Stop Containers Through Kohi opposes container trucks travelling through Orakei, Kohimarama and St John's to reach the depot in Morrin Rd in Mt Wellington.

The group says drivers should use a motorway route instead.

Noise and difficulty getting out of driveways are some of the difficulties cited.

Ports of Auckland head of communications Matt Ball said the organisation encourages truck drivers to use the motorway, but it doesn't have the power to direct them to do so.

But the chairman of the port committee for the National Road Carriers said the protestors' concerns are not backed up by survey results.

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"It is important not to quote selectively from Church documents to justify a predetermined position", says Brian O'Connell. "So this quotation from the encyclical does not mean that the social teaching of the Catholic Church always favours the workers over the employers. It is one principle among many in this encyclical, and this is only one encyclical among many others. Pope John Paul II also wrote Centesimo Anno in which he affirmed the legitimacy of the market, though not absolute", he says.

In New Zealand at present there are several major industrial disputes happening. These include the Ports of Auckland standoff, the Affco Meat Company works lockout, and The strike by resthome workers, and at least one other.

Read Fr Brian O'Connell's Marist Messenger Focus article

Patrick Snedden is a veteran of community and government entity boards, previously serving on the boards of Auckland District Health Board and Housing New Zealand.

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The leaflet gives an overview of Catholic social teaching as a guide in considering the rights of both employers and workers in industrial relations. It states that media reports have not done justice to either side of the Ports of Auckland dispute, and believes it is important to look beyond the headlines to understand what the impact of the proposed changes will mean.

The distribution of this leaflet follows an offer made earlier to both parties in the Ports of Auckland dispute by Bishop Dunn and Bishops Ross Bay and Kito Pikaahu of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland, in which they offered to help, by sitting down with the Maritime Union and the Ports Company.

There has been another twist in the Ports of Auckland dispute: the port company has agreed to go back into mediation with the Maritime Union. Although both sides have welcomed the resumption of mediation, the Ports company has indicated that it still intends to contract out the stevedoring and hours after the agreement was reached, issued another lock-out notice to take effect in two weeks.

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Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Catholic Diocese of Auckland
• Image: saveourport.com

Anglican Bishops, Ross Bay and Kito Pikaahu, along with Roman Catholic Bishop Patrick Dunn, believe that it is vital for the parties to continue to maintain a dialogue in an effort to resolve the current dispute.They are concerned equally for the welfare of workers and their families affected by the stand-off, and for the future of the waterfront industry in Auckland which is one of the keys to maintaining a vibrant local economy.

As well as urging further talks, the bishops have indicated that they are willing to sit with the Port Company and workers to try and explore any options to prevent the situation becoming caught in prolonged litigation.

‘We are indicating to both parties that if we can help in any way we are offering to sit down with the Maritime Union and the Port Company. We cannot promise anything but the offer of our leadership in a spirit of reconciliation, as the escalation of this dispute threatens the wellbeing of families and our city,' says Bishop Ross Bay.

The bishops are offering themselves as it appears that middle ground or win-win solutions have all but disappeared. The bishops are also willing to work with city leaders to find a solution.

‘We believe any facilitated communication can and should be attempted. There are the two issues, of the Port's right to seek efficiencies as well as the rights of the workers involved, but at the heart of all this are people and their lives,' says Bishop Patrick Dunn.

The bishops say that at the heart of the Christian gospel is a message of reconciliation for all people and any option that can avoid a costly and torturous path of litigation for both parties needs to be explored.

Bishop Muru Walters, the Anglican Maori Bishop of the Wellington region thinks the Government should step in.

"At a time when this Government is pursuing policies it says are aimed intentionally at reducing vulnerability in families and for children, the silence from them around this issue is as surprising as the economic and employment policies that allow this kind of situation to arise, so soon as it did after the last election. We cannot sit by and witness the deliberate creation of vulnerable families."

Despite living in Wellington, Bishop Walters will join the workers on the picket line later this week.

"I am a bishop from the north. When people in the north hurt, I hurt. When their security is put under threat, so is mine. I will stand in solidarity with the workers on the picket line. We need to remember that people are the most important thing: the security of families and especially children."

Source

• The Catholic Diocese of Auckland
• Scoop Auckland
• Image: Laurence Smith/Fairfax NZ