Strike notice issued after contract fail

A union representing Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) workers has issued a strike notice after talks to broker a new collective contract broke down last week.

The notice, filed with the port on Friday, gives 14 days’ prior warning of an overtime ban for all mechanical and electrical maintenance workers.

The action is the same as one issued late 2014, which closed the container terminal overnight on successive weekends and saw some ships miss calls into Lyttelton.

LPC chief executive Peter Davie expected the impact of the overtime ban to be minimal, saying customers would be kept informed of any developments.

The move comes after mediation between the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and the port last Tuesday failed to reach an agreement over proposed pay and roster changes.

That meeting was the 21st in a series of negotiations for a new collective contract covering about 200 waterfront workers.

More mediation will take place tomorrow.

The port has accused the union of ‘‘unrealistic’’ demands for pay increases, while the union in turn says there ‘‘isn’t enough money on the table’’ for them to accept the roster changes.

They have raised concerns about safety, arguing a working group set up to look into fatigue at the port should have time to make recommendations before any changes were made to workers’ hours.

‘‘Management wants to change people’s hours of work so that the port can operate 24/7,’’ RMTU South Island organiser John Kerr said.

‘‘We have no problem with that – as long as it’s done safely, and people are compensated for those hours.’’

Davie previously said the port’s focus on safety ‘‘underpins everything we do’’, adding LPC had made RMTU members a ‘‘generous offer’’ to accept ‘‘small changes’’.

The port offered annual salary increases of at least 3 per cent.

It could not agree to the RMTU’s demands of up to 15.45 per cent for some of its members ‘‘especially when most of them are already paid well above the average New Zealand wage’’.

Davie was the highest paid public boss in Christchurch last year, taking home $955,000 – a point of contention for many union members who considered his salary excessive.

Cargo handlers at the port earned about $25 an hour, while skilled tradesmen earned about

$30 an hour, Kerr said.

Kerr said the 15.45 per cent increase applied to about 25 of the

200 workers covered by the collective, saying it balanced out proposed roster changes which could result in them potentially losing $6000 a year in overtime, though the port disputed this.

‘‘These changes will impact people’s ability to spend time with their families and earn a decent living,’’ Kerr said.

The roughly 35 mechanical and electrical maintenance workers covered under the collective were the first responders in the event of an emergency or incident at the port’s container terminal.

At present, there was only cover on weekend nights if they did overtime – once this was pulled, other workers could refuse to work on safety grounds, Kerr said.

‘‘The port can’t operate if they aren’t at work.’’

Kerr hoped tomorrow’s mediation would result in the two parties coming to an agreement.

Davie said he, too, hoped that an agreement could be reached soon.