Mainfreight MD Don Braid has slammed proposed strike action on the Interislander as “bloody disruptive,” taking the country back “to the bad old days of industrial strike action on ferries.”
Braid claims that “the fight to save rail has been set back by the threatened industrial action on KiwiRail’s Cook Strait ferries, in the biggest freight week of the year.”
The planned industrial action means suspension of all Interislander sailings from Saturday, December 1 to Saturday, December 8.
The Aviation and Marine Engineers Association (AMEA), and Merchant Services Guild (MSG), have issued strike notices to Interislander, following months of collective agreement negotiations between the three parties.
An apparent agreement was reached with unions at a voluntary mediation meeting on November 1 – however, unions were unable to “obtain the necessary ratification from members on the settlement,” says Interislander general manager, Thomas Davis.
Speaking to the NBR Braid says: “What disappoints us the most is there has been much effort into getting rail back up and running in the last few years, with more freight than ever before being moved on rail, and the unions are taking us back to the 1980s, which is just bloody stupid.”
Last year Mainfreight moved 14,000 consignments across Cook Strait in its busiest freight week of the year, a figure which Braid expected to surpass this year.
Interislander GM Davis said that while it was “disappointing to receive the strike notice from both AMEA and MSG it remains committed “to a speedy resolution” and continues to “negotiate with both unions in the hope of reaching a settlement before the strike period begins.” Interislander has commenced mediation with the unions in a last ditch attempt to avert strike action.
Braid’s position is that freight moves increasingly on a just-in-time basis and that this disruption will especially affect the people of Christchurch, suffering from reduced warehousing capacity after the earthquakes. “Freight moves in and out as quickly as possible and [this action will] place more pressure on Christchurch.”
“Our major freight customers have advised that they are already making alternative plans for their cargo,” says Braid.
KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn says the strike will impact severely on New Zealand’s supply chain at a vital time of the year.
“If the strike proceeds, it will affect about 14,000 passengers and 4000 cars. About 1200 rail wagons and a similar number of trucks will also be disrupted,” says Quinn.
KiwiRail’s ferries make 4600 sailings a year, carrying 755,000 passengers, 53,000 rail wagons, 73,000 trucks and 212,000 cars. Two years earlier the ferries carried 845,411 passengers, according to annual reports.
However, Bluebridge ferries will still operate and freight companies are trying to get customers to move freight earlier.
