Tauranga talks at impasse

Press, 6 December 1989, Page 8

Tauranga talks at impasse

PA Wellington Talks between Tauranga port employers and watersiders broke down yesterday afternoon after two days of negotiations on an employment code. “We have reached an impasse,” Port Tauranga’s industrial council spokesman, Mr Gary Blair, said. The employer’s offer of five days work over seven was rejected by the workers, he said. The union wants the old Monday

to Friday week. “The only option they could see in the situation was another interim agreement on a Monday to Friday basis,” Mr Blair said. While no further talks have been scheduled, national secretary of the Waterfront Workers’ Union, Mr Sam Jennings, said the situation may change overnight. Work at Tauranga — the biggest conventional port in New Zealand — has been stopped since November 10. The effects of the stoppage continue to spread. The forestry

industry, the main supplier of export cargo for the port, is virtually closing down, with forestry companies stopping logging in the central North Island. About 400 jobs have been directly affected so far, with more lay-offs expected this week. The chairman of Port Tauranga, Ltd, Mr Fraser McKenzie, said the cost of the stoppage was estimated in tens of millions of dollars in lost markets overseas, added internal transport costs and the cost of shipping stranded at the port.