A committed protest campaign is being promised by the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) in light of Port Otago seeking up to a dozen voluntary redundancies.
Currently employing 170 container stevedoring staff, the port company made the job-cut announcement this week to counter what it expects will be a 10% decline in container trade this export season predominantly due to it losing Maersk Line transhipment business.
However, the news comes hot on the heels of a very good result for Port Otago during the 2010-2011 financial year - in which EBITDA comparably rose 7% to a record NZ$32.4m (US$25.7m) and underlying profit after tax increased 12% to a record NZ$13.3m.
RMTU national secretary Wayne Butson said it is “completely unacceptable” that a publicly-owned company could consider throwing people out of work in such circumstances.
“Those workers created the wealth that was paid out to Otago Regional Council as a dividend and this is the thanks they get,” he said.
“The Combined Unions will be doing everything we can to try and turn this proposal around. Unemployment is rising nationally and this region is suffering disproportionally.”
