National Secretary Report

CRAIG HARRISON NATIONAL SECRETARY

It’s hard to believe that we are approaching the end of another year, with so much going on around our country and in our industry both on the docks and at sea, you start to lose track of time. The recent National Council meeting held in Auckland to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Ports of Auckland dispute was one of the most successful and engaged meetings that I have attended recently. I would like to congratulate the delegates and the observers who were able to attend the meeting. There were numerous highlights for me but in general seeing highly engaged membership says a lot on where we are heading. The feedback from other guests who enjoyed the celebration was that they are all impressed with our members engagement.

The coastal shipping campaign has been a great success and as I write this report, we are hearing of more ships coming onto the New Zealand coast. This doesn’t mean we can rest. We now have to push for a National Ports Strategy that ensures these vessels have somewhere to go with a focus on shipping.

With the change of government in Australia we can explore with our comrades in the MUA the possibility of developing trans-Tasman trade with New Zealand and Australian flagged and crewed ships. This is not an easy task, but I believe it is one that we should seriously consider given the nature of international shipping and the ongoing congestion issues, and the significant amount of trade between the two countries.

I congratulate our Seafaring members on the new Maersk and Swire’s ships as they have faced an uphill battle with the condition of the ships brought onto the coast. It is telling that one of the Maersk ships has been detained in Auckland with various issues that need to be rectified. These are the same ships that have been operating in New Zealand waters with foreign crews, sailing in substandard condition. However progress is being made by our members to improve this.

The current Government is finally starting to properly resource Maritime New Zealand. This potentially means better ship inspections and an improvement in the MNZ primary role of enforcing safety on vessels on the New Zealand coast. Unfortunately, previous Governments with their agenda of privatisation and deregulation underfunded important regulatory agencies in the past.

With the loss of the New Zealand flagged tankers our industry has lost one of the primary training platforms in our country. Our Union has been lobbying Government for support in training New Zealanders into seagoing roles on our coast.

Shipping companies operating in New Zealand must realise that while they are able to operate in New Zealand, they also have an obligation to invest in New Zealanders to ensure the industry has the capacity to grow and meet future demands.

Our Union is exploring ways in which current members who are required to refresh their tickets can do this with support, be it through some form of subsidy or study grant from a government agency, and also talking with shipping companies.

As new tonnage comes onto the coast, we need to Unionise these vessels. It comes down to old fashioned Unionism, going and talking with the crews.

We will soon see the wind farm projects starting to develop off our coast. Our Union will develop a strategy to enhance employment in the sector and ensure New Zealanders are trained and capable of filling the various roles.

This will mean our Union looking at mapping the various roles in the industry

and the qualifications required. We have already met with one of the providers and over the coming months we will look to sit down and further develop a relationship for the industry.

Leading up to the National Council meeting our Union secured a Collective Agreement with ISO which will change the entire Stevedoring industry. It’s been interesting to see the response from other companies in the industry as they are starting to realize that change is coming. All credit must go to George Lye and Mana who through their commitment to their fellow workers will bring some balance back into the life of Port workers. I would also like to thank Auckland Branch Secretary Russell Mayn for the hard work over the last four years to get us to where we sit today.

The commitment of Auckland members of our Union who saw the wisdom in committing substantial funding to run the legal campaign was essential. Without this sort of commitment we would have struggled to change anything.

It goes without saying that our lawyer Simon Mitchell has been a big part of our success not only with George and ISO, but also over the years in the fights at the Ports of Auckland and numerous others.

Leading on from the success with securing the Collective Agreement with ISO our Union has employed a National Organiser as we gear up to look to establishing a Fair Pay Agreement for our industry.

Some may have questions about this, but put simply if we are going to stop the race to the bottom happening in our industry then we have to establish a decent minimum standard and ensure no one is dragged down beneath this level.

Some employers will welcome such a move. It ensures good operators are not undermined by competition on the basis of exploiting casual labour and poor staffing levels.

The whole port sector is short of labour, as workers have seen it as less attractive compared with comparable jobs. The same exporters and importers complaining there is no one to load their cargo have often been the same voices demanding a race to the bottom in industry conditions.

I get sick of hearing from some managers and owners that we need more immigration to solve the shortages, as if migrants can some how miraculously live cheaper here than New Zealanders. It’s the same clowns that have got our country into the state it is in and we need to call them out for what they are.

On a positive note, we are starting to see some real growth within our Union on the waterfront and I am confident the strategy to employ a National Organiser will see our Union start to win back the

density that we previously had.

This won’t come easy, and it will take time to develop the relationship with these new members and educate them on Unionism – what it means, how it operates and how they are involved. Within our Union we will need a bit of tolerance while we sort through issues and educate new members.

I am pleased to inform our members that in the New Year our Union will be sending Fiona Mansell (Wellington) and Jake Wilson (Lyttelton) to Australia to work with the MUA to build our delegate training programme.

A comprehensive training strategy will strengthen our job delegates and give our Union a strong and unified membership. A strong educated membership supports well educated delegates that have the confidence to stand up to any employer. Thanks to the MUA for this opportunity as it will strengthen our trans-Tasman commitment and help in developing our region.

Our Union has been involved with Maritime New Zealand and WorkSafe over the last couple of years as the industry deals with fatigue and the effects it has on workers. The industry has been under scrutiny as we saw the terrible situation of two successive deaths within the industry earlier this year. It has been disappointing that it has taken more loss of life to create change within the industry.

Our Union must not let the deaths within our industry be in vain. Our campaigning must be as hard as ever seeking change. My recent experience at industry meetings is there is a realisation that change is needed. It has been encouraging in the recent months to see all the major players come onboard. The recent announcement focusing on fatigue and outlining what good practice looks like will force our industry to change for all the right reasons. There will be substantial training needed within our membership, so they understand the reason for such a move.

Our Union has been campaigning for a national safety standard in stevedoring and port operations. At this stage there has been debate at meetings facilitated by Maritime New Zealand in introducing structures to strengthen safety within the port sector. Our Union would like to see a Code of Practice (ACOP) established by the industry, similar to Australia. This will be a big bit of work that both our Union and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) are involved with. During the work on fatigue both MUNZ and RMTU have collaborated well on this project. I am sure this significant amount of work will see progress in the New Year.

In the New Year our Union will have further conversations between Branches of possible amalgamations or closer collaborations. This will result in our Union making better use of the collective resources of our Union.

I would like to congratulate the Lyttelton and Timaru Branches on coming together and I am sure this collaboration will set the scene for further growth of members between both ports. Along with the amalgamation between Northland and Auckland, it shows how developing strong regions means we are able to deliver for our members.

In finishing I would like to thank our staff in our national office who get through all the work that is needed to keep a Union running and growing, also the work that our Communications officer Victor does to get our message out and keep our online presence up to date.

I would like to wish members, staff, veterans, and the local officials and organisers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. As we lead into Christmas there will be a significant amount of work going on as we lay the platform for growth on the New Year.

Thanks again to all that contribute and make our Union successful.