KEY POINTS:
Auckland waterside workers appear set to walk off the job again tomorrow, after the failure of mediated talks on Friday.
Although tomorrow's stoppage is due to last for only three hours and 15 minutes from 10am - in contrast to last week's 48-hour strike by 265 members of the Maritime Union - the prospect of it and two more to come is unnerving the freight industry.
"I think it will be quite disruptive," Chris Carr, of road carriers Carr and Haslam, said last night.
The port company says it is working to ensure a series of three rolling strikes planned by the union between tomorrow and Labour Day will have "minimal impact" on freight operations.
But it is not believed to have any talks scheduled with the union today, after Friday's failure to break a 10-month pay impasse, despite the efforts of two industrial mediators.
Union branch president Denis Carlisle acknowledged that the port company amended its rejected offer of a 3.25 per cent pay rise, but said his team was unable to accept a requirement that it be kept confidential.
"That sort of approach makes it very difficult - we have to consult our rank and file members," he said.
He said the company then withdrew its offer and in turn rejected a union proposal to amend its own pay claims.
Mr Carlisle said he would keep details of the aborted offer confidential, but would hold a strategy meeting with his executive tomorrow morning before addressing an all-up session with the membership on thestate of the dispute.
He confirmed having lodged a notice of a third three-hour strike on Labour Day with the company, after the collapse of Friday's talks.
Those were held in the presence of a mediator recommended by the Council of Trade Unions, as well as of a senior Labour Department official with extensive experience of waterfront disputes.
Mr Carlisle said his members would strike on Labour Day to draw attention to the fact that it would otherwise be a normal operating day for the port, even though it was supposed to be a celebration of workers' rights.
"To hell with family life - we have to work when everybody else is having a day of celebration."
