Ports of Auckland has signed two recruitment companies to find stevedores to work at the port as part of its plan to contract out work on its wharves and make some 300 staff redundant.
The port company announced on Friday it will be working with Drake New Zealand and AWF Group. It expects to announce a third company shortly.
More than 300 members of the Maritime Union are on strike in the latest industrial action in their long-running dispute over a collective agreement with the port company.
The port company says existing workers will be given the opportunity to apply for jobs with the new companies and will receive full redundancy packages and support.
Drake's New Zealand general manager Gary Withers says it already has some of the stevedoring expertise required.
Maritime Union president Gary Parsloe says the decision to bring in the recruitment companies shows the port has been bargaining in bad faith.
