Auckland watersiders settle for 13pc pay rise

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

When Auckland waterfront unionists and port officials reached a last-minute employment deal for Christmas it was too late for Santa's shopping list - all the pay clerks had gone on holiday.

Waterfront Workers' Union branch president Denis Carlisle said his members were resigned to a further delay before they received almost a year's backpay, equal to 2.7 per cent of their salaries, from Ports of Auckland.

They had already held out for more than a year to get what they considered a foundation document, pulling together five collective contracts and many individual deals into a single agreement.

Though Mr Carlisle had been under fire at a ratification meeting last week, when one final rostering dispute remained in the way of a settlement, he said the union members now knew more money would be available when the Christmas bills came in.

When the new agreement is signed, at the end of January, about 220 workers at the Axis Fergusson and Axis Bledisloe container terminals will get a 5.5 per cent base pay rise for two years.

Productivity bonuses and backdating, on top of a 3 per cent interim increase last year, boost the overall rise to what the union says is about 13 per cent over three years.

The bonuses are aimed at shortening turnaround times at the two container terminals, in a bid to draw larger ships to Auckland.

Mr Carlisle, whose union called two strikes when negotiations stalled, said the port company had withdrawn threats to contract out maintenance work on two new cranes arriving next year from China, and to lease out its Bledisloe terminal.