Port boss hits slopes during strike
Photographs have emerged of Lyttelton Port Company chief executive Peter Davie on a skiing holiday in central Europe while striking workers step up their protest action.
The Facebook pictures have inflamed an already acrimonious dispute as members of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) halted trains heading to the port by protesting beside the Lyttelton rail tunnels yesterday.
‘‘It’s pretty clear now when we go into negotiations in the morning, and the negotiators are unable to respond, it’s because they’re awaiting instructions from Peter Davie who’s tucked up asleep in a chalet in the Austrian Alps,’’ union organiser John Kerr said.
Davie is flying home from Europe on Monday when the port is due to reopen after a five-day stoppage, but before he returns the workers will vote on whether to take further industrial action.
In a prepared statement released yesterday, Lyttelton Port chairman Trevor Burt said Davie had been meeting with important overseas clients to reassure them about the situation at Lyttelton, and to outline future service developments.
‘‘On completing these meetings, he was due for some leave. However, during this time he has remained almost constantly in touch with the negotiating team, myself and the board while continuing to lead all aspects of our contingency planning and response to the industrial action,’’ Burt said.
‘‘Peter is scheduled to be back in our Waterfront House head office [on] Monday. He is currently on route to New Zealand.’’
Kerr said Davie had never been directly involved in negotiations because North Island-based industrial specialist consultant Paul Weaver had taken over the primary negotiating role from Lyttelton Port’s local industrial relations manager, Marius Oosthuizen.
The website of Wheeler’s company, Weaver & Weaver, shows he has given advice on negotiations and restructuring to companies such as DB Breweries, Mercury Energy, Forman Group, Frucor and Carter Holt Harvey.
Lyttelton Port has rejected RMTU members’ requests for pay parity with the other main union at the port, the Maritime Union of New Zealand.
The company wants the striking workers to agree to more flexible rosters, which the union says compromise safety.
The union has offered several other bargaining options but the port company has not engaged over them, Kerr said.
Members had decided to hold a ballot on further industrial action to resolve the dispute, and that would occur at meetings over the next couple of days.
‘‘Lyttelton Port Company has … made changes to the hours of work at the port which increase the risk of fatigue. And they’re refusing to budge, despite us meeting with them multiple times and providing up to eight different options to resolve this dispute,’’ Kerr said.