Port workers may sacrifice jobs over Covid vaccine

Frontline port workers must have at least their first dose of the vaccination by the end of September under a Government legal order.

Some port workers in Tauranga are prepared to lose their jobs rather than receive the Covid-19 vaccination, according to one port employee and the Maritime Union.

The port worker, who is not directly employed by Port of Tauranga, says he knows of one company that will be losing 'most” of their workers on September 30.

Frontline port workers must have at least their first dose of the vaccination by the end of September under a Government legal order.

The worker, who spoke under anonymity, says some employees have even cited religious beliefs as the reason behind their vaccine hesitancy.

He suggests at least two stevedoring companies, Independent Stevedoring and C3, will lose staff as they are unwilling to get vaccinated.

'Come the 30th, those companies will have a few people leaving the job,” he says.

Independent Stevedoring and C3 had no comment when approached by SunLive.

ISO Limited, who also employ workers at the Port of Tauranga, released their vaccination figures this week.

ISO Director and CEO Paul Cameron confirms that, nationwide, four per cent of staff are a firm no on receiving the jab, with a further 24 per cent either undecided or awaiting information sessions whilst 72 per cent are vaccinated or booked in for their first dose.

"ISO continues to actively engage with the four per cent 'firm no' employees and the 24 per cent 'undecided' employees and are hosting another information session open to all Port of Tauranga users with the assistance of Toi Te Ora Public Health," says Paul.

"ISO is committed to doing everything possible to ensure the impact on our operations is minimised. The rates are improving daily, with another 24 employees vaccinated overnight and ISO is regularly in contact with unvaccinated employees offering them support and guidance as required. With less than seven weeks to go the results are pleasing."

Maritime Union of New Zealand national secretary Craig Harrison says he respects the 'freedom of choice” workers have regarding the vaccine.

He could not comment on the number of workers who are likely to be leaving their roles.

He does, however, admit some workers have informed him they are going to leave, rather than get vaccinated.

'We understand there are some workers who are making the call that their conviction is they don't want to get vaccinated,” says Craig.

'Some are saying they will actually finish up and look for something else to do.”

The Bay of Plenty's low vaccination figures at the port became clear earlier this week, in the wake of the Covid-19 scare onboard the Rio de la Plata shipping container.

The ship, which has now left New Zealand for Malaysia, was berthed at the Port of Tauranga for four days last week before 11 of 21 crew onboard tested positive for Covid-19.

Port workers were cleared to work on the ship, despite alarm bells being sounded regarding an Australian pilot, who had been on board, testing positive for Covid-19.

An initial 94 port workers were identified as contacts. It later became clear only nine of those workers are vaccinated.

It then emerged that 60 per cent of frontline workers at the Tauranga port are unvaccinated.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins suggest misinformation as a potential factor behind the low vaccination uptake among Bay of Plenty port workers.

A Port of Tauranga spokeswoman says 'almost all” of their frontline staff are vaccinated. However, she also clarifies there are dozens of companies that work on the port.

'We strongly support vaccination and have provided information sessions and vaccination centres on site,” she says.

'We are hosting another two vaccination clinics on site over the next two weeks. Vaccination is another useful tool in the fight against Covid-19, but we will continue to follow all our other precautions that have worked for the past 18 months.”

You may also like....

1 comment

I feel privileged to have the opportunity to free immunisation

Posted on 13-08-2021 13:25 | By Omni

This is not the first worldwide virus outbreak! The 1918 influenza pandemic (The Spanish flu) infected around 500 million people, about one-third of the world's population, and is considered to be one of the deadliest pandemics in history. Early estimates from 1927 put global mortality at 21.6 million. I can't understand why in 2021, when we have the ability to reduce the severity of symptoms and play our part to help not put added pressure on an already troubled health system, yet some people are still refusing to care about humanity and their wider community and the freedoms of all who reside on this planet, living, work, travel etc. These are immunisations that we are fortunate to have. Let's help the world move forward from this Covid 19 pandemic as quickly and safely as we possibly can.


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.