Auckland wharfies are planning a week-long strike, their longest yet in a prolonged industrial dispute, as the Auckland Council-owned port says time is running out to reach a settlement.
The Maritime Union has given notice of the strike, the eighth, which will start on February 24.
It comes on top of a seven-day partial strike next week, where union members are refusing to work with containers moved by outsourced labour at the port's subsidiary Conlinxx.
Union members, who make up 327 of the port's 580 staff, have resisted the company's plans to introduce more flexible working hours, and its threat to make all union members redundant and contract out their jobs.
The union's national president, Garry Parsloe, says the casualisation is a direct attack on conditions of work and secure, permanent jobs.
He says the strike could be stopped if progress is made with management.
Union staff were stunned to hear Auckland Council Investments chief executive Gary Swift tell a council committee on Thursday that a collective employment agreement is its preferred option.
"We were bemused because we don't find this when we talk to the port company," Mr Parsloe said.
Port spokeswoman Dee Radhakrishnan told NZ Newswire the new strike notice was disappointing, but it would head into mediation on Friday still hoping to reach a resolution.
Time was running out to settle the dispute, she said.
The port had lost significant Maersk and Fonterra contracts, which it blamed on the strikes, and workforce contracts had to be changed before more commercial contracts were lost.
The port was not against collective contracts but was looking a more flexible workforce, she said.
Union members could work a 26-hour week but would still be paid for 40 hours, and if they worked two hours' overtime, they would be paid for eight.
"That's just not sustainable for an organisation, especially in this economic environment."
NZN