Carter Holt Harvey, one of the two giants that dominate NZ forestry, is owned by International Paper, of the US. Both internationally and in NZ, it has a singularly bad record. See Watchdog 89, December 1998; 'Timber! Forestry TNCS Felled By Asian Crisis; Workers Suffer", for our last write up on Carters. This latest dispute is a classic example of a major American TNC using naked force, in the form of scabs (from a "rival union") and cops - no problems in them being on permanent call when Big Business wants some taxpayer-funded knucklemen - to test the limits of the new Employment Relations Act. The company's aim is to casualise and "company-unionise" the wharves, smash the wharfies' union, and establish the precedent of fly-in, fly-out labour.

Michael Gilchrist was the secretary of the NZ Trade Union Federation (TUF), which has recently merged with the Council of Trade Unions. He now works for the CTU. Ed.

The NZ Council of Trade Unions (CTU) campaign for permanent local jobs on the waterfront began in November 2000.

Members of the Waterfront Workers Union found that Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) had begun to use Mainland Stevedores of Tauranga to load its logs at ports around the South Island. Contracting to a third company to hire its workers, Mainland Stevedores began flying in casual workers from Tauranga and elsewhere in the North Island. Hired on 72 hour contracts and put up at local Motor Inns, they began to do the work of local watersiders struggling to preserve permanent jobs and make a living on their waterfront.

In Nelson, Port Chalmers and Bluff the CHH logs make up about 20% of watersiders' work. Work has also been lost in Timaru. Since January 2001 most of the campaign has been focused in Nelson. Watersiders believe that Mainland is only the spearhead of yet another attack on their job security and conditions. If Mainland succeed, other companies will claim that they can't compete without further casualisation and further reduction of standards.

From the beginning, the watersiders have had considerable support from other CTU unions, particularly the Seafarers' Union, as well as from local communities. Pickets have been strong with 60 to 100 people turning out in the early hours of the morning and the watersiders making long journeys around the South Island to stand alongside their fellow union members. There have been a number of protests by CTU local affiliate councils at Carter Holt Harvey outlets and offices in all parts of the country. In Nelson the local CTU unions have shown tremendous courage and determination, mounting successful rallies and demonstrations and gathering support from a wide range of community groups. The Carter Holt Harvey mill at nearby Eve's Valley has also been the scene of unrest, with the company cutting vital bus services to and from work.

One encouraging aspect of the dispute has been the support from Government and Green Party MPs. Green MP Keith Locke, along with his colleague Sue Bradford, has taken part in pickets and shown a strong grasp of the issues. Associate Minister of Labour, Laila Harre, gave a well judged address to a rally in Nelson on Waitangi Day. About a half of the affected watersiders are Maori and about a third of those working at Eves Valley. More recently Te Tai Tonga MP, Labour's Mahara Okeroa also answered the call for support.

While the Government has been careful not to intervene, it always helps when the party in power identifies the issues correctly. In this case a major achievement has been to focus the dispute on local communities and the "user enterprise" Carter Holt Harvey. This has dispersed some carefully nurtured smokescreens such as Mainland Stevedores and the "rival union" they had created for their workers. At local body level too, some strong early showings by mayors Tim Shadbolt in Invercargill and Sukhi Turner in Dunedin were followed eventually by Nelson's Mayor, Paul Matheson. In Nelson, in particular, broadening the base of community support has proved a major force in the dispute. Themes of local value from local industry also coincide with the Government's focus on economic and regional development, as well as growing anti-globalisation sentiment.