Port Otago management is still considering a counter offer this week from the Maritime Union of New Zealand over a problematic restructuring proposal.
The original proposal to introduce a new "vessel operations team" has twice been rejected by the union.
Port Otago and the union have been unable to agree on whether workers' pay and conditions had been retained or changed under contract negotiations agreed to last year.
Under the proposal, there would be 36 redundancies.
Twenty-six staff would then be hired for the new operations team division - a net loss of 10 jobs from the 320-strong workforce.
Details of the union's counter proposal, which prompted postponement of a stopwork meeting last Friday, have yet to be released publicly.
The maritime union held its two-monthly meeting yesterday, with about 120 staff in attendance, but the union did not seek a mandate from its members on its counter proposal.
Instead, it was waiting to hear back from Port Otago before going to a vote, Port Chalmers secretary Phil Adams said.
The union has said the flat-rate, no-overtime pay rates for a 10-hour graveyard shift disadvantaged staff.
However, that claim was rejected last week by Port Otago chief executive Geoff Plunket, who said hours and pay would not be affected.
