Political representatives supporting Local 13: from left, Labour Party MPs Shane Jones, Jacinda Ardern, and Darien Fenton, Auckland City Councillor Cathy Casey, MUNZ National President Garry Parsloe and Green Party MP Denise Roche
Ports of Auckland update Collective agreement The MUNZ–POAL Collective Agreement expired on 30 September 2012. It is not the end of the world that the agreement expires. The conditions of employment will continue as an individual agreement based on the expired Collective. A small group of workers with membership of a new organization called “Portpro” have ratified a collective agreement with POAL. We are not concerned about this document. Already with the expiry of our Collective Agreement POAL was able to offer terms to new employees that were different from ours. The Facilitation process is continuing and following a visit by a Health and Safety expert we have 3 days of Facilitation set down for mid October. We are confident that we will be able to enter into a Collective Agreement. Once our Collective Agreement is settled it will need to be offered to new employees as the MUNZ Collective will cover the largest group of employees. Those who have chosen the Portpro Collective will not be able to come on to the MUNZ Collective. MUNZ has challenged the Portpro registration in the Employment Relations Authority and will keep you advised as to how that case develops. 6 | The Maritimes | Spring 2012
Making POAL accountable
MUNZ is continuing with our efforts to ensure the public and our political representatives are aware that the dispute is ongoing and that it does not need to be. The costs of this dispute and the delays in settling a collective agreement are unnecessary. The Council Controlled Organisation – Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL) – who own the POAL on our behalf while saying they can’t be responsible for monitoring the costs of the dispute have been shown to be working with the POAL to keep our elected representatives from asking questions. We met with Mayor Len Brown on 3 October to brief him and to ensure that he is aware of our concerns and how there is a settlement to be had in this long standing dispute. A settlement that provides for a fair collective agreement that protects our right to security while being flexible and achieving a good outcome for our owners – the people of Auckland. There are also a number of Councillors who are very concerned about our dispute and who are doing their best to demand information and to push for a fair settlement.
New bill aims for port transparency A new private members bill that would increase the transparency and accountability of publicly owned New Zealand ports is being supported by the Maritime Union. Labour MP Darien Fenton has put forward the Local Government (Council-Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill which saw fierce debate in Parliament in September. The bill would change the law to bring publicly owned ports into line with other public assets. Official information laws that allow the public to request information about the operations of those businesses – but ports are excluded. This situation has been seen in the Ports of Auckland dispute, where the amount of money being spent by the port company on attacking workers’ conditions has been kept under wraps. Ms Fenton says while the ACIL Statement of Intent makes it clear they are “accountable for the prudent governance and management” of the investments they hold on behalf of the Auckland Council, there is no ability for the public who actually own the Port to test that accountability. “Every Port in New Zealand is either fully or partially publicly owned, but a gap in the current legislation excludes Ports from being accountable under the Official Information Act. That means valid questions about the performance of Ports Boards do not have to be answered.” The Maritime Union has asked Auckland Council request accountability for the actions of Ports of Auckland Limited management and the costs incurred to the people of Auckland in the long running dispute. Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the Union congratulates Ms Fenton on the bill, which would also require ports to act as a good employer, and show social and environmental responsibility in their communities.
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