Media release: FIRST Union
Friday March 30, 2012

Auckland Has Its Port Back But This Never Should Have Happened

Auckland citizens, workers and businesses will welcome news that their Port will be up and running again soon, following Port management’s dropping of their plan to casualise its workforce, FIRST Union said today.

FIRST Union represents workers in affected industries like retail, transport and logistics, and General Secretary Robert Reid said workers and businesses in these industries will welcome news the Ports will be at full capacity before long.

“This dispute was already impacting on workers as incoming freight dried up and was diverted to other Ports.”

“The blame for this lies squarely with the stubbornness of Ports of Auckland management and governance in their attempts to dismiss then casualise their workforce, not workers defending basic protections and secure work.”

Robert Reid said that despite the good news for Ports workers today, 1,000 meat workers are in their fifth week of being locked out, and workers needed to both offer their support to the meat workers, and remain on guard against an increased employer appetite for hard-nosed employment practises.

ENDS

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