Ports of Auckland was planning to jettison its collective labour contracts long before they expired on Sept 30 last year, according to port documents released by the Maritime Union.
The port workers are facing a challenge to their terms of employment because the company is determined to outsource their labour to contractors who would compete for work and drive down costs.
That's a model already used by more-profitable rival Port of Tauranga.
Productivity and labour flexibility were insufficient to generate returns required by the port's owner while Auckland Council and company executives doubted their ability to reach accord with the union over plans to outsource labour to stevedore contractors, according to the undated port document titled Labour Strategy.
The port deemed the changes "too great" for MUNZ to agree and estimated redundancy costs $5 million during the shift to stevedoring contractors.
A port spokeswoman said the document "does not represent company policy and never did".
The company had been committed to renewing a collective contract though when talks stalled and industrial action took over it had dusted off plans to contract out the work.
"The contracting out proposal was not pursued as a strategy until recently, as a result of the threat of ongoing industrial action, the increasing competitive pressure on the company, and the inability to conclude an agreement with the union," she said.
The emergence of the document highlights the bitter dispute between the port led by chief executive Tony Gibson and MUNZ that has been punctuated by strikes and lockouts.
When shipping line Maersk and Fonterra Cooperative Group moved $47 million of custom to Tauranga they both blamed the labour dispute.
Ports of Auckland and MUNZ have been engaged in 11 months of talks without resolution.
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