to all the Branches and National Office for their support in sending 16 women to another amazing CTU Women’s Conference. The theme this year was Fire in my belly: Organising for our future ! A theme that excited all the women who attended.

This was my fourth CTU Women’s Conference since 2017, and I must say every conference just gets better with every new theme. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all the organisers, the Women’s Council and CTU for all their hard work that goes into making every conference a success.

Organising for our Future

In a world where gender equality and workplace rights are essential, it is vital to recognize and celebrate the immense contributions of women in the labour movement. This conference aims to ignite the fire within women unionists and activists, equipping them with the tools, knowledge, and inspiration to shape a brighter future for all.

Through engaging discussions, inspiring keynote speakers, and interactive workshops, we explored the unique challenges faced by women in unions and devise strategies to overcome them.

Fire in my Belly: Organising for our Future is an inclusive and welcoming space that recognizes the intersectionality of women’s experiences in the labour movement.

We are blessed to be invited to this forum so that we are able to harness the power of collective action, ignite the flames of change, and pave the way for a more equitable and inclusive future for women unionists and workers worldwide.

Together, we will shape our future, and our fire will illuminate the path ahead.

Keynote speakers included women from different sectors.

Tory Whanau was our first guest speaker, her discussions around the difficulties that women face in leadership roles left an impression on me that will last a lifetime, especially that she is the first wahine Māori to become the Mayor of Wellington.

Another guest speaker was Saunoamaali’I Dr Karanina Sumeo who is the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner (EEOC).

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I could listen to this woman all day, the way she articulates herself to get her message across about pay equity and equal opportunities for Maori and Pasifika people.

In addition, her humility, courage and passion when she speaks gives her audience a deeper understanding that her mission has always been to improve outcomes for our people.

Margot Embargot, Lolly Darling and Laura Daniels are founding members of the Fired Up Stilettos activist group.

The group was formed earlier this year when 19 strippers were fired from a Wellington club after coming together to negotiate for fairer contracts.

Five months later, Fired Up Stilettos are pushing for legislation change to protect independent contractors in the adult entertainment industry.

They have hosted 4 protests, two outside the club they were fired from, two on Parliament Grounds. They made history by being the first group to have a dancing pole set up on Parliament grounds.

The message we clearly heard over the two-day conference was: STAY ON COURSE REGARDLESS OF NEGATIVE RESPONSES – IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY REMEMBER THE FIRE IN YOUR BELLY!

Kia Ora Koutou katoa, Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, ēngari he toa takimano e. My strength is not that of an individual, but that of a collective

Firstly, thank you for giving me the privilege of attending the CTU Womens Conference this year, especially to the MUNZ executive team for supporting wāhine toa within our Union. Acknowledgments to Craig Harrison and Gary Horan for their support.

To meet up with other wahine from both MUNZ and all other unions that attended with the amount of networking achieved over a few days.

Good to see the manaakitanga, tautoko building our solidarity.

Please pass onto the executive team my humble thanks for their support.

I am so proud to stand out as a union amongst all the others with the apparel we wore.

To attend and come back home rejuvenated from all that was shared with all the unions there.

To hear the plights and issues other wahine have within their industries and solutions they have gained or are currently fighting for. The strength of all unions combined can and does make a difference.

To participate in workshops and come away with more insights of struggles that happen and how to battle through them.

It would be awesome at the next conference to put forward remits and if possible, to run a workshop, to enlighten others of our mixed industries, like seafarer’s, stevedoring, etc.

So once again a big thanks Fiona for all the hard mahi you do within MUNZ at National level and the relentless support you give to all of us.

Thanks to Annie and all the relentless mahi you put in, for our apparel and our Facebook page, continually keeping us up to date not only locally but globally as well.

Another conference to share with all our wahine here at Te Whakaraupō, Lyttelton.

Ngā Mihi, Helen Potter Lyttleton Branch

1.

KiwiRail

2023 Wage Rounds

Letters have now been sent out to all vessels reminding members to have on-board remit meetings. Negotiations will get underway about mid to end of September.

Executive and Delegates, can you please make sure that I receive the vessels remits, and not just from one of the crew members from a vessel. Also, I do not want just the Departments remits, i.e., AB’s, Cooks, or Caterers. I need to have the vessels claims in their entirety.

I have had cooks from one particular vessel emailing me their remits but have got nothing from the rest of the MUNZ members on the same vessel. This process is meant to be about everyone, not just one department’s interest.

It’s good that the Cooks have done their remits. All they needed to do on this particular vessel was wait until all the other departments had their remit meetings, then submit their remits with the final version of remits being submitted from the Delegates representing that vessel.

At the end of the day, the Cooks would need to get support from all departments. It’s likely the rest of the crew on both swings on the vessel have no idea what the Cook’s department have sent to me.

Executive: for claims for the percentage increase, can you make sure the percentage increase is the same figure across the fleet, not different percentages from each crew.

Executive members, it’s imperative you attend the on-board remit meetings and give direction to our members. Please ensure I receive remits that are representative of all vessels and all crew.

Any queries, please do not hesitate to ask, I’ll be only too happy to help.

2. HPHE

On 24–25 July KR-IIL had their first two-day group effectiveness training, using the High Performance, High Engagement Framework with staff from ships and terminals teams. The sessions were held at the Wellington Railway Station and focused on building a team, using exercises in communication, consensus decision making, and interest-based problem solving.

3. Kaiarahi Dry Dock – Singapore

Kaiarahi arrived in Singapore on Saturday 28 July after a long (and pretty hot!) trip. After her arrival Kaiarahi went to a layby berth at the Sembawang dockyard on the northern side of Singapore and then went into the dry dock on 1 August.

4. Valentine sale

The KiwiRail Board has decided to sell the Valentine and has embarked on a sale process. I believe there were several interested parties who expressed an interest in the vessel, I assume it would only come down to who’s prepared to pay the best price.

Strait NZ –Bluebridge

2023 wage rounds have started with the exchange of claims from both SNZ and MUNZ for the Picton and Wellington Terminals, along with the Exchange of claims for the Bluebridge Ferries.

Further meetings for wage rounds will be conducted through the August and September periods.

Offshore

5. Atlas

Have picked up a crew for the support vessel for the 107, GO Sirius. Manning numbers include 8 IR’s and 2 Cooks. This is a 70-to-120-day campaign. I believe there have been some delays in the crew joining dates, this was due to the availability date of the vessel.

6. OSM-Kingston Offshore Services FRC Training

MMA originally refused to train all our members in the Fast Rescue Boat operation.

As our members are the primary users of the FRC, MUNZ believes MMA has a legal obligation to ensure our members are trained in areas where they are required to perform their duties. This is also clearly stated in the MPCA.

Incidentally, to train members on the MMA Vision and Skandi Emerald, Kingston said to me it was cheaper to fly the FRC instructor from Australia for this than it is to have a trainer flown up from Nelson, believe what you will.

Update: MMA will now pay for our members to sit their FRC certs. Many thanks to George Clark and the members for sticking to their claim and seeing it through to the end. This is a good win for MUNZ.

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Niwa

The second phase of the 2022 wage round negotiations were held with the three unions, MUNZ, NZMSG & AMEA on Friday 23 June. It was a disappointing meeting to say the least. NIWA came back to the table with their full final offer which was unsatisfactory. We have taken the offer back to the members, which was rejected. We are currently back around the negotiating table.

We reconvened on Tuesday 1 August with a counter proposal from the members, NIWA put in another counter proposal, this is now with the members on the vessel. We will then see what the members wish to do. Counteroffer?

Bunker Barge Wellington

7.

Russell Mayn has been in talks with ASP and has been liaising with me by way of updates.

There are a total of six positions on the vessel, being 3 AB/Cooks. The cycle is for 28 days on and 28 days off. This is a much-needed boost to the seafaring sector in Wellington. Names have all been forwarded to ASP and have been accepted.

General

8. Maritime Worker newsletter

Please keep your emails, articles and pictures rolling in, they will be published in the next edition of the Wellington Maritime Worker, space permitting.

The next edition of the Maritime worker is due out in October 2023.

9. Wellington Database

Numbers are low for AB’s and IR’s, approx. 20 Stewards, and about 3 cooks.

10. MUA – Requesting New Zealand IRs to work in Aussie.

MUA WA Branch Secretary Will Tracey has made a formal request to the Wellington branch and has inquired about the availability of IRs. He has ask if these members can be released to be able to help out in Aussie. More details to follow.

11. Meetings

Next Stop Work Meeting is set down for new date and day 10 am Monday 9 October to be held at the National Office Conference room, first floor Waterside House, 220 Willis Street.

12. Branch Meetings to go Bi-monthly

Jim King put a motion to members at the July branch meeting, for the Wellington branch meetings to be held bi-monthly (every two months).

This was because of the low turnout numbers. In May there were 8 in attendance, and June there were 15. Over the last four and a half years, the average number that have attended the meetings is around fifteen, while considering the Wellington Branch has close to 600 seafaring members and about 200 port workers. Therefore, members at the meeting voted in favor of having the branch meetings go bi-monthly.

The Wellington Branch Executive also fully endorses the change to bi-monthly meetings.

Stopwork Meetings will revert to a Monday at 10am. The next branch bi-monthly meeting will be on 9 October then December, February 2023 and so on.

In addition to this, the Bi-monthly Executive meetings will revert to Thursday, this is because the Wednesday crew change days has made no difference in the executive’s attendance for either meeting.

13. Upcoming Negotiations

• Oil & Offshore Gas – October 2023

• Dutch Dredging – December 2023

14. Current negotiations

• NIWA – second phase of 2022 Terms of Settlement June (Current)

• StraitNZ – Wellington & Picton Terminals (Bargaining Mode)

• Blue Bridge Ferries (Ratification mode)

• KiwiRail InterIslander (Initiated Bargaining)