Maritime Union of New Zealand workers at Port Chalmers voted unanimously at a stopwork meeting yesterday to reject the latest counter-proposal by Port Otago on a restructuring plan which would include 10 redundancies.
Maritime union national president and Port Chalmers secretary Phil Adams said after the meeting: "The proposals will either reduce our conditions of employment and health and safety, or lead to redundancies. Our members will not accept these outcomes."
Port Otago and the maritime union have during the past fortnight unsuccessfully put forward counter-proposals for initiating a "vessel operations team" to work 10-hour graveyard shifts.
The sticking point has been whether the team concept retained pay and conditions both had agreed to under a two-year deal struck in 2008.
The maritime union intends returning to work under its existing two-year contract, but the restructuring proposal looms as a flashpoint to shatter more than 20 strike-free years at Port Chalmers, if redundancy notices begin being handed out.
More than 200 maritime union staff, including about 60 from the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, attended the meeting yesterday afternoon.
Mr Adams met Port Otago management after the meeting but, when contacted, chief executive Geoff Plunket said it was "too early to comment" on the rejected offer.
Mr Adams said he had received support for the Port Chalmers members' stance from union branches around the country, the International Transport Workers Federation and affiliated Maritime Union of Australia.
