24 Mar 2012

Mana Party champions plight of port staff and meatworkers

5:28 pm on 24 March 2012

Mana Party leader Hone Harawira says the AFFCO and Ports of Auckland disputes are attempts by employers to destroy hard-won working conditions.

Mr Harawira says workers' conditions have been fought for over generations and any move to get rid of them must be resisted.

At the Mana Party's annual general meeting at Mataikotare Marae in Rotorua on Saturday he called on members to support the workers.

Mr Harawira says the meatworkers are people from ordinary families who are getting belted all around New Zealand by AFFCO.

He says what's happening in AFFCO is exactly the same as what's happening to the Ports of Auckland.

"They're locking out the workers, they're bringing people in on individual employment agreements and they aim to smash the unions and destroy the conditions that our parents and our grandparents have fought for for generations."