Lyttelton Port offers Striking Union Members what they say they want

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Mar 23, 2018 - Lyttelton Port has offered the striking Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) members what they say they want - the same deal as offered to the other major Union at the Port (MUNZ).

LPC Operations Manager Paul Monk says the Company has made RMTU members exactly the same offer as made to their Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) colleagues. This is the deal RMTU says in media today it wants.

“We need to be very clear about this. Lyttelton Port has not rejected the RMTU members’ requests for pay parity with MUNZ, as reported in some media this morning.

“The dispute could be instantly settled if RMTU would, in fact, accept the same offer we made to MUNZ. But the RMTU will not accept the same deal. We have offered them parity with MUNZ and they walked away from it.

“They did this because they do not want to make the roster changes which their MUNZ colleagues accepted as part of their offer.

“The RMTU members are demanding the same salary increases as their MUNZ colleagues but they refuse to do the same work. They claim the roster changes are unsafe and that is why they will not agree to them. However, MUNZ is fine with the roster changes. It agreed to them a year ago. MUNZ has had no safety issues with the roster changes.

“Even though we do not accept there are health and safety issues with that roster, in response to RMTU’s objections we then offered them a very generous 3% salary increase each year for three years with no roster changes. We did this in an effort to settle the dispute and avoid the significant disruption being caused to shipping lines, importers, exporters and the wider region.

“It would unfairly disadvantage all the 200 MUNZ members who work in our Port if we agreed to what the RMTU wants. The RMTU wants a better deal than its MUNZ Union colleagues received.

“We are a fair employer but we cannot accept the Union’s unreasonable demands.

“The RMTU has claimed that they have presented eight options to us “some of which would cost nothing”. We are unaware of eight options – and certainly not any options which would have no cost to LPC. We are writing to the Union today to seek clarification.

“We remain committed to settling the dispute. It is the RMTU which will not budge.”

| A Ports Of Lyttleton relaese || March 23, 2018 |||