Boatbuilders walk off job

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Work on five luxury superyachts was interrupted at a West Auckland boatyard yesterday when more than 150 tradespeople walked out.

The workers - including welders, steel fabricators, painters and electricians - will stay on strike today against Sensation Yachts before meeting on Monday morning to decide their next move.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union organiser Mick Loughran said they wanted a 4 per cent pay rise, overtime for working more than 40 hours a week, and penal rates for Saturday mornings.

The company had increased its pay offer slightly to 2.2 per cent during a three-week overtime ban, he said, but still refused to pay above ordinary rates on Saturday mornings unless workers had done 48 hours during the week.

Sensation Yachts was one of the country's most successful boatbuilding yards, but was not paying its highly skilled team as much as competitors, he said.

A company spokesman denied paying less than market rates, and said performance reviews had lifted the average increase last year to 5 per cent, after agreement on a 2 per cent rise in the base rate.

Managing director Ivan Erceg was overseas trying to win more business for the company, and had asked union negotiators to wait until his return at Easter for another attempt to reach a deal.