Members of the Maritime Union are picketing the entrance to the Port of Tauranga in public protest of the Ports of Auckland dispute.

Union members are specifically targeting the container ship Irenes Remedy, which berthed in Tauranga overnight after it was loaded by non-union members at the Ports of Auckland.

A picket line has been set up along Mirrilees Road near the entrance to the Port of Tauranga at Sulphur Point.

Maritime Union members protest outside the Port of Tauranga.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns says he is extremely disappointed in this move by the union and is seeking an urgent injunction to stop it.

'I am hugely disappointed. We are taking it extremely seriously – it is illegal industrial action.”

'The Rail and Maritime Transport Union are inciting staff not to cross the picket line.”

Mark says Port of Tauranga has no Maritime Union representative staff working in the container terminal and the industrial action is directly due to the dispute between the union and the Ports of Auckland.

He says Port of Tauranga has a current collective agreement in place with employees and the strike action by the RMTU does not relate to any bargaining.

'Ports are also defined as an essential services industry in the Employment Relations Act and you have to give 14 days' notice of any strike action, so the employees are engaged in illegal strike action.”

The Port of Tauranga is seeking an urgent injunction to stop the action and Mark says a hearing is being arranged for this afternoon.

'We have a fantastic bunch of people working here and they are being used as pawns in this Ports of Auckland dispute and we have no option but to follow up with disciplinary action.”

At present Mark says the action is only affecting the one vessel.

Union Tauranga branch president Peter Harvey says union members are undertaking a public protest in support of their Ports of Auckland workers.

'We are protesting against the callous treatment of our union members in Auckland in pursuit of their collective agreement.

'By doing that we are drawing attention and support from other workers, including the local port workers here, as far as what they decide to do is up to them.”

Peter says they are targeting the Irenes Remedy as a way of highlighting the issues surrounding casualisation of workers.

Irenes Remedy berthed at Port of Tauranga.

'That ship has come down to Tauranga and is now part of it.”

The picket line started at 8pm on Saturday night and Peter says picketers are receiving huge amounts of support.

'We have had a huge amount of support from port workers, and from the general public. It has been a constant outpouring of support.”

'We want a signing of a collective agreement with the Ports of Auckland with the terms and conditions of work that give workers a sense of security, certainty of work and wages.”