And while the PM prepares for yet another tangle with the Ashcroft Alliance, many want answers as to how the actual situation on the ground is playing out, and when we can expect the Port to re-open.
Those are questions we put to CWU president Mose Hyde, and yesterday he outlined the events of the last 7 days.
Mose Hyde, President, CWU
"The port is closed down after you had the security forces putting tear gas and rubber bullets on our members who were there. They established that it was a security threat and so Thursday and Friday the Port is officially closed. The Port is re-opened on Saturday, the port inquires about the availability of stevedores to resume working, they do so twice on Saturday and we respond to the Ministry of labor saying listen we are really perplexed as to the way forward because our members have just gone through a process that has really and truly broken all sense of trust. You cannot pretend as though last week did not happen and so when you have seen your employer treat a sister unit with that kind of disregard for their rights, treat the ministry of labour with the kind of disregard that they been treated with, see a living agreement be ignored and breached then you realize how vulnerable you are and that is what has happened to the stevedores."
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