Lyttleton Port issues lockout over pay feud

The New Zealand port will be closed for several days later this month as its dispute continues with the Rail and Maritime Transport Union.    Lyttelton Port Co. (LPC) said upcoming strikes will close the port for several days later this month.
   The New Zealand port is scheduled to be closed from April 20 to 24 and April 26 to 29.
   Non-container vessels that are berthed will be able to work throughout the strikes, but there will not be any vessel movements during this period, LPC said.
   The strikes stem from a disagreement between LPC and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) regarding pay.
   LPC will not pay any of RMTU’s 191 members for the days for which it receives a strike notice, even though the vast majority of the members are not partaking in the strike action.
   “The union has refused our very generous offer, which is well above inflation,” LPC CEO Peter Davie said. “The dispute is about only one thing: The RMTU wants a better settlement than the other major union at our port, the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ).
   “The RMTU claims it wants the same offer we made MUNZ, but it has rejected it,” Davie explained. “The RMTU members want the same salary increases as MUNZ, but they will not make the roster changes MUNZ agreed to as part of their offer.
   “RMTU members have already lost more pay than their negotiators can possibly recover for them, and the longer the union refuses our offer the more its members will lose,” he added.
   However, John Kerr, South Island organizer for the RMTU, argued, “Half our members work in security, maintenance and marine services, alongside colleagues who are paid more than them for doing exactly the same jobs on the same terms. The other half work as cargo handlers who LPC wants to force onto unsafe rosters as a condition of being paid the same as their colleagues.”
   Looking ahead, LPC said it is committed to resolving the dispute, but it remains steadfast in its position that it will not offer the RMTU a “better deal” than MUNZ.
   LPC claims to provide the largest port and container service in the South Island. In terms of liner services, BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool shows the port is called by eight that also call ports outside New Zealand, seven of which deploy fully cellular containerships and one that deploys multipurpose ships.