|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
waterfront dispute continues |
|||
|
The long-running dispute between South Island wharfies and wood industry giant Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) continues. As reported in the last issue of Thr@ll, CHH is attempting to introduce on-call, casual labour to replace the unionised, largely permanent workers who have until recently loaded their logs onto ships. In early April, police decided to stop sending in squads to "monitor" protests at Port Nelson over the loading of CHH ships. The police had been using "flying wedges" made up of members of Wellington's Strategic Response Group (ie riot cops) to escort scab labour through the picket lines, but according to a local commander, the police had "had enough" after three months of protests. Despite this apparent victory, union leaders in Nelson have shown little desire to take the initiative by upping the ante. Apart from one incident in which wharfies got close enough to a group of scabs loading a ship to pelt them with eggs, its been pretty much business as usual. Meanwhile, union leaders in the umbrella Council of Trade Unions (CTU) called a joint union meeting in Rotorua on March 14 to discuss the union response to the dispute. Participants were sworn to secrecy about what decisions were made at the meeting, although it is understood these involve more "networking" between unions and more union outreach to local communities - to be coordinated by a small committee set up under the CTU! It is clear that community support for the wharfies is strong in Nelson, and that many workers are keen to go beyond the largely "symbolic" pickets we've seen to date. With the police gone, the conditions are ideal for a real grass roots campaign of direct action against CHH and their lackeys. But this would see union bosses lose control of the protests, something they obviously want to avoid at all costs.
|
CONTENTS |
||