The Standard » workers’ rights

Save our Port

Bunji — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:15:13 +0000

It's slipped down the news agenda but is about to come back up it: The Ports of Auckland Dispute. Tony Gibson is wasting our money on his union-busting campaign that will result in reduced profits for ratepayers. Sign up to make him see sense.

Congrats on raising the minimum wage John

Bunji — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:59:27 +0000

Shame you couldn't raise it to a living one though. The working poor will appreciate the extra $1000 per year coming this April, but it still won't cover their bills...

POAL sleaze

IrishBill — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:26:22 +0000

I've heard that POAL has private detectives following union officials around and taking photos.

I'd imagine that's where "scoops" like this are coming from.

Marryatt must go

James Henderson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:41:04 +0000

Most Kiwis have had no payrise, if they're lucky enough to have kept their jobs, in the past few years. Yet Christchurch City Council CEO Tony Marryatt has kept on getting pay rises on his obscene salary, even as his job performance has declined. Now the arrogant bastard is saying he'll keep $34,000 he doesn't deserve unless the elected council 'behaves'. There is no justification for this madness. Sack him.

Ports of Auckland and casualisation

FairnessAtWork — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:57:43 +0000

CTU President Helen Kelly talks about the Ports of Auckland and the effects of casualisation on workers and workplace health and safety.

Ports of Auckland vs 400,000 wharfies

James Henderson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:30:57 +0000

Tony Gibson with his $750,000 salary and his senior managers on half a million each may have thought they had it easy beating up on some $27 an hour workers so that they could increase profits by cutting wages but they failed to calculate that those 330 workers are backed by 400,000 brothers and sisters around the world.

Local board members support wharfies

The Standard — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:24:42 +0000

The travesty of the Port of Auckland dispute is that we have a publicly-owned company trying to slash its workers' pay so that it can try to undercut another majority publicly owned company that has already slashed wages, the only winners being the foreign shipping lines. Well, here's some of our representatives standing up for Auckland workers.

There is no alternative

Zetetic — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:03:33 +0000

Work conditions in the Right's ideal world:

Stevedores only paid while actually unloading containers
Firemen only paid when fighting fires
Emergency doctors only paid while saving lives
Soldiers only paid if under fire
All Blacks only paid while handling the ball/tackling
~~MPs only paid while in the House~~
~~CEOs not paid while at their Papamoa beach-house~~

1951 it ain’t, for now

Eddie — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:38:05 +0000

Some have compared the Port of Auckland dispute to the 1890 waterfront dispute, 1913 general strike, and 1951 lockout. They want Labour and the Greens to get involved. Actually, this is no 1951 redux. The POA fight is just about one company trying to undercut another. The net effect on New Zealand is zero. The last thing the workers need is Labour creating an excuse for National to attack them.

Meet the wharfies and their families

The Standard — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:50:56 +0000

The Port of Auckland and its National Party allies would have you believe that the stevedores are monsters for not be willing to accept a 20% pay cut so that POA can try to undercut Port of Tauranga (where's the 'national interest' in that, again?). But, let's hear from these workers, and their families, as they struggle to protect their livelihood.

Report shows ports not to blame for freight costs

Eddie — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:19:17 +0000

The Productivity Commission reports that freight costs are 25% higher here than in Australia and freight costs as a % of cargo value has risen in recent years. Their solution? Make the public and port workers poorer by privatisation and casualisation. Of course, those are ideological goals, not solutions to the freight cost issue, which has nothing to do with ports.

Stick a fork in Port management, they’re done

James Henderson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:03:45 +0000

A leaked Ports of Auckland strategy document shows their goal is to reduce the stevedores' wages by 20%. They were planning to manufacture a crisis even before the stevedores' collective expired. They've been rumbled breaking the law by not bargaining in good faith. Their political support will now evaporate. They should cut their losses, and a deal with the workers, now.

Why does the Right think port workers’ pay should be cut?

James Henderson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:18:42 +0000

National high flyer Jami-Lee Ross, Ports of Auckland's chief shill, and Fran O'Sullivan all joined the fray over the port dispute yesterday. How does their line that the workers are overpaid marry with the Port's claim that they're offering pay rises? Does the Port project its wage bill would rise or fall if its offer were to be accepted? And what to make of this 'national interest' line?

Ports of Auckland wage numbers

lprent — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:05:05 +0000

There has been some interesting material floating around in comments and on facebook about the Ports of Auckland waterside disputing workers wages. Looks like we are starting to get some more information outside of the right wing nut job sites. Ultimately the information has to be provided by the Ports of Auckland because they are the only organisation that holds the wages data across employees. But the figures provided by the P0A (the 91k) include overtime payments, shift payments, superannuation subsidies, medical insurance subsidies and hardly constitute a normal wage that the employee would see..

1000 member challenge

Jenny Michie — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:06:09 +0000

My challenge (as part of my new life as expert communications / campaign / recruitment consultant to the stars) over the next 6 weeks is to encourage 1000 union members to bring their family into the union family for just $1 a week. That’s 1000 people who are already members of a union affiliated to the CTU to sign up their own family and whanau members to Together