Nelson freight ferry service again delayed

Press, 10 August 1985, Page 2

Nelson freight ferry service again delayed

PA Nelson Port Nelson cargo workers earning $33,000 a year plus allowances have placed an eleventh hour union ban on the freight ferry Spirit of Free Enterprise, according to the Nelson Harbour Board. The Nelson-Wellington freight service run by Pacifica Shipping, Ltd, was due to begin tomorrow after months of delay. The board’s general manager, Mr Doug Green, said the Harbour Board Employees’ Union was demanding that an extra man be employed on the service to do nothing. “It should be understood the Nelson Harbour Board cargo service workers are amongst the highest paid workers on the Nelson waterfront,” he said. “In the last fiscal year

they were paid an everage of $33,000 each plus allowances and in this year the cost is expected to be even greater. “No business can survive paying that sort of money for an employee to do nothing.” The Port Conciliation Committee ruled on Wednesday that only one Harbour Board employee was needed on the service in the interim. The union has rejected this finding in placing the ban on the service in support of its demand that two employees be paid. Both Pacifica ‘ and the Harbour Board argue that there is insufficient work for two men. The Spirit of Free Enterprise was finally to have berthed in Nelson last Sunday but the service was

blocked by the Harbour Board Employees’ Union. A new arrival date of tomorrow was scheduled after the ruling by the industrial committee. Freight orders had been taken but the arrival date is now unclear. A Nelson union official referred comment to the national office in Wellington, but the Harbour Boards’ Employees Union secretary, Mr Ralph Gerdelan, was not available. “Pacifica has, in my opinion, fairly made provision for one man to be employed,” Mr Green said. “Everyone has known a freight-type vessel would come to Nelson,” said Mr Green. “It is totally unacceptable it should be left until now to take industrial action over the situation.”