Lyttelton Port Workers Vote to Ratify Wage Deal

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union members working as Logistics Officers at Lyttelton Port have voted in favour of a wage deal reached with management.

As part of the deal, the Eleven Logistics Officers, who plan and run the operation of the loading and unloading of ships, stopped the limited industrial action that they had been taking since Friday 2 May, and withdrew notice of a two day strike over the weekend of 17-18 May.

RMTU South Island Organiser John Kerr said ‘the wage deal struck yesterday in a mediated negotiation delivers a 5.78% wage increase by next January, this comes in two stages – 2.85% backdated to January this year and another 2.85% from 19 January 2014,’

‘That means the members will be $50 a week better off straight away, with a bit of back pay as well, and by early next year their weekly wage will be $100 higher , ’ he said.

‘The members voted overwhelmingly to accept the deal and they are now going to sit down in a working group with management and discuss productivity related matters like staffing, succession planning, training, job content and so forth’ he said.

‘I think both management and ourselves can claim a win from yesterday’s bargaining. We get a wage increase, they avert a strike and we both get to talk about issues that concern us about how the port works,’ he said.

‘The breakthrough came when LPC extended the wage offer to include a second increase of 2.85% on top of the one already on the table,’ he said.

‘In the end members were pleased that after they stood their ground, they got a much fairer wage increase that values the work they do,’ he said.

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