Members of the Maritime Union of New Zealand and Rail and Maritime Transport Union will meet today to decide on ratifying a new proposal by Port Otago, MUNZ Port Chalmers branch secretary Phil Adams said yesterday when contacted.
About three weeks ago the workers rejected a 6% pay offer this year and 4% offer for next year, however, the main sticking point surrounded overtime and the hours worked for the "graveyard" third shift.
The initial offer rejection prompted a two-week notice of an overtime ban, followed by failed mediation talks, a brief overtime ban last week, then suspension of the industrial action, followed by a successful mediation round on Thursday and Friday last week.
Mr Adams was unable to disclose the new proposal yesterday until MUNZ officials and the members had been updated, but described the mediation outcome as "having made significant progress".
While there have not been outright strikes or overtime bans at Port Chalmers for about 21 years, the last major industrial action at Port Chalmers by the union was in late-2000.
At the time the former Waterfront Workers Union picketed Carter Holt Harvey-chartered log ships at Port Chalmers after Carter's hired Tauranga-based Mainland Stevedoring staff, who belonged to the relatively new Amalgamated Stevedores Union.
To a back drop of "local jobs for local people" and claims of job casualisation, the union picketed three ships about 12 times with action ranging from peaceful, to verbal abuse and borderline lawlessness.
