Port pay talks stall after watersiders walk out

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 3

Port pay talks stall after watersiders walk out

PAM MORTON

Lyttelton watersiders have been accused of stalling the container terminal award talks by taking widespread industrial action at the port.

Workers walked off the job for 48 hours after holding a stop-work meeting yesterday morning. The strike action left the container terminal and the rest of the port idle. Employers negotiating the container terminal award cancelled yesterday’s talks when workers failed to return to work in the terminal. The employers’ advocate, Mr John Button, said the breakdown was a disappointment to employers and a further delay to waterfront reform. “The fact that Lyttelton waterfront workers have gone home until Thursday means that a major sector of the workers covered by the award are on strike. “No union can expect negotiations to proceed while strike action is

being used.” Mr Button said the strike had come as a surprise because the union had earlier indicated that the terminals would be free from strike action to enable talks to get under way. “It would appear that the Waterfront Workers’ Union doesn’t even want to negotiate, let alone settle,” he said. The union’s general secretary, Mr Sam Jennings, disputed Mr Button’s statement, saying container workers’ award talks had started only on Monday and had simply been adjourned. He expected negotiations would resume, perhaps next week. Mr Jennings said the union had been told Lyttelton workers had taken

action over a delay in getting medical help to a worker injured on a ship gangway on Monday. The action by watersiders at Lyttelton has stranded four ships at the port. About 800 cars are waiting to be discharged from the Akebono Reefer and the Hansa Bremen. The Master T, carrying 10,000 tonnes of sulphur, has been delayed by the dispute, and the new container ship Prospect made her first visit to the port yesterday only to be delayed by the industrial action. The Chinese rollon vessel Zhang Jai Kou remains anchored outside the harbour. The president of the Lyttelton branch of the National Association of Waterfront Employers, Mr

Brian Stevens, said intermittent strikes were causing more problems for employers than any prolonged action. “You’re not sure whether you will be working or how many gangs will be required,” he said. Lyttelton was the only container terminal affected by strike action yesterday, but the ports of Nelson, Timaru, Napier, Tauranga and Whangarei were affected by striking watersiders. About 30 ships have been stranded by the dispute. In Timaru four vessels are tied up at the port — including two ships which were to have returned to sea yesterday. Workers there will meet tomorrow moring to discuss a return to work.

The branch secretary, Mr Brian O’Driscoll, said the mood of the men “was not too good at all.” Disputes on the waterfront have escalated as watersiders strike in protest over their stalled national award talks. Talks between workers and employers broke down on Thursday with no progress in the discussions. The Waterfront Workers’ Union says the dispute hinges on employers’ demands for individual employment agreements for each port, while watersiders are adamant they want to keep a national award. The. next step in the dispute will be decided at a meeting of the union’s national executive in Wellington today.