Lyttelton Port workers threaten six-day strike

Workers at the Lyttelton Port Company are threatening to walk off the job for up to six days from this week.

The port company told the stock exchange yesterday it had received six separate stopwork notices from the combined unions at the port, signalling potential industrial action from 11pm on Thursday through to 11pm next Wednesday.

The company said if the strike went ahead all port work areas would be affected except the signal tower, gatehouse and monitoring of refrigerated cargo.

Chief executive Peter Davie said the timing of the potential action was the peak exporting period for many of its customers.

If the strike ran the full six days, he said, Lyttelton could miss about 10 ship visits. Most would probably carry on to the next port on their schedule and transfer cargo to and from those locations, taking trade away from Lyttelton.

Pacifica Shipping, Lyttelton Stevedoring Services and Toll Logistics would be unaffected, said the port company.

The port and the unions have been negotiating for two months over the main site collective employment agreement, which covers around 240 staff.

Davie said the major sticking point between the company and the unions was the use of permanent part-time workers, or PRPs, and the ratio of permanent part-timers to permanent full-timers.

"We've got talks for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday all day, so we're working hard to resolve the issues."

The port is no stranger to bitter labour disputes, largely over its attempts to provide round-the-clock service; negotiations over that issue lasted from 2000 to 2003.

In 2002, the company said shipping line Maersk Sealand had decided to stop doing business with Lyttelton because of a number of factors including Lyttelton's inability to provide effective turnaround times.

And in 1999 a woman died after a car drove through a picket line of workers during a protest over the company's plan to contract out coal handling.

Lyttelton Port's shares closed yesterday at $1.63, a fall of 3c.

- NZPA, HERALD STAFF