Today nearly 14,000 signatures were presented to me at parliament in a petition calling on the government to retain the Hillside and Woburn rail Workshops.
They represent more than a quarter of Dunedin’s households. The petition was put together in a pretty short time frame. The loss of jobs at Hillside and Woburn cuts deep into our Kiwi ethos. The rail workshops are an important manufacturing base for our country.
This government doesn’t care about that and would rather spend taxpayers money overseas purchasing rolling stock, than use Kiwi skills to build them here.
This government will not do an analysis of the economic benefits of spending our money inside our economy, because they know they’ll be proven wrong. So they keep the real figures secret and make them up.
I challenge Steven Joyce to release the bid costings on the rail wagons contract bids. Was Kiwirail 3rd our of 9 bids? If so what was the cost differential and how was it measured. And why can they not factor in the economic benefits to our economy.
Our trading partners do.
Now if the time to be investing in our economy. In our skills. Losing this industry is a tragedy for our country.
Labour will fight. And our policy will use major government contracts to back New Zealand firms instead of exporting jobs offshore.
Here’s what the union representing these workers said today.
13,854 Kiwis want to save Hillside and Hutt rail workshops
Lower Hutt rail workers whose jobs are at risk say the government needs to listen to the 12,000 people have signed a petition calling for trains to be made at home.
The workers’ petition was presented to Dunedin South MP Clare Curran at Parliament a short time ago by workers from Hillside and Hutt rail Workshops. Clare Curran was flanked at Parliament by Green Party Transport Spokesperson Gareth Hughes
“Up to 30 positions at Lower Hutt’s workshop are now at risk. This follows the redundancies of 44 Dunedin workers last month, both a result of KiwiRail purchasing rail rolling stock and electric units overseas” said Wayne Butson.
“This was despite a comprehensive BERL report for Chambers of Commerce, unions and local government, proving the case for a local build,” he said.
“This followed 40 Diesel Locomotives for the North Island being ordered and built in China, and making matters worse, the job for 600 new container flat top wagons also went to an overseas firm.”
“When Steven Joyce rejected the BERL report on the Close Up programme last year, he held out hope that at least some of the 4000 needed flat top container wagons would be built locally.”
The Minister said: ‘There will be lots of work for these guys, there’s no doubt about that, because they do a lot of things well and there’s a big rolling stock replenishment and replacement exercise that’s coming down the pipeline (Steven Joyce, Close Up, May 3 2010)’
“Despite this, the job went overseas, just like the Wellington and Auckland Electric Multiple Units. Steven Joyce’s reassurances have become worthless to the Dunedin and Lower Hutt workforce,” Wayne Butson said.
“It’s not good enough for Steven Joyce and John Key to wash their hands of these decisions. They do have options open to them. As KiwiRail’s shareholders, they need to put in place stronger local procurement requirements. Without them we will see more decisions that go against local workers, local industry development, and the export potential that that involves.”
Wayne Butson said in relation to Auckland’s Electric Multiple Units, the RMTU would be watching very closely to see whether KiwiRail honoured the local involvement pledge it made during the tender process.
KiwiRail’s May 2010 tender document encouraged firms to ally themselves with New Zealand subcontractors or suppliers and “include as much New Zealand content and resources in the design, construction, delivery, testing, maintenance and support of the EMUs as is appropriate.”
“We have always wanted these trains to be built in Dunedin and Lower Hutt but a local involvement provision from the lead supplier was the next best option. It is essential that this is rigorously pursued by KiwiRail and our discussions with CAF, a shortlisted bidder for Auckland, have shown they are keen to maximise local involvement,” he said.
“Unemployment is at 6.5 per cent, yet one practical way the government could reduce this rate is to focus on Government procurement. This country is going to experience a dire shortage of key skilled trades so long as we allow our heavy fabrication manufacturing and other work to be continuously sent offshore”, said Wayne Butson.
We have yet to meet anyone who thinks that sending significant manufacturing contracts offshore is a good idea and appropriate use of Kiwi taxpayer’s funds.
“No one in New Zealand other that KiwiRail CEO Jim Quinn and Transport Minister Steve Joyce agrees that we should be standing idle and letting go of our rail industry jobs, putting the wider engineering industries in Dunedin and Lower Hutt at risk.”
“We have yet to meet anyone who thinks that sending significant manufacturing contracts offshore is a good idea and appropriate use of Kiwi taxpayer’s funds”
I do. Anything that breaks expensive outdated unionised workplaces apart is good long term for New Zealand. ‘Tis a pity non-union teachers can’t be sourced from overseas in bulk.
The irony of the 40 new diesel locomotives , supposedly ‘ built in China’ but having MAN german engines seems to have gone over Joyces head.
having seen pictures of them in Railfan magazine, does anybody else notice a strong resemblance to GE units? Could they have been the subject to a bit of copying ?
Anything that breaks expensive outdated unionised workplaces apart is good long term for New Zealand.
Unions have been voluntary for over 20 years now, people who belong to a Union do so because of the benefits they deliver. The most tangible advantages being, the availability of legal advice for people who can not afford to hire an employment lawyer at $200-300 an hour at a moment’s notice, and the ability to collectively bargain and maintain working conditions.
The workplaces you are talking about don’t exist in New Zealand pmofnz. Workplaces where people want to do a good job in decent conditions for a worthwhile wage do. That’s why there are still areas of the workforce that are unionised.
Soon it will be Woeburn and Illside if they don’t change their mind.
Anything that breaks expensive outdated unionised workplaces apart is good long term for New Zealand.
Thanks for making clear what this is actually about for the govt and right-wingers in general. There were probably a few dim bulbs that hadn’t worked it out yet.
We’ve tried that for the last 20 years. NZ is now worse off.
Clare, have you costed the direct difference in cost of importing this gear as against making it here because with out knowing that it is impossible to judge just what sort of case you and the railway workers have
A right-winger, and having worked in transport manufacturing for over 10 years, my experience is such that I believe the only way to really make manufacturing work is to pay Chinese, or piece-meal. That is, paid for what is produced, not per hour.
NZ’ers work ethic has gone years ago, and our productivity is too low. I understand the argument Clare, and yes – we need to look to our own economy first, but only if it is in the best interest of the client & economy, not some unionised, cost-per-hour, go-slow industry.
The big threat here, whilst to some is a Cambodian or Chinese somewhere, is actually NZ’s inability to move out of the industrial age, and focus on high-quality, high-tech, and high value production.