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1 YOU DON’T GET ME I’M NOT PART OF THE UNION Graeme Cowan
2 CHAPTER TITLES PAGE(S) About these reflections 3 Introduction 4-5 Early WHB recollections 6-27 “Frankly Speaking” - the Baldwin era 28-38 “Organisational Change in the Playground” - the Griff Page years 39-61 “We’re not here to shag spiders” - the Mulligan era 62-96 “50 shades of exasperation” - the Harris era 97-120 Start Training Ltd 121-156 The Last Chapter……Maybe 157-176 Acknowledgements 177
3 ABOUT THESE REFLECTIONS Having documented my growing up days in and around the streets of Brooklyn and then my time spent at Rongotai College - in a publication called The View from the Top, it seems logical (at least to me) to follow that story up with recollections from my 35 years spent at the Wellington Harbour Board (WHB) and then the Port Company. Same business, just a change of name due to the corporatisation of the New Zealand port industry in late 1988. In actuality, the Port Company was formed out of the WHB and became Port of Wellington Ltd in 1988, then Port Wellington Ltd in 1997, and then CentrePort Ltd in 1999, its current name. As you’ll read shortly, my time spent around the Wellington waterfront provided me with very secure employment over the first 15 or so years, not much productive work or real responsibility but a lot of fun and enjoyment. Then as my career started to take off, the responsibility increased with a proportional decrease in the amount of fun, but there was still a lot of enjoyment and personal satisfaction derived from the work environment and the new challenges that I would encounter. The enjoyment factor wasn’t to last however, reducing significantly over the final four years which coincided with the advent of a new Chief Executive. Speaking of Chief Executives, I served under six of them which included 3 General Managers of the WHB. Given my lowly clerical position in the early days, I didn’t have a great deal to do with the first two WHB General Managers i.e. Dick Reeves and Jim Stewart, and it wasn’t until the arrival of Frank Baldwin in 1983 that I began to interact with higher levels of management, then much more so with the arrivals of Griff Page, Graham Mulligan and Ken Harris, the latter three actually being Managing Directors of the Port Company, corporatised in October 1988. So my “responsible” working memories of time served under Dick Reeves and Jim Stewart are few and far between, but as compensation, I do recall many escapades during that time and they still bring a smile to my face. Over 35 years on the Wellington waterfront I interacted with many people, mostly employees of the WHB and then the Port Company but also Board Members. I also met managers and employees from other port companies and stevedoring companies, many of whom I would work much more closely with after my time at the port had come to an end and when Sarah and I had established Start Training Ltd. I’ll include a chapter or two about Start Training Ltd towards the end of this publication. Back to the employees of the WHB and the Port Company - one of my more memorable achievements (at least in my view) was personally knowing and being able to acknowledge by first name every employee of the Port Company during my time as Human Resources Manager. This became a little bit easier in the latter part of my career as forced and voluntary redundancies reduced the number of faces that required recognition, but it was always important for me to be able to recognise and acknowledge work colleagues who for the most part were there for the same reasons as myself, well, most of them, I still have serious reservations as to the motivations of some union officials that I would interact with. More about that later. Hopefully these memories have been presented in some sort of logical order, starting with my early days at the WHB including quite a number of adventures / misadventures, the first promotions that came my way, how my career eventually took off, the General Managers and/or Chief Executives who were in charge at that time and their influence on me, and the challenges that I faced as a human resources professional in a pretty demanding environment - and that definitely includes the waterfront unions. These memories would not be complete without my thoughts about the General Managers and/or Chief Executives who influenced my career, and I have interspersed these memoires with recollections and stories about some of the people that I worked with, after all, this story wouldn’t have been possible without the almost daily involvement of many colourful, and often delightful, waterfront characters. Finally, I can’t resist including one of my favourite photos taken in the Marlborough Sounds around sunset (it’s my story therefore I can). The photo was taken during an Outward Bound course (more about this under Griff Page’s tenure), we were coming towards the end of a long and difficult row of an Outward Bound cutter and we were about to veer starboard towards our campsite for that night. I can’t say that the day on the cutter had been particularly peaceful or relaxing, but when I look at this photo it epitomizes my time around the Wellington waterfront, very challenging, but with many rewards and memories. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the read as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together.
4 INTRODUCTION It’s funny how you selectively remember words of wisdom from your parents. In my case, the words of my dad as he told me “son, you’re leaving school so get a job with a local authority, it’s good, long-term employment” still sound as clear today as they did in 1968. Well, the old man should have known, as he spent most of his working life employed by the Auckland and Wellington City Councils as a tram driver, bus driver, and during his last few working years, as a bus inspector. He retired in 1974 after 34 years’ service. That’s dad on the right in his Inspector’s role at the Railway Station dispatch office. Dad must have muttered similar sentiments (about working for a local authority) to my brother Neville who obviously listened, because he dutifully joined the administration department of the Wellington City Council. Neville had two stints with the Council, and during his second period of employment he enjoyed the responsibilities that went with the executive position of City Treasurer. So with dad’s words ringing in my ears and armed with a reference from the Minister of the local Baptist church (I’ve still got it), I caught a number 7 bus at the top of Brooklyn Hill one morning in the middle of May 1968 on my way to Queens Wharf and an interview for a position of Junior Clerk with the Wellington Harbour Board. I can’t say that I was particularly motivated to seek work as I was still at Rongotai College and a member of the College’s 1st XI cricket team, which had been enjoying a long undefeated run, and a couple of months earlier we had enjoyed two stunning victories at home against our annual foes, Wanganui Collegiate and Wairarapa College. Unfortunately, the then headmaster of Rongotai College Noel Mackay, later to achieve notoriety for video-taping students he was caning, had seen through my almost total lack of academic commitment and suggested in no uncertain terms that it would be in everyone’s interest “if I didn’t turn up on Monday”. As an aside, and many, many years later when I was organising a 50-year reunion of the Rongotai College 1st XI cricket team of 1968, I spotted the class lists from that year, one of which was C5A. In this class was Brian “Badger” Cederwall, a very well-known Junior All Black and All Black trialist, and a Wellington representative in both rugby and cricket who was in the 1968 1st XI with me and with whom I played a lot of senior cricket for Midland St Pats during the 70’s and 80’s, and one G.D. (Graham) Mulligan who whilst totally unknown to me at that time would be appointed in 1994 as Managing Director of the Port of Wellington Ltd, and who would have an enormous influence on the 2nd half of my working career. But although not totally motivated in becoming a member of the workforce, this job at the Harbour Board did hold a little bit of interest. After all, I had spent a reasonable amount of time during school holidays fishing off Queens Wharf for my rather meagre share of the schools of kawhai which turned up in plentiful supply in those days, and I also knew that one episode of the popular TV series in those days, “Adventures of the Sea Spray” had been filmed in the building in which I would be interviewed. And my interest was certainly heightened when one of the first persons I spotted when arriving at the first floor of the Harbour Board’s Head Office Building was clearly a ship’s captain, dressed in full regalia that included gold braid and a most impressive cap. I can remember thinking that this would be a most exciting and romantic place to work. It was however a bit embarrassing to realise on my first working day, that the “ship’s captain” was in fact the General Manager’s personal chauffeur - so much for excitement and romance.
5 I was taken into a rather large office, with a plush carpet, what appeared to be velvet drapes, and a huge mahogany bookcase taking up most of the wall into which it was recessed. The large and impressive desk afforded excellent views over Queens Wharf for the equally impressive person seated behind it. As he introduced himself as Colin Watson, for the 2nd time that morning I thought this guy must be one of the top people in the Harbour Board. As it turned out, Colin (I was to find out that he had a brilliant middle name of “Knox”) enjoyed the rather random title of First Clerk, and he was in charge of all other clerks in Head Office such as the Senior Clerk, the Correspondence Clerk, general Clerks, and of course the Junior Clerk position that I was applying for. I remember little about the interview itself, except that at the end Colin leaned back in his chair, studied me for several seconds, then announced that I had been successful and when could I start? Well, seeing as I had been removed from college and had nothing else to do, I blurted out something like “what about next Monday”? Colin did seem rather pleased with this response, and a few minutes later I was heading back to Sugarloaf Road - gainfully employed in a real job for the first time in my life.
6 EARLY WHB RECOLLECTIONS Monday 20 May 1968 dawned with no realization by me that this would be the first day of my 35 years working life on the Wellington waterfront. I do remember being on time, probably an easy task because in 1968 administration staff at the Wellington Harbour Board (WHB) started work at 9.00 a.m. - very civilized. There I was back on the first floor of the Head Office building (on the right, with the photo taken just weeks after I started), and pressing a buzzer located outside a large opaque sliding window. It rattled open, and I got my first sight of my future workmates, four in total, and all males. Colin Watson, Jim Coutts and Peter Smith eyed me up from their desks, with Neville Hyde standing at the counter. Stammering out my reason for being there, a side door was pointed out to me and I was suddenly being introduced to everyone. To my surprise I recognised Jim Coutts, a friend of my brother (both of them were members of the Brooklyn Boys Brigade, 3rd Wellington) - at least I was able to recall one name at the end of my first day. I still remember Jim’s words to me later that day - “it’s harder to get into the Harbour Board than it is to get out”. Very prophetic! The rest of day one went rather fast. The necessary introductions were achieved, and I met just about everyone in the building, which was 3 floors high. At this point I will list some of these people, with other characters added later on in this story. Dick Reeves, the General Manager. I was introduced to Dick in the same office I had been interviewed in by Colin Watson - no, although looking very comfortable in this office Colin didn’t reside there, and it was to be another 20 odd years before he realized his long-held ambition to be the top dog of the WHB. I don’t remember a lot about Dick Reeves - as Junior Clerk I had little involvement with him apart from the odd times that we passed each other on the stairs. What I do recall is a crisply dressed gentleman who was not at all stand-offish, and who every Christmas, invited all the Head Office staff plus wives/husbands/partners to his home in Ngaio for a Sunday brunch. As an aside, Dick also had a brilliant middle name - Restless. I’m sure his mother could have explained that one. But I do recall one occasion when I bravely entered the executive bathroom which was located off the stairs leading to the Board Room - I had heard a rumour that there was a shoe-cleaning cabinet in the bathroom, and my shoes definitely needed some attention. Now the executive bathroom generally wasn’t frequented by the likes of a Junior Clerk, so it was with some trepidation that I ventured into that hallowed territory and spotted an ornate mahogany box that once opened revealed the most impressive range of shoe-cleaning equipment that you could ever wish for. Halfway through my polishing I heard the door open and in walked Dick Reeves. He didn’t say anything as he walked across to the urinal, but when finished and his hands were washed, he turned to me and advised me not to forget the back of my shoes, adding that I would not survive in the New Zealand Army if the backs of my shoes were not properly polished. Sage advice and probably very well intended, and it was many years before I dared re-enter the executive bathroom! James (Jim) Stewart, Assistant General Manager. A pipe-smoking, chin-caressing, immaculately dressed, thoughtful English-styled gentleman if ever there was one. Jim was Assistant General Manager when I started, became General Manager on Dick’s retirement, and in the true tradition of dead man’s shoes, everyone else moved up a position. I don’t remember a lot about Jim Stewart, as a lowly clerk in those days there was no reason for me to interact with him except for activities such as mail deliveries. I certainly don’t recall Jim wandering around the ground floor offices and conversing with the general staff, he was definitely more comfortable in the presence of his peers i.e. other executive managers, Board Members and various dignitaries who visited WHB on regular occasions. Ken Woolston, Treasurer. Ken had transferred from the Accounts Office (where he was Chief Accountant) to the Head Office position of Treasurer, part of the Board’s executive management team. Ken was one of those people who had a perpetual smile on his face and had a natural ability to communicate easily and genuinely with anyone else in the organisation. A really lovely man and I can’t recall any bad words being spoken about him.
7 Tom Blewman, Senior Clerk Grade 1, and would later become the Board’s Secretary. Tom tried his very best to influence me in my early days by consistently encouraging me to gain some sort of qualification - I studiously (no pun intended) ignored this advice until the mid-80’s, but can now say “Tom, you were quite right”. Tom also taught me one of life’s fundamental survival lessons - you staple pages together on a 45-degree angle as it makes it easier to turn the pages without ripping them on the staples! More sage advice, and I do confess to still stapling this way today. Tom was a 2nd generation WHB manager, his father James had previously been an executive manager, but I’m uncertain as to his actual position. Clarrie Thompson, Assistant General Manager - Industrial. A stumpy, grizzled, chain-smoking manager, Clarrie was the WHB person who battled the waterfront unions on a daily basis. I used to watch Clarrie and think “no way would I do what he does, far too stressful for me”. Little did I know what the future would bring. For a couple of years I worked a bit more closely with Clarrie, and I will always remember (not fondly) his weekly request to me to go uptown and buy a pound of steak mince for his cat. What did your last slave die from, Clarrie? I also recall one occasion during my early days in the Staff Section when Clarrie called me up to his office and advised me that my attire was not suitable for a WHB employee and that I should, with some rapidity, purchase a suit and make myself more presentable. I can’t say that I was too pleased with this advice, after all there was a “British Invasion” at that time (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Small Faces, Troggs, The Who, Yardbirds and the like), and I was far more comfortable in my “mod” gear than a conservative suit. Not surprisingly, Clarrie’s view prevailed. Graham Boswell, Industrial Officer. Clarrie’s right-hand man in management battles with the unions. I shared a very small office with Graham for a few years and got to know him as a generally calm person, except when one member of the Board’s staff, Donald Douglas Sphinx Grant - yes that really was his name, arranged for parcels from England to be sent via Graham. Donald Grant was employed as a dock labourer at the Jubilee Floating Dock, and unfortunately couldn’t speak nor hear, in those days people like Donald were referred to as deaf-mutes. From a health and safety perspective it’s a little difficult to understand today how somebody with the severity of Donald’s disability could actually be employed in such a high-risk environment, however he was employed in that capacity for quite a few years. Anyway, every 6 months or so a parcel from England would arrive on Graham’s desk addressed to D.D.S. Grant. On seeing the parcel Graham’s face rapidly reddened, he immediately telephoned the Dock and Slip Master and ordered Donald Grant to be sent to his office immediately. Eventually Donald would arrive, and Graham would spend the next hour trying to explain to Donald that he was not Donald’s personal mailing address and that parcels were not to be sent to him. Eventually remembering that Donald couldn’t hear, Graham would be yelling at the top of his voice and his face fit to bursting, with Donald responding with incomprehensible grunts. Graham’s equilibrium took several days to return after these interactions, however about 6 months later another parcel would arrive and Dave and I would be treated to another hour or so of hilarious entertainment, all the while trying to control our mirth and to avoid incurring Graham’s wrath. Later when I moved into the Staff Section and shared an office with Graham, I watched with some fascination as Graham worked for hours over the keys of an old imperial typewriter, producing a set of instructions for the work that was performed by members of the Staff Section. These documents were extraordinarily clunky and riddled with errors - Graham was definitely a one- fingered typist, but the reality was that he had seen the need for basic documents that described what we did in the office. I can’t recall whether he ever finished this task, but many years later when developing management systems for various clients became a significant part of my life, it became clear that Graham’s aim was to produce a set of Standard Operating Procedures, well before SOP’s were really in vogue and definitely before I understood their future relevance to me. Dave Campbell, Staff Clerk. I don’t have a photo of Dave but he was my snooker buddy on a daily basis for around 15 years, Dave being the 3rd person in the small office with Graham Boswell and myself. In hindsight I’m not sure what Dave actually did at the WHB - probably a bit of an indictment on me as many years later I was also employed as Staff Clerk, but he and I did play many a paper version game of Battleships, only when Graham was out of the office which he was a lot of the time. Strategically placed books provided the perfec
8 Bill Galloway (seated in the middle of the front row) was the Board’s Harbour Master and Chief Pilot from 1969 to 1984. In April 1968 as the Deputy Harbour Master, Bill was a major player during the Wahine storm as he courageously and with little regard for his personal safety managed to board the stricken vessel from the pilot launch Tiakina. Bill and the Wahine’s captain were the last 2 persons to leave the vessel before it finally capsized. The publication ”Kiwi Heroes - 50 Courageous New Zealanders” by Bronwyn Sell and first published in 2010 named Bill Galloway as one of the 50 heroes. I would have a lot to do with a couple of the other pilots later in my time at the port, Charles Smith (top left) and Bob Field (bottom left). While there will be more about them later when remembering Graham Mulligan’s time, there’s a classic photo taken back in 1972 (left) showing a youthful Charles Smith almost certainly eying up the Harbour Master and Chief Pilot’s job, and Bill Galloway’s body language equally telling Charles that “you’ve got a long way to go sonny”! Back to Bill Galloway. Operating in the sedate setting of the Wellington Harbour Board, Bill Galloway was definitely his own man. I once filed a memorandum from him that was in response to a lengthy written request from one of his staff, with Bill’s eloquent reply simply stating “No”. On one other occasion I was in Dave Campbell’s office when Bill wandered in literally for a chat. Shortly after his arrival, Tom Blewman, the Board’s Secretary attempted to enter the office to speak with Dave. Unfortunately for him, Bill Galloway deliberately leaned on the door just as Tom was halfway through, and for three of four minutes we were treated to the sight of the Board’s Secretary desperately attempting to wriggle his way either in or out of the doorway but without any success against the far superior weight advantage enjoyed by Bill. On another occasion the fire evacuation alarm was sounded and as required, all staff exited the Head Office and the Wharf Office buildings, assembling in an area adjacent to the Head Office building. All staff, except for Bill Galloway who point blank refused to leave his office and instead smugly watched proceedings - fully visible to all of us responsibly assembled persons from a window in his first-floor office in the Wharf Office building. Karl Renner was the Board’s Chief Engineer, and his rather elongated office was located on the top floor of the main administration building. Karl was an extremely personable manager and on those occasions when I needed to visit him (generally to deliver documents), he would invariably take the time to engage in conversation, even though at that time my station in life was well below that of an executive manager. One other benefit of his office location was that his secretary was located immediately outside his entrance door, and I would almost always spend a pleasant few minutes with the likes of Mary Chapman or Robyn Ramsay before heading back downstairs to the ground floor. To include a bit of useless information, I seem to recall that Mary’s father was Sir George Chapman, who at that time was the President of the National Party and whose main job would have been to keep Rob Muldoon under control. When I started at the Board Charles Hardy was the Deputy Chief Engineer but would be appointed as Assistant General Manager following the retirement of Dick Reeves and the subsequent appointment of Jim Stewart as General Manager. It was only when he became Assistant General Manager that I had anything to do with him, and unfortunately I have to say that I found him to be aloof and bereft of any sense of humour. It was many years later when reading his obituary that I found out that Charles and I had a couple of things in common i.e. we were both old boys of Rongotai College, and we had both opened the bowling for the 1st XI cricket team. Charles would have known of my cricketing expertise through reports of the annual cricket match between the Wellington and Auckland Harbour Boards (more about that shortly), but he never made any comment on those few occasions when he was required to converse with me.
9 But it wasn’t just the people that made a lasting impression, so too did many of the buildings and facilities that I was to encounter around the Board’s properties. The first couple to recall were both located just inside the entrance to Queens Wharf, and I would have seen both of them many times during fishing trips down to Queens Wharf. The first was an octagonally-shaped building that was known as “Kemeny’s Kiosk”, positioned just outside the main entrance to the Head Office Building. The kiosk is circled in the 1905 photo opposite, but it was probably relocated over the years as I recall it being closer to Jervois Quay. Kemeny himself was a middle-aged guy of European descent, and I guess he leased the kiosk from the Harbour Board. He sat behind his counter from early morning to around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and I don’t recall ever seeing anyone else working behind the counter. It was really useful to have this kiosk just outside the front entrance, not only could you pick up a copy of the Dominion on your way to work, but as necessary, a quick wander outside during the day to purchase soft drinks, cigarettes, chocolate or other sweets, paperbacks, and a range of magazines including “gentlemen’s magazines” which Kemeny seemed to be studying on a regular basis. Over the other side of Queens Wharf was a memorial to Paddy the Wanderer (pictured below). Paddy was an Airedale Terrier who roamed the streets of Wellington during the Great Depression. He was a friend of cabbies, workers, and seamen alike, who took turns at paying his dog licence every year. Paddy was known for greeting sailors in the port at Wellington and accompanying them, as a stowaway, on their coastal steamers. Paddy the Wanderer apparently had been given to the daughter of Mrs. R. Gardner of Wellington by a horse trainer from Christchurch. After the child died, the dog ran away, wandering the Wellington waterfront and occasionally taking trips on visiting ships. He had crossed the Tasman Sea many times, and had flown in a Gypsy Moth. He was even rumoured to have made it to San Francisco and back. The Wellington Harbour Board adopted Paddy under the formal title of Assistant Night Watchman, whose job it was to keep guard for "pirates, smugglers and rodents". There were also reports that Paddy had almost fallen victim to a dognapping scheme perpetrated by jealous citizens of Auckland! Paddy died on 17 July 1939 at Wharf Shed no. 1, apparently after a cold snap, and was taken to his funeral in a parade of twelve taxicabs and a traffic officer. The city was reported to have been brought to a standstill for the ceremony. The Ladies' auxiliary of the local SPCA took up donations in his name for a memorial. Three biographies of Paddy have been published and the monument to Paddy is located opposite the Wellington Museum on Queens Wharf, and includes his bronze likeness, a drinking fountain and drinking bowls below for dogs. Erected in 1945, it was paid for by Paddy's many friends and includes stones from London's Waterloo Bridge, bombed during World War II. The next recollection was located inside the Head Office building at Queens Wharf, namely the Board Room, a most imposing facility. The extraordinarily high ceiling, the velvet drapes, the curved and seemingly endless felt-covered board table, the Chairman’s throne-like chair, the brass ashtrays and bell, the leather seats, the press table, and the seriously severe set of photos of past Board Chairmen glaring down at you sent you back in time into a past world. The room was pretty intimidating and certainly a reminder of how formality and orderliness were an absolute requirement in days gone by. However, a couple of Harbour Board employees weren’t daunted by the formality and orderliness. Like all facilities, from time to time it needed some maintenance / repair work to be carried out, and on one Friday morning in the mid-eighties two employees from the Carpenters Shop (one of whom was the local union delegate) turned up in response to a request for alterations to the board members lounge area, which was adjacent to the Board Room. Nobody around the Head Office area worried too much until mid to late afternoon when music could be clearly heard coming out of the Board Room area. Upon checking the source of
10 the music, the two carpenters were discovered dancing on the Board table - yes, the felt-covered Board table, and cavorting to music coming out of the members lounge area. Whilst carrying out the required alterations, they had not only discovered the stereo system, they had also managed to access one of the Board Member’s rather well-stocked liquor cabinets and decided to help themselves to a tipple or two plus cigarettes, and were in a reasonably inebriated and happy state when finally discovered. I suspect that everyone saw the humour in the situation as both gentlemen were gently reprimanded and remained employed. The Board Room is pictured to the right with the chairman of the Board (H.A. James) speaking on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of board management of Wellington Harbour, in February 1980. This amazingly impressive room is now part of the Museum of Wellington City and Sea. In my early days at the WHB I didn’t have a great deal to do with the Board Members, really only seeing them from a distance as they turned up for the monthly Board and Committee meetings. However there were a couple of interactions and as I’m reminiscing about the Board Room it’s appropriate to recall the times I spent with Brian Keiller and Sir Francis Kitts. In the late 1960’s Brian Keiller was the elected member for the Manawatu region and he lived in Palmerston North. Sometime in 1969 Brian attended a Board meeting, then stayed overnight in Wellington. The next morning he discovered that his car wouldn’t start, so he approached the General Manager, Dick Reeves for assistance in returning to Palmerston North. The solution was for Brian to be driven home in a WHB vehicle, and for some reason that is still unknown to this day, I was selected as the driver. Reasonable excitement of course, this was literally my first work-related trip away and made even more memorable by being entrusted with one of the Board’s fleet of jet-black Holdens. Brian was a most interesting and friendly passenger even though he had a stutter which became more pronounced when he was getting excited, such as the time when we arrived in Palmerston North and he was trying to tell me to turn right down the next street which led to his home - I missed the turn! Brian invited me into his home (named “Atawhai” - not the original and impressive homestead which had been sold earlier to Massey University) for lunch, following which I headed over to Albert Street and a quick catch-up with my cousins before heading back to Wellington. A great day which I remember well. Sir Francis Kitts (knighted in 1966 and captured on the right in his mayoral regalia) was a member of the Harbour Board from 1950-79 and was also Wellington’s longest serving Mayor (1956-74). As a Wellington-based Board Member, his board papers were always delivered to his home just above St Gerard’s Church and Monastery on Mt Victoria. On a couple of occasions I was tasked with delivering these documents, and on both visits Sir Francis invited me into his home as he gave the papers a once-over before approving the delivery. My main memory of following him through his home was the metal bars bolted just below the top of each door frame - as he walked under each bar he would reach up and complete an overhead pull up, then walk to the next door and do it again. There was a later occasion when the WHB hosted an evening function in the Board Room. A couple of us were tasked with standing at the front entrance of the Queens Wharf Building to greet guests as they arrived and direct them to the Board Room. Sir Francis arrived together with Lady Iris Kitts, not surprisingly I recognised him and said “good evening Mr and Mrs Kitts”. I knew as soon as I blurted the words out that I’d stuffed up their titles, but Sir Francis simply smiled at me and replied, “good evening Graeme”. Thanks Frank!
11 Any memories of the Board Room wouldn’t be complete without remembering Anne Booth who was employed as the Head Office Tea Lady, but who was also required from time to time to work in the Board Room area. Yes, believe it or not, the WHB employed a tea lady whose day job was literally to prepare morning and afternoon teas (and instant coffees) and deliver those refreshments to every office on the ground and first floors of the Head Office Building. You could set your watch by this - morning tea was on its way at 10.00am, and afternoon tea deliveries commenced at 3.00pm sharp. Anne is best described as a very down-to-earth person who had minimal respect for authority and who wasn’t at all shy of letting you know what she thought. One of her favourite targets on a regular basis was a guy called Ivor Poole who was the Secretary of the Harbours Association of New Zealand, a reasonably important person within the industry and who worked closely with all New Zealand Harbour Boards. Their offices were also in Wellington which meant that Ivor was a reasonably regular visitor to the WHB, mainly for meetings with the General Manager. During these visits Anne would be contacted and asked to provide tea or coffee, and on her arrival into the General Manager’s office she would greet Ivor with a smile and “morning (or afternoon) Cess”. You would have to think that the cesspool reference must have registered with Ivor, but to my knowledge Anne was never reprimanded for this greeting. The Board Room area was generally looked after by a full-time position of Caretaker. One of Anne’s duties was to relieve the Caretaker for periods of annual leave, sick leave etc., and on more than one occasion this would require Anne to be present during Board meeting evenings for the delivery of refreshments throughout the meeting. These meetings were often of several hour’s duration, which meant more than one delivery of tea / coffee during the evening. Anne would wander into the Board Room wheeling her tea trolley, stop behind each Board member and ask “You fuckoffee?”. Again I am unaware of any complaint received, and Anne merrily trolleyed her way around the board table asking members whether they “fuckoffeed” or not. A couple of other characters jump to mind, firstly a guy called Tim Cahill who was initially employed as a cleaner in Head Office, then later transferred as a cleaner of the Maritime Museum when it was first created. As his name would suggest, Tim was as Irish as you could get, and definitely loved a tipple or two, generally single malts. He walked with a pronounced limp, and I was to discover that before his employment at the Harbour Board, Tim had left a pub in the Hutt Valley slightly the worse for wear and didn’t hear or see the train bearing down on him as he crossed railway tracks heading home. One leg was amputated, and Tim was the first guy I ever knew with a prosthetic limb. He was also one of the hardest men that I have ever met, and certainly not a guy you would want to get into a physical altercation with. I recall one morning when Tim was having a heated discussion with another cleaner called Brian Tyack, Tim standing two or three steps up the Head Office stairway with Brian at the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly Tim stopped talking and started raising and lowering his left arm. Almost hypnotically, Brian’s eyes followed Tim’s left arm and suddenly he was flat on his back on the ground having received a straight right-hand punch from Tim into his face. Nothing more was ever said about this, no complaints were laid and without knowing the circumstances leading up to this altercation, somehow, I think justice may have been done. To slightly digress, I had personally observed Brian on a couple of occasions early morning lurking around the female toilets, armed with a cleaning cloth, and a couple of minutes after a female staff member entered the toilets, he would knock on the door, call out “cleaner” and immediately burst in. He was definitely a sleazy dude, and just maybe Tim’s form of justice was most appropriate. The second character was George Swensson who was first employed as a cleaner, and then promoted as the Caretaker of the Maritime Museum. Before the appointment of a full-time Curator, George and Tim were literally responsible for maintaining the Maritime Museum in its infancy, which was considerably different to the extraordinarily impressive Museum of Wellington City and Sea that it has morphed into over the years. There was no office accommodation for George and Tim, instead their “home” was a space underneath the stairs that led up to the Museum’s first floor displays. I got on really well with both George and Tim, and I well remember Christmas Eve “functions under the stairs” which started around 10.00am and to which I was invited (I can’t recall anyone else being there but there wasn’t that much room for others), with Tim well and truly (and happily) lubricated (Irish whisky was definitely his p
12 father), who then purchased it somewhere in the mid-1920’s. The Swensson family owned the house until at least 1995 with members of the family becoming celebrated members of the Holloway Road community, in particular Will Swensson who died at the age of 108 and was one of the oldest people living in New Zealand. Will became a figure of national interest when a number of important political figures visited his house, including the former Prime Minister David Lange and Governor General Dame Cath Tizard. A great lesson - sometimes you never know the wonderful history associated with people that you work with and whose company you have thoroughly enjoyed. One final memory of George. Shortly after the establishment of the Maritime Museum, George was interviewed by the editor of the Harbour Board’s two-monthly publication, The Beacon, and one of his comments was that “public interest in the Museum was very high”. When the next edition came out, George was mortified to read that he was quoted as saying that “pubic interest in the Museum was very high”! So back to my first day. There was no induction process as is the norm today, rather I was handed over to Neville Hyde whose task was to show me the layout of the building and the work that I would be doing. A bit about Neville - he was younger than me and had joined the WHB about a year earlier straight out of Taita College. I was to find out later that Neville’s nickname at college was “Nancy” - lucky fella! My arrival at WHB meant an increased status from Junior Clerk to Clerk for Nancy - sorry, Neville, that’s how things worked in those days. One interesting bit of information that Neville gave me was that my position had been advertised for the previous 6 months, no wonder Colin Watson was so keen for me to start! One of the first places that Neville took me to in the building was an old storeroom at the southern end. Once in there and out of sight of everyone else, he placed a pile of plywood backing boards, probably about half a dozen of them, on 2 separate stacks of books, and proceeded to karate chop the boards. They shattered in half, leaving me totally impressed at the martial arts ability that my new colleague had demonstrated. It was a couple of weeks later when I was in the storeroom on my own and able to look a bit more closely at the backing boards - they were very old, riddled with woodworm, extremely brittle and therefore rather easily broken without any serious effort or special technique. Neville’s credibility suffered a hit, actually the first of several credibility dents during our time at the WHB and later the port company. The other abiding memory of my first day was an invitation to head over to the 2nd floor of the Wharf Office Building, also on Queens Wharf and join up with Dave Campbell, Neville Hyde and Peter Smith for lunchtime snooker in the Board’s social club rooms. Two full-size snooker tables were available for use by the staff and this became a regular and extremely enjoyable habit with hardly a working day going by where we didn’t head to the social rooms for our snooker fix. I don’t think I had ever played snooker before and certainly not on a full-sized table, but I immediately fell in love with the game and was able to become reasonably skilled - to the extent where I was winning more games than I lost. Dave Campbell initially mentored me, and he was the one player that I sometimes struggled to beat. I fondly remember making one break of 68, well below the maximum possible break, but nevertheless pretty impressive for a lunchtime amateur. I mentioned earlier that my secondary schooling was at Rongotai College out by the airport in the eastern suburbs. On Wednesday 10 April 1968 - before Noel McKay had seem through my attempts to remain at College purely for cricketing reasons, central New Zealand was hit by cyclonic weather, which is well remembered as the Wahine storm. During the morning, the Wellington to Lyttelton ferry, t.e.v Wahine foundered on Wellington Harbour with the eventual loss of 51 lives. Passengers and crew spilled from lifeboats and life rafts were carried by strong currents to the eastern shore of Wellington Harbour south of Eastbourne. Sea conditions along that coast were severe and survivors of the sinking were swept into heavy surf and washed onto rugged rocks. Most of the loss of life that day happened on that shore. The force of weather on Wellington Harbour prevented yachts and motor launches from leaving the Clyde Quay Boat Harbour in time to rescue many people before they entered the surf zone. My recollections of that day included the particularly foul weather as I made my way from Brooklyn to the College via two bus
13 journeys, the damage that was occurring at the College (as in the preceding photo), the return trip to Brooklyn, and my father’s stories of helping to clear fallen trees off buses in the Wilton area. These memories, while still reasonably vivid, pale significantly by comparison to the challenges faced by my future Chief Executive at the port company, Graham Mulligan who as a 15-year-old found himself, with his father, literally in the “eye of the storm”, as recorded below. “Hold on, large wave coming!” my father George shouted to his crew, spinning the wheel to starboard, and ordering me to slam the throttle wide open to kick the bow around. Peering out of the wheelhouse window and up at an acute angle I saw the top of a huge wave. “Close throttle!” he yelled as the bow rose up the steep wave. “There is nothing below us”, he said as we broke through the crest and fell down the other side crashing into the trough. The impact threw the heavy for’ard hatch over the side. I had forgotten to clip it secure in the rush to put to sea. “Another one! Hang on! Full throttle!” my father shouted again. We were now very vulnerable as another huge wave towered in front of us. With no for’ard hatch we were open to the sea if the wave broke over the bow. If we took water below we were in danger of sinking. The waves were more than 10 metres high. The same partnership ‐ my father on the wheel keeping the bow into the sea, me working the throttle to provide steerage, a sequence we had worked out to safely handle the Karori Rip and heavy seas of Cook Strait ‐ helped us to survive that day. But the 36-foot (10.9m) motor launch Stardust never let us down. Designed by Wellington naval architect Athol Burns, who is well known for his sturdy fishing boat designs, the bow lifted Stardust up the wave until she fell and crashed down the other side again without taking any water on deck. After a third large wave Dad yelled “we’re out of here!” We had to leave the small blond-haired boy drifting with the current in his large bright ‐orange Board of Trade lifejacket. We had four other crew on ‐board and were in danger of foundering ourselves in the heavy surf conditions. We heard later that he was washed through the rocks near Burdan’s Gate safely ‐ one of the lucky ones. We realized later in the day how close we had come to sinking. Just before nightfall I tied up the 38 foot (11.6m) launch Kokoru after she limped into the boat harbour, wheelhouse smashed and sinking. Dad and Rod Campbell leapt below to the flooded engine room to stop the flooding and pump her dry. Owner Russell Mackay was taken to Wellington Hospital with deep wounds from when the sea exploded the heavy window glass into his face. He had earlier rescued 4 people, put them ashore at Seatoun Wharf and headed out to the harbour entrance to search for more. Out near the entrance Kokoru was hit by large waves which rolled her, smashing the cabin timbers and window and ripping an engine from its mounts. Mum Helen never knew what her youngest son and husband were doing that day. She saw us off that morning as the wind and rain battered our home in Miramar. My father gave me a lift to school, Rongotai College next to Wellington Airport. Chemistry master Bruce Cockburn, dressed appropriately for tramping in the Tararuas, boots, shorts, and oil ‐skin parka waved us away from the school gate as sheets of corrugated iron, branches and power wires were blown across Coutts Street by the 90 knot southerly wind. My father suggested we drive to the boat harbour to check on Stardust. In front of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club the water was screaming white. The wind by this time was gusting 100 knots. Yachts and launches dragged and broke their heavy chain moorings, smashing into each other. The storm surged the water level into the boat sheds so that dinghies normally safe in their sheds were afloat. As the wind slowly abated early afternoon boat owners ventured out to their craft to secure them with ropes. We secured Stardust to a pile as her heavy mooring had dragged in the wind. The boat harbour was a maze of ropes. About 2PM I saw the RNZNVR launch Manga and the dark green Victoria University research vessel Tirohia leave the inner harbour along with several fishing boats and other craft. Someone shouted from ashore calling for boats to proceed to Seatoun to help transfer Wahine passengers to shore. We thought she was safely at anchor off Seatoun and needed small craft to speed up the transfer of passengers to shore. We had no message that Wahine had foundered. Crossing a rough Evans Bay and rounding Kau Point at the northeast corner of the Miramar Peninsular a heavy swell signaled the wild conditions in Cook Strait. The wind had dropped and we peered through the low mist and rain trying to make out a peculiar shape off Fort Dorset. We could not see the Wahine safely at anchor off Seatoun as expected.
14 Further on through the heavy swell we went. As we passed a Union Company steam tug harbour pilot Captain Peter Mitchell from its bridge waved at us to head towards the eastern shore line. Then we worked out what the peculiar shape was - we were looking through the mist at the top deck and down the funnel of the Wahine. She had sunk and rolled on her side. Twenty-six years on to 1994, I was Managing Director of Port Wellington Ltd, now CentrePort Ltd. At a board meeting a discussion came up about the company’s two tugs Kupe and Toia. The tugs were purchased by the company’s predecessor, the Wellington Harbour Board, to provide salvage capability for the port as a direct result of the Wahine disaster. I mentioned “I was a 15-year old schoolboy on my father’s motor launch on the rescue.” Director Sandy Gibson piped up “I was steering the Taioma”, one of the Union Company’s steam tugs. Chairman Nigel Gould chipped in and said “and I was on Seatoun beach helping passengers ashore from the lifeboats”. After a slight pause, director Bernie Knowles in his laconic way muttered “I was on the Wahine”! Shortly after starting at the Harbour Board, I was offered a trip out to the harbour entrance on one of the pilot launches. Now this was definitely exciting, but little did I realise that as part of the trip I would actually step off the pilot launch and onto the side of the Wahine, which was still lying in the entrance to Wellington Harbour. There were a couple of memorable visitors to the port during my early days. The first was the aircraft carrier, USS America, a Kitty Hawk class super-carrier who visited New Zealand in November 1968 as part of a world tour. As her draught was too deep to allow berthing at a wharf, she anchored in the stream and was opened to the general public. Her Liberty boats were used to ferry people backwards and forwards and the queues were very long. Not a worry for us Harbour Board employees, we wandered down the wharf past the queues, jumped on board the pilot launch Tiakina and with no waiting time were transported to the America for a memorable tour. The second visitor arrived a few years later and was a bit more controversial. In late August 1976 the USS Truxtun, a 9,000-ton nuclear powered cruiser anchored in Wellington harbour after steaming past about 20 small boats protesting against her arrival. She was capable of berthing at a wharf, but the union’s ban on the use of tugs forced her to anchor in the harbour. She was the first nuclear vessel to visit New Zealand in 10 years and her visit produced marches and demonstrations in several cities, the most serious result being a strike by port unions in Wellington, tying up the entire port for the duration of the Truxtun's stay, just under a week. Yes, as a paid-up, but very unwilling member of the Harbour Workers Union, I enjoyed an unpaid week off work! Corning at the height of the school holiday period, the strike halted the inter-island ferries, causing difficulties for vacationing families stranded on the wrong island. There were urgent negotiations during the weekend between unions and the Government, with the unions angrily accusing the Government of deliberately timing the visit for the school vacation period to provoke a showdown with the Labour Party. The charge was dismissed as utter nonsense by the then Prime Minister Rob Mul doon. Not surprisingly, the Truxtun wasn’t opened to the general public during her stay! The photo above shows the police launch Lady Elizabeth II warning protest vessels away from the Truxtun, sadly on 2 July 1986 the Lady Elizabeth would capsize during a rough seas training exercise in Cook Strait with two of the four officers on board drowning. More about this during Frank Baldwin’s tenure. Back to the work of being a Junior Clerk. It really wasn’t that demanding, after all I was very much at the bottom of the pecking order. I was introduced to some marvelous technology (at that time) such as the Gestetner Printer, a groaning, straining beast that produced all board reports from stencils produced on manual typewriters by the secretarial staff. My job was to ensure that
15 the Gestetner was properly inked, the stencils placed in precisely the right position (if they weren’t the stencils would be damaged beyond repair) and then operate the Gestetner by hand. A very messy, time-consuming, and unenjoyable job. Fortunately, word processors and photocopiers were not that far away, but in 1968 these were unimaginable to a young Junior Clerk. At 4.30pm each day I was required to go to the Secretary’s office (a guy called George Fisher initially, then Tom Blewman) and pick up all correspondence required to be mailed out that night. Both George and Tom signed every single letter that was written, no-one else was permitted to sign an outwards letter, no matter what the subject. I often stood in front of their desk for long periods while they read and considered each letter before signing and handing them over to me. There were also multiple, coloured copies (each Department had different coloured paper) that required their initialing. Once I escaped with these letters, I had to separate the copies out for future filing, place the signed letters into their envelopes, frank the envelopes for postage - yes more marvelous technology, a franking machine, and then take all outwards mail to the main Post Office on my way home. I was also the internal delivery boy for all departments such as the Engineers office on the top floor of the Head Office Building, and the Harbour Master’s office and Accounts office situated on the 1st floor and top floor respectively of the Wharf Office Building. There were a couple of likely lads in the Engineers office in 1968/69 who went on to bigger and brighter careers - Ron Dixon and Paul Adams. Ron is the Dixon of Dixon and Dunlop, a well-known earthmoving and civil engineering company, while Paul, knighted in 2019 for services to philanthropy, became a well-respected and successful land developer in the Bay of Plenty. I enjoyed further experiences with Ron in 1975 when I was a member of a Midland St Pats cricket team that toured Australia - Ron was our manager and earned the nickname of “Demolition Dixon” during our fundraising activities for that trip. Sometime during my first week I was asked to go over to the Accounts Office and pick up the “Long Weight” Register. I dutifully crossed over to the Wharf Office Building and climbed the 3 flights of stairs (I didn’t trust the antique lift) and made my request to the accounts staff member who came out to the public counter. I was told to take a seat and the Register would be given to me shortly. About an hour and a half later Neville Hyde wandered over from Head Office and asked how long I would be going to wait - after all, I had been told to pick up the “Long Wait” Register! Totally sucked in, and an early lesson for a gullible 18-year old! One task that I had to carry out each day was totally enjoyable and rewarding - it involved lunch orders. At around 11.00am each day I wandered through the 1st and 2nd floors and took lunch orders from staff. Once the orders were collated and paid for, I strolled up town around midday heading for the KKK Café in Willis Street. Probably a rather politically incorrect name for a business in this day and age, however not an issue in 1968 - well before Helen Clark’s “Nanny State”! From memory, KKK stood for Kosta’s Kake Kitchen, but my memory might be fractionally suspect. Apart from the daily escape from the office, once the KKK staff got to know me as a regular, they always threw in a bonus for me which eventually morphed into a daily Chelsea bun. Whilst totally appreciated, this bonus paled in comparison when compared to the windfalls that I received from a local wine and spirit merchant during my time as Senior Clerk - when one of my duties was the restocking of booze supplies for the Board and the lockers of the individual Board Members! More of that later. There was also the occasion when over in the snooker rooms one lunchtime I was about to bite into my complimentary Chelsea bun when I spotted a rather large, dead blowfly squashed in the icing. With a howl of disgust, I threw the bun and its uninvited inhabitant into the adjacent rubbish tin, only to turn around and see Dave Campbell in fits of laughter, while I was playing my shot, he’d quickly shoved a plastic blowfly into the top of the bun! The damage had been done however, and that day I grumpily did without my gratis treat! It was during this period of my employment that I first became aware of the existence of unions, particularly the New Zealand Harbour Workers Union (NZHWU) who represented the vast majority of people employed by the Wellington Harbour Board. In those days, union membership was compulsory, and on a seemingly regular basis, stop work meetings were called and off we would all traipse off to various locations around the city such as the Wellington Town Hall and the Railways Social Hall. I remember sitting in these stop work meetings and thinking “WTF?” Four or five hundred-plus employees sittin
16 union fees from our weekly pay packets. But in all honesty, the on-going absence of a union rep worried me not at all as I had little desire to be part of the NZHWU. Unfortunately the only way out of union membership was to be appointed as a Salaried Officer of the Board, and I had to wait 11 years for this to occur. As an aside, the NZHWU was to later become the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU), and years later it was representatives from this organisation that I would sit across from on many occasions dealing with contract negotiations, disciplinary issues, disputes, personal grievances, and several visits to employment tribunals / courts. It was also around this time that I became aware of work practices on the waterfront that were viewed by the outside world as pilfering at best, and outright theft at worst. Not long after starting at the Board, I was told that administration staff could apply for Saturday morning work as tractor drivers, operating primarily around the Aotea Quay area. I put my name forward, and lo and behold, a week or so later I found myself driving a tractor on the wharves. It was pretty straight-forward stuff, we drove our tractors to wharf side with a rake of trailers attached, the trailers were loaded with various cargoes, and off we trundled to the designated storage shed. On one occasion I drove into the shed, but access was blocked by a group of wharfies busily engaged in filling up containers with the contents of a wine cask that had mysteriously broken open while still on its trailer! One of the wharfies waved me out of the shed (not an easy task reversing a tractor with a full rake of loaded trailers), and when I was eventually allowed back in there was absolutely no sign of the broken cask, nor of the many containers that were capturing its contents. Two other memories from my tractor driving experiences still remain fresh. The first relates to me driving back to wharf side to pick up another load of cargo. I was waved down by a wharfie - I never knew whether he was a union official or not, and he angrily advised me “if you want to keep working on Saturdays, slow down, you work at our speed down here”. The problem with “their speed” was that it was totally pedestrian, and clearly designed to stretch the work out as long as possible, leading to more hours and therefore more pay. The second memory is arriving one Saturday at the designated starting time (which I recall was 7.30am) and being told that there was no work for the day and please go home. So somewhat dismayed that I had missed out on a morning’s wages I headed back home. I was totally staggered the next Tuesday when I collected my pay packet and discovered that I had been paid in full for the Saturday’s work, something I never expected, but was to discover that this was the norm - once ordered for work, full payment would occur no matter what. Working in the operational areas driving tractors on a Saturday morning also introduced me to the “village” that was the Wellington Harbour Board, for instance I have been told that one employee set himself up as the Board’s barber, providing haircuts to staff, at a cost, moving around the Board’s premises from messroom to messroom. Entrepreneurial days for sure! The following four examples also jump to mind. • Located at Kings Wharf almost opposite the Railway Station was a working Blacksmith’s Shop which had a fully operating forge that was continually burning during normal working hours. Permanently employed was a Foreman Blacksmith, a Blacksmith, and a Blacksmith’s Striker. What they actually did remains a mystery to me, but I know that it remained in existence until late 1980’s when it was one of the casualties of port reform. • Around the same area was an extraordinarily well-equipped Riggers Loft which employed a Foreman Rigger, an Assistant Foreman Rigger, and a Rigger. These three guys could re-upholster all types of furniture, they were very good, so good in fact that for several years the Foreman and Assistant Foreman ran their own business (undetected), taking on private work during normal working hours using the Board’s equipment and materials. Their activities were discovered during Frank Baldwin’s tenure in the mid-1980’s and their services were rather quickly terminated. The Riggers Loft would be another casualty of port reform. • Underneath the Riggers Loft was where the Board’s Locksmith resided. Working alone, he was literally responsible for every lock and key around the Board, including any leased premises. The nature of his work required him to be anywhere around the port at short notice, so while the locksmith’s shop was another superbly equipped facility, so too was his mobile van. Port reform again removed the Board’s in-house locksmithing services. • About 300 metres north of Kings Wharf was located the Construction Office where the Construction Engineer, a couple of other engineers and a clerk were domiciled. A normal office environment u
17 found yourself at the edge of a market garden - yes, in the middle of an operating port was an acre or so of a flourishing market garden complete with watering system. During their normal working hours, WHB employees tended this garden growing a variety of vegetables that were available for sale. The interesting aspect was that it existed within full view of one of the Board’s managers, the Construction Engineer who would also have known that employees (almost certainly including those that he was responsible for) were actually gardening when they should have been otherwise occupied in tasks for which they were being paid. My time at the bottom of the Board’s pecking order lasted just under 6 months. A guy called Charlie Reed, the clerk within the Staff Section had decided that clerical life was not for him and he transferred into a Permanent Hand position in the Traffic Department. I was told that I was going to be Charlie’s replacement, and totally unbeknown to me, the pathway to my eventual human resources career within the port industry was about to commence. Steve Maraboli (speaker, bestselling author and behavioural science academic) is credited with saying that “the road to success is always under construction”. Back in late 1968 I had no appreciation that the first shovel load of my personal career highway was dug in the Staff Section of the Wellington Harbour Board, and while there would be many bumps in the construction process this road would lead me to many places, and a host of future challenges and rewards. This was not only the starting point for my career in Human Resources, but also the genesis for high level management roles in the education field, and consulting work in New Zealand, Australia (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne) and Papua New Guinea. BUT BEFORE REMINISCING ABOUT LIFE WITHIN THE STAFF SECTION, it’s timely to recall another very enjoyable part of my time at the WHB - the annual cricket match against the Auckland Harbour Board. A bit of history is necessary here. The annual cricket match between the two Boards started in 1933 with the A G Barnett Shield at stake, A G Barnett (pictured right) being a previous General Manager of the Wellington Harbour Board. There was a break during the war years, and the annual fixture was recommenced in 1947. Games were played alternatively in Auckland and Wellington over the Easter weekend, with extraordinarily full and comprehensive records being maintained. At the end of my active involvement in 1989, 50 matches had been played with Auckland winning 22, Wellington winning 20, and 8 matches drawn or abandoned. I first became involved in 1970 when Tom Blewman found out that I had played 1st XI cricket for Rongotai College and was now playing club cricket for the then Midland club. When he told me about this annual fixture I didn’t need any convincing, and it was mid-morning on Saturday 28 March 1970 that after a welcoming reception for the Auckland team held in the Queens Wharf Board Room, I found myself being driven by Tom to Kilbirnie Park for the 1st day of the 2-day game. I have a couple of memories from this match, the first of which was opening the bowling and causing Auckland’s opening batsman, Wally Strong some severe pain - not really my fault, it was a shortish brute of a ball (I was fairly quick in those days) which hit Wally fair and square on his old fella. Now this would have been reasonably uncomfortable if he had been wearing a box - he wasn’t therefore the agony was considerably enhanced, and although he continued to bat, he was pretty unsettled and probably not a surprise that he backed away once too often and was clean bowled, my first wicket in these encounters. The second memory was watching Auckland’s number 5 batsman walk to the crease and thinking “I know this guy”. I couldn’t immediately place him, but it wasn’t long before I was underneath a steepling catch and he was on his way back to the pavilion. When Auckland’s 1st innings was over, I checked his name in the scorebook and realised that he was Arch Taylor, who only a couple of years earlier had been a very effective opening bowler for Wellington’s Plunket Shield team! Some serious concern at this stage as the thought of Arch Taylor steaming in on Kilbirnie number 3 ground was not a pleasant prospect! Fortunately for us he was carrying a long-term injury and only bowled four pretty innocuous overs during our only innings. In their second innings I took another catch to dismiss Arch, who suffered the ignominy of a pair in the only game he played! Wellington won this match outright by an innings and 3 runs and my contribution with the ball was 2 for 39, but not required to bowl in the 2nd innings. Three catches in the field, but with the bat I didn’t worry the scorers, joining Arch Taylor with a duck to my name. I mentioned earlier that comprehensive records were kept of these matches - well, last time I looked at these records they revealed that I was one of 33 ba
18 Karori Park, 13 April 1974 and that’s me bowling at the Auckland openers on the first morning, Warren “Squeak” Rutledge facing, and Wally Strong the non-striker, with Ralph Leaupepe at silly mid-on, Alan “Noddy” McLean (Wellington skipper) at a short cover, and Gary “Hooks” Silvester keeping. A good start to the day with Auckland all out for 102, and figures for me of 3-25 off 11 overs, plus a smart catch in the gully. However, Auckland won on the first innings as we were bundled out for 58 in the afternoon session, with the 2nd day being completely washed out - fortunately for us. A sort of satisfactory start to my involvement in the annual cricket match, however I didn’t get fully involved for several years, choosing only to play when the match was scheduled in Wellington. During this period I played in 5 matches, taking 17 wickets, scoring 67 runs, and pocketing 6 catches. The 1980 encounter in Wellington was the beginning of a golden run of form that I produced over 6 consecutive games, mostly with the ball, but on a couple of occasions also with the bat. In those 6 matches I took 45 wickets at an average of 5.02 (29 bowled, 10 lbw, and 6 caught - 5 by the keeper). My best bowling in a match was in the 1981 encounter in Auckland when I grabbed 12 wickets (6 for 23 and 6 for 38) as well as scoring a few runs, although 11 wickets (7 for 13 and 4 for 22) in the 1982 match in Wellington was definitely up there. 1981 was actually the first time I played in Auckland, and I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t miss another game until the end of my playing involvement in 1989. Part of the enjoyment factor was the venue - every Auckland match was played at Cornwall Park which is still a most picturesque venue, and very close to the “village green” that we hear so much about in England. ON A MONDAY MORNING SOMETIME DURING NOVEMBER 1968 I stepped through the main entrance to the Head Office building, walked up a flight of 10 or so stairs, took two left turns and suddenly I was in the Staff Section office. Now I was no longer the Board’s Junior Clerk, I had officially progressed to Clerk, although unofficially I guess I was the Staff Section Clerk. It’s probably timely to take some time to reflect on Junior Clerk’s that followed me, there were a few of them but none stayed around as long as I would. My replacement back in November 1968 was a young lad from Scotland, Bill Millar who was out in New Zealand with his parents. Bill and I got on really well, and it was disappointing when he handed in his notice as his parents were returning to Scotland. I didn’t see Bill again, but in the late 1990’s he contacted me from Scotland (he’d tracked me down via the Port Wellington web page) to say that his daughter had travelled to New Zealand on holiday, was staying in Wellington, and could I meet her and show her where her dad used to work. I did so, and Sarah and I entertained her for an evening at our place before returning her to her hotel. Next in was John Tiller, and he would stay around for a lengthy period, rising to the position of Chief Clerk. After port reform and the demise of the WHB John transferred to Lambton Harbour Management Ltd, a newly formed company that had responsibility for the redevelopment of the Wellington waterfront, specifically the non- commercial areas. John, who married one of the Board’s typists, Lynne O’Sullivan was probably the only Junior Clerk who stayed around the Wellington Waterfront as long as I did. Coming in after John was Charlie Hill, another reasonably long-stayer, Charlie ended up as Operations Clerk for the Port Company in 1988 but resigned shortly afterwards. There were a few fly-by- nighters, Gerald Haxell, Terry Costello, Andrew Newport, and Gavin (can’t remember his surname) came and went quite quickly before Mark Cunningham arrived. Mark would stay until the demise of the WHB and by then he had risen to the position of Clerk to Treasurer. Mark was another guy I got on quite well with, we both enjoyed professional wrestling and we’d often head to the Lower Hutt Town Hall or the Winter Show Buildings for a good night’s entertainment. Dennis Rowe arrived and we
19 definitely hit it off. Dennis would become the Staff Section Clerk and it was through him that I developed an interest in golf, the 9-hole course at Makara was probably our favourite venue. We road-tripped to Pukekohe on one occasion for a Wellington - Counties rugby match, and it wasn’t unusual for us to head to the Romney Arms (at the bottom of Plimmer Steps) after work on a Friday night. Great band at the Romney, and they played a brilliant version of Dion’s The Wanderer”. When Dennis came into the Staff Section, Jim Newman became the Junior Clerk and provided some regular entertainment through his liking of the “wacky baccy”. Paid employment definitely wasn’t his preferred lifestyle, and I recall he endured some regular finger-wagging sessions from Tom Blewman who was Secretary of the Board at the time. Then the one female Junior Clerk arrived - Sue McLean and she definitely attracted the attention of several workmates, including one or two from over the road in the Accounts Department. There were probably other Junior Clerks who passed through, but they clearly failed to make any impression. Back to the Staff Section. For the first week or so four of us were crammed into a very small office - Graham Boswell had the window view that overlooked Queens Wharf, Dave Campbell’s desk was underneath another window (unfortunately with opaque glass), and I sat alongside Charlie Reed at his desk which faced the office door. We also had an opaque window behind us. There was actually a 5th person, Ken McLennan who was based at a desk in the corner of the Gestetner Room at the other end of the building, but who spent an inordinate amount of time up in the Staff Section, mostly during morning and afternoon tea breaks. My major memories of Ken (who lived in Brooklyn not far from my parent’s home) were his seemingly endless repertoire of ribald jokes, and that sadly he died within one week of his retirement. Our direct boss was Clarrie Thompson, Assistant General Manager - Industrial whose office was in a mezzanine location halfway between the first and second floors, and where Graham Boswell spent a considerable amount of his time, as I was to observe over several years. My first week was spent learning the “intricacies” of the job. In hindsight, this could have been achieved in about a day as it was not the most demanding job that I have ever had. I learnt that all staff records were kept on Staff Cards, which recorded surnames, first names, department, job titles, rates of pay, dates of increases to rates of pay, and of course termination details when they occurred. Staff Cards for ex-employees of the Board were all retained in a bank-like safe immediately adjacent to the Staff Section office, a cold and totally uninviting space that I was required to enter regularly, including last thing in the evening to place documents etc from office desks. According to Charlie the maintenance of Staff Cards was the most important part of my job, but for me it was wildly mind-numbing. Not only did I have to keep the Staff Cards up to date, but every month also I had to count the cards and tally the numbers on a summary page which I handed over to Graham Boswell - what he actually did with it was anyone’s guess. In those days there were in excess of 600 staff employed by the Board, so you can imagine my unbridled excitement at sitting at my desk on the first working day of each month and hand-counting cards by section and faithfully recording the final tally. I recall that the Tractor Drivers section had in excess of 70 staff, and it was not unusual for me to count these cards several times as my attention span and concentration levels regularly wavered towards other interests. Keeping these cards up to date meant that I had to handwrite details of new employees, any job changes, pay increases etc. onto individual Staff Cards. This information came from the Department where the employment / change / increase occurred, and once recorded all processed Staff Change Notices were coded and filed, definitely for posterity. The coding system was pretty basic, for example a change for a member of the Harbour Master’s staff resulted in a code of something like HM/672, or a change for an engineering staff member would be something like E/427. The interesting thing about these records was that they were certainly kept for posterity, with two examples still very clear in my mind. The first actually related to my own family, as my mother had often mentioned that I was following in my grandfather’s footsteps as he had also been employed by the Wellington Harbour Board. So off I trundled into the safe where ex-employee Staff Cards were stored and sure enough there was the Staff Card for one Ernest Charles Turner, my grandfather. And the system worked - there was his termination date, and a code which would lead to his actual letter of resignation. Tracking his termination letter required me to head to a 2nd safe halfway up the stairs leading
20 definitely another story! All in all, an unsolved family mystery, and unfortunately the original document didn’t turn up again when we cleared out my parent’s home. The second example of the accuracy of Staff Section record keeping related to Ken Woolston, remember, he was the Treasurer of the Board and one of the executive team. Ken wandered into the Staff Section one day and casually advised me that his father had also been employed by the Wellington Harbour Board, and that he would like to see records of his father’s employment. “Not a problem” I confidently advised him, and off I went on a similar path as to the one I took when locating my grandfather’s records. However, it was not quite that simple when I read the departure letter which was not from Ken’s father but instead from a solicitor. The part of that letter that is imprinted on my mind read “…Woolston blew his brains out”. Being fairly quick on the uptake, I thought to myself that “Ken probably won’t know about this, I need help”. Knowing that Ken and the Board’s Secretary, Tom Blewman were close, I advised Tom of what I had discovered and to my absolute relief Tom took the lawyer’s letter and advised me that he would deal with it. I assume he did as I heard nothing more about it. Another task I faced every couple of weeks was receiving the fortnightly sick leave reports from all departments, and dutifully recording all absences due to sickness or accident onto individual employees’ sick leave cards - which were very similar to the staff cards that I mentioned earlier. All absences were hand-written onto these cards, with days absent being totaled and recorded. Every so often one of the departmental Managers would ask me about a particular employee’s sick record, particularly if there was a suspicion of excessive time off being taken on a Friday or a Monday. This required me to locate a relevant calendar and literally count those occasions when “sickness” occurred either side of a weekend. Another one of the mind-numbing tasks that I was responsible for. However, I still recall with some amusement updating one employee’s sick leave record - and yes, he did have the Monday off, with the reason for his sickness being stated as “bitten by police dog”! Remembering the sick leave reports and cards brings back another memory which has been well and truly buried, but a memory that has a huge amount of irony given the direction that my career would take many years later. Looking at the number of absences due to accidents (many of them off-job back injuries) that were occurring, the weeks and months that many employees were managing to be away from work because of accidents and sometimes sickness, the seemingly total lack of management concern (and that included my colleagues within the Staff Section) as to their rehabilitation and return to work, I thought to myself that there was an opportunity for some sort of health and safety role within the WHB structure, specifically within the Staff Section. For a while I imagined myself in this role, but being far too young and inexperienced, that thought disappeared into the ether and would not become a reality until many years later. Definitely well ahead of my time! Being in the Staff Section also meant that I was likely to hear about any odd goings-on regarding the workforce. There was the time when Graham Boswell received a call from a member of the public complaining about a vehicle being driven erratically up and down Petone Wharf - in those days there was pretty easy public access onto the wharves. Graham arranged for a Supervisor to head to Petone and investigate the complaint, which turned out to be one of the Board’s vehicles being driven by a very intoxicated WHB employee, the Foreman Wharf Carpenter, John Vink. I’d like to think that Mr Vink would have been reprimanded in some way and perhaps offered external support, but nothing formal ever found its way into Staff Section records. On another occasion, we were advised that one of the Tolls Officers was not answering his phone in the Taranaki Street Tolls Office. While the wharves were open to the public in those days, there was still a requirement to manage movement of vehicles onto the wharves, a function of Tolls Officers. On this particular occasion, the Tolls Officer had been rostered on night shift, but fortified with a half-bottle of scotch, he was discovered sound asleep on the floor of the tolls box. No action taken. Then there was the time when Ralph Leaupepe, a clerk in the Accounts Office thought that he had been cut off by a truck driver as he drove to work. Ralph followed the truck which stopped outside Clarrie Gibbons bookshop opposite Queens Wharf, with the driver getting out of his truck and heading into the bookshop. As witnessed by a couple of other staff members, Ralph pulled up behind the truck, walked into Clarrie Gibbons, punched the driver in the face, then calmly walked back to his car and continued on to work. Again no
21 passed a pleasant hour or so, sometimes followed by the paper version of Hangman (a great test of our spelling skills), but as indicated earlier, one of our favourite pastimes was playing a paper version of Battleships. We would each draw up an A4 sheet of paper into a 17x17 grid with letters from A-P along the top row, and numbers from 1-16 down the left-hand column. Within the grid we would both place crosses at randomly selected positions representing (i) one aircraft carrier (5 crosses), two battleships (4 crosses each), three cruisers (3 crosses each), four destroyers (2 crosses each), and 5 submarines (1 cross each). An example of the grid is on the right. After building a barricade of books at the edges of our desks - to prevent the other one from seeing our individual grids, we would toss a coin to see who “fired the first shot”. The “first shot” consisted of a letter and number e.g. C3. The answer to C3 was either “miss” or “hit”. If it was a “miss” then it became the other person’s turn to fire a shot. But if the answer to C3 was “hit”, then the person firing that shot could fire again to try and sink that target. Not as easy as it may sound as the vessels could be positioned either vertically across the grid, or horizontally, or diagonally. Once a “shot” was declared a “miss”, the turn reverted to the other player. As soon as a vessel was fully hit e.g. the 3 crosses of a cruiser were scored, the response of “sunk” was given. The game was concluded when either Dave or I was the first to “sink” all the opposition vessels. We must have played scores of games of Battleship. Bloody good fun, and I recollect that the only time we were nearly rumbled was when Tom Blewman managed to get in the door without us hearing him. Fortunately for us he was looking for Graham Boswell and failed to notice the odd-looking pile of books placed strategically around the front of our desks! But we were rumbled on another occasion, not playing battleships but indoor cricket. Now the Staff Section office was particularly small, probably about 5x4 metres at most, so how did we manage to pay indoor cricket in such a confined space? Well, you have to improvise, and so the bat was an ordinary wooden ruler, and the ball was created by tightly crumpling up several pages of A4 paper which were held in place by generous amounts of sellotape. With Graham Boswell out of the office, we would shut the entrance door and one of us would take the “ball” and standing as far away as possible, whip their arm over while the other one of us, wielding the wooden ruler would attempt to whack a literal missile around the office. From memory we had no scoring system, but what we did have was whoops of delight and / or anguish whenever the “ball” was dispatched or missed - either outcome happening every delivery! One day we were so engrossed in our personal cricket test that we failed to hear the entrance door opening and suddenly there was Tom Blewman standing in the doorway looking at us. We froze, and to this day I swear I can still hear him saying “Having a nice game boys?” before turning around and heading out of our office. At that time Dave Campbell, as Staff Clerk was one of the Board’s Salaried Officers and probably expected to show much more managerial responsibility and decorum than Tom would have observed. Not surprisingly Dave was rather subdued for the next couple of days - clearly expecting repercussions of some description. However, there were no unwanted consequences, and we eventually resumed our “cricket tests” when we thought we wouldn’t be disturbed, making sure that our entrance door was suitably snibbed and our previously uninhibited whoops being seriously muted! Around that time there was one other bit of tomfoolery that Dave and I engineered, one that wasn’t that well thought through, and which could have gone rather badly wrong. On a shelf in the safe that housed all the archived staff records was stored a cannon ball (pictured opposite) that had apparently been dredged out of Wellington Harbour many years earlier. At that time the Maritime Museum was under development, so this rather historical item remained stored in the safe. Not surprisingly, this cannon ball was rather heavy and required a reasonable amount of muscle to lift it up and move it. Back in the Staff Section, we needed to relocate some non-confidential documents that had ended up in several untidy piles scattered around the office. These documents were heading towards a little-used storage area just below the Engineers Offices on the 3rd floor, and we decided that the easiest way was to simply cram the documents into double-skinned paper rubbish bags and carry them up one bag at a time.
22 One of the clerks from Head Office, Mark Cunningham was coerced into assisting us. As Dave and I were heading back downstairs from our first delivery, we passed the safe where the cannon ball was located, and, while I can’t say with certainty who thought of it, hiding the cannon ball in the middle of one of the paper rubbish bags and getting Mark to take it up a couple of flights of stairs was an idea that greatly appealed to both of us. So we left a bit of room in the next bag, headed up to the safe, took some paper out, inserted the cannon ball, covered it with excess paper, and told Mark that there was one more bag in the safe that needed to be taken up to the storage area. Mark arrived, attempted to pick up the bag as he had been doing with the others, found he couldn’t and so using both hands and gripping the bag at each top corner, started to stagger his way upstairs. It was at the point that Dave and I looked at each other with some dismay as we both realized that there was a high chance that given the weight of the cannon ball, it would simply burst its way through the bottom of the rubbish bag and cause absolute mayhem as it pulverised its way back down the stairs, with ornate wood paneling, balustrades, and an array of expensive pot plants being clear targets for destruction - not to mention Mark himself or anyone unlucky enough to walk out of their office at an inopportune time. Did we call out to Mark and get him to carefully put the bag down? Well, actually we didn’t, rather we held our breath and watched with much trepidation as he continued to stagger his way upstairs, finally reaching the storage area where with some relief he dropped the bag as quickly as he could. Dave and I waited until Mark had headed back downstairs before extracting the cannon ball and surreptitiously returning it to the safe. As someone who later had a lengthy management and auditing career in health and safety, this may not have been my finest moment. IN 1974 JACK CHURCHOUSE WAS APPOINTED CURATOR of the Board’s fledgling Maritime Museum. Jack had come from an extensive sea-going career during which he achieved the Foreign Going Master Mariner’s qualification. In his role of Curator, he was renowned for his energy in acquiring nautical artifacts that he considered worthy of preservation in the Museum and from which he earned the nickname of “Scrap Iron Jack”. Jack is photographed in the captain’s cabin of the Union Company steamer Te Anau. He was instrumental in retrieving the deckhouse containing the cabin and having it restored to its original condition, doing much of the work himself. The deckhouse would take pride of place amongst the exhibits of the Maritime Museum. Sadly in 1989 Jack met with a serious accident at home which left him tetraplegic. Unable to continue as Curator he retired from that position. When the Museum became the responsibility of the Wellington City Council he was appointed a member of the Wellington Maritime Museum Board of Trustees. In the New Years Honours List 1993, he was honoured for his work and service by the award of the Queens Service Medal. The plaque above resides in the Museum of Wellington City and Sea. Jack passed away on 28 September 1993 at the age of 57. Somewhere in the mid 1980’s Jack employed an Assistant Museum Curator named Emmanuel (Manny) Makarios (pictured left) to assist with the ever developing and growing Maritime Museum. He couldn’t have picked a more enthusiastic and knowledgeable guy and while Manny’s involvement with the Museum came sometime after this chapter of my recollections, it’s important for me to include Manny at this point, not only because of his immense contribution to the success of the Museum, but mostly because he and I hit it off really well. Manny’s sense of humour was similar to mine, and I always looked forward to those times when he would arrive unexpectedly in my office (or I in the Museum) and we would spend a couple of totally non-profitable work hours just enjoying each other’s company and joking and laughing about whatever took our fancy. Manny would go on to author several seafaring books
23 and also became the Curator of Wellington’s Cable Car Museum. My working career certainly took off after the formation of the port company, but when I look back now one of the absolute downsides of my career advancement (which included the physical move from Queens Wharf to Hinemoa Street), was the loss of day-to-day contact with a number of people that I had worked with for many years and Manny was certainly one of them, eventually compounded by the knowledge that he passed away in 2019 aged 62, far too young - I should have stayed in touch. The Wellington Maritime Museum was a real treasure trove of maritime objects, archives, photographs and films, and well captured by the photograph below. I used to love wandering through the Museum, and anyone else who remembers the Museum from this time will have fond memories of the Museum and its tireless Curator, Jack Churchouse. The following photo, taken by Manny Makarios well demonstrates the amazing detail that superbly preserved memories of maritime days from long ago. WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT, MY TIME in the Staff Section represented a period of much fun and little responsibility, and not at all conducive to being concerned about individual career goals. So it was in early 1976 I was given what I initially perceived to be bad news - I was to be transferred back into the Head Office where I would become the Senior Clerk, with responsibilities that included the day-to-day administration of the Evans Bay and Clyde Quay Boat Harbours. This promotion was interesting because it piggybacked on the appointment of an Accounts Department employee, Gary Silvester as Staff Clerk. This wasn’t quite one of those “dead man’s shoes” situations, Clarrie Thompson retired and yes, Graham Boswell replaced him as Assistant General Manager - Industrial, Dave Campbell became Industrial Officer, but in came Gary Silvester from the Accounts Department. Another guy called John Tiller would transfer from Head Office to the clerk’s position in the Staff Section. Now was I aggrieved? Well, yes I was, primarily because (i) there was no opportunity to apply for the Staff Clerk’s role, (ii) I felt that my knowledge from time spent (6 years) in the Staff Section (as opposed to Gary’s zero experience) would have been pretty useful, and (iii) the final insult of being required to train Gary on the day-to-day requirements of the Staff Section - Graham Boswell and Dave Campbell had sat themselves upstairs, presumably fully involved in their new industrial roles. Now apart from the fact that I knew nothing about boat harbours and had very little interest in yachting generally, this transfer meant that I would be leaving the Staff Section and the high enjoyment factors that occurred on a daily basis. I would be much
24 more visible in Head Office, and at that time I just couldn’t see any benefits in it for me - there was a pay increase but it was pretty minimal. I made my thoughts known and requested that the decision be withdrawn and that I be allowed to remain as the Staff Section’s clerk. The answer was no, my transfer was confirmed, and so with many misgivings I hesitantly crossed the two- metre-wide passageway that separated the Staff Section from Head Office for the next stage of my waterfront career. So having to overcome my frustrations about my non-appointment (actually non-consideration) for the position of Staff Clerk, I’m now The Senior Clerk in Head Office and located at the front desk with a new set of responsibilities. Initially I may not have wanted to become the Board’s Senior Clerk, but it turned out to be not only another entertaining period of my time at the Harbour Board, but also a career-enhancing one. One of the first things that I discovered I was responsible for was a Waiting List from which yachties would be allocated either swing moorings or a fixed berth, dependent on their requirements for their vessel, and of course whether they could afford it - the annual fee for fixed berths at Evans Bay was considerably more than swing moorings. But generally cost wasn’t an issue, I found out fairly quickly that serious yachties had serious money! I was fascinated by the name of the guy at the top of the list, it was Colin Watson, the Board’s First Clerk, the guy that first interviewed me way back in 1968! He didn’t own a yacht, he had no intention of buying one, but equally he wasn’t inclined to relinquish his place at the top of the waiting list. So every time a vacancy occurred at either boat harbour, I had to work my way through the list, always starting with Colin who I knew would immediately decline the offer of a mooring! By the way, that’s me in the photo opposite standing at the foot of the stairs in the Head Office building at Queens Wharf, and if my memory is correct, it was taken as part of an interview for the Evening Post relating to the development of the 2nd Marina Berth at the Evans Bay Boat Harbour. More about that follows shortly. The Board employed a caretaker at both boat harbours, Bill Thompson at Clyde Quay and Murdo McLeod at Evans Bay. I got to know both of these guys fairly well, and I soon worked out that a great time to catch up with them was on Friday afternoons, starting at Clyde Quay around 3.00pm for a bit of an inspection of the Boat Harbour, chin-wagging with Bill Thompson and trying to understand his broad Scottish accent, then heading to Evans Bay for an arrival around 4.00pm. There was a reason for the travelling sequence and timing, Murdo’s day always finished around 4.00pm on Fridays and he always had a beer ready in his shed and from where we could watch the afternoon arrivals of yachties and their entourages for the Friday night party sessions. I particularly remember “Dirty Dick”, who on most Friday nights was accompanied by a well-known Wellington lawyer (a guy with a reputation for successfully getting drivers caught drink-driving off their charge), both of them heading down the marina berth towards one of their yachts with a bevy of young ladies in tow - Murdo and I were never invited! The 2nd marina development at Evans Bay was the highlight of my work with the boat harbours. Fixed berths were much more popular with many yachties, but with only one pier, opportunities for allocations to these berths were few and far between. Recognising the need for an additional pier, a group of businessmen, headed by Roger Manthel (of Manthel Motors) approached the Board and proposed the development of a 2nd pier, with funding to be raised via the issue of debentures, the debenture price being set at $3,000 with a guarantee to each debenture holder of a berth on the new pier. The yachting community rallied immediately behind the proposal, and the required funding was achieved without undue difficulty. As I had boat harbour responsibilities, I was the designated contact point for payment of debenture money, and during development I was the Board’s liaison between the Harbour Board and Roger Manthel who I got to know very well. Yachties generally paid for a debenture by cheque, but there was one guy who definitely surprised me. He was the owner of a vessel named Ener G, a particularly unfashionable looking boat which was situated on a swing mooring in Evans Bay. Probably none of the yachting community thought that the Ener G’s owner would be interested in a marina berth, but one day he arrived at the office counter carrying a battered old suitcase. To say I was gob smacked to see $3,000 in cash inside the suitcase would be a total understatement, I had never seen so much money in one spot before in my life. Needless to say, his money was just as good as any other yachtie’s, and I can still recall seeing the Ener G positioned towards the end of the new marina berth, it may
25 I wish I could say that I remember some of the other important duties of the Senior Clerk but I seriously can’t. Were there any? Other than the boat harbours, my major recollection from this period is having to order the monthly liquor requirements for the Board Members, they all had lockers in the Board Lounge which contained their favourite tipple(s), paid for of course by the Board. Senior managers also ordered monthly grog supplies, and I remember that one executive manager, on a monthly basis, consistently ordered one dozen 40oz bottles of gin! Our supplier was O’Reilly’s Wines and Spirits, and each month I would head down to Thorndon Quay with a rather impressive order of beer, wines and spirits. Not surprisingly I got to know the staff at O’Reilly’s quite well, Zuk Marinkovitch, a well performed representative rugby player was the manager at that time, and due to the size of the order there was always additional and unordered bottles intended for yours truly as a thank you from O’Reilly’s. I also had the demanding task of ordering the Board Member’s supply of cigarettes, cartons and cartons of Benson and Hedges. These were supplied to the Board Room caretaker (a guy called Cyril Hunt) who would proceed to top up the wooden cigarette boxes in the Member’s lockers. As I smoked in those days, Cyril often passed me any left-over cigarettes once the Member’s boxes had been refilled. On reflection my time as Senior Clerk was a cruisy and enjoyable part of my working life, bettered only by my time as Staff Clerk a couple of years later - I’ll come to that shortly. This period of my working life is probably best epitomised by the poster on the wall in the photo to the left which identifies team members of the 1977 touring British Lions rugby team, and the 26 matches that they played. My task was to run the office sweepstake for all 26 fixtures, which meant that I had to (i) initially extract a score from 30-odd head office and engineers’ office staff (their chosen score stood for all games), (ii) collect money on a game-by-game basis, and (iii) where the score was struck by someone, make payment of the appropriate winnings. I reckon the photo captures me recording cash collected before one of the games, and about to lock it away in a petty cash tin - a tough and responsible job! By the way, my score was never a winning score, but I look happy. One left-field memory from those days involves more games of indoor cricket, a bit similar to those games that Dave Campbell and I played in the Staff Section except this time we had the luxury of an elongated office with six desks positioned behind each other down the street side. This meant that we enjoyed a lengthy “pitch” and the room for a bit of a run-up. As was the case in the Staff Section, our bat was an ordinary wooden ruler, and the ball was tightly crumpled pages of A4 paper held together by sellotape. So we waited until the First Clerk was out of the office, then the other 4 or 5 of us, sometimes joined by Dave Campbell would enjoy a 10 - 15 minutes batting and bowling reprieve from our “demanding” daily tasks. Gary Silvester would also join us on occasions, but he had to be cajoled into participating, he was a bit more serious than the rest of us. We would always have someone positioned by the entrance into the office as an early warning of a senior manager approaching. Our games were sometimes interrupted but we were never rumbled. APRIL 1979 AND ANOTHER CHANGE OCCURS in the Staff Section, this time Gary Silvester is appointed to a new position of Assistant Industrial Officer, apparently because of the increasing complexity of labour relations and a need to ensure greater research and administrative support in that area. With Gary being promoted, the position of Staff Clerk was once again vacant. On 9 April, the General Manager, Jim Stewart prepared a report to the Board’s Staff Committee which included the following: Consideration is required of the appointment to the position of Staff Clerk. The next senior clerk is Mr G.C. Cowan, aged 29 with 10 years’ service. He has had prior experience in the Staff Section and is at present the senior clerk in Head Office. Opportunities have been given him to extend his knowledge and to assume increased responsibility which he has taken in a manner which has been observed with satisfaction. He has justified the confidence placed in him and I have no hesitation in recommending him for appointment to the position of Staff Clerk. Looking back at this recommendation, I have to wonder at the “increased responsibility” that Jim Stewart was referring to. I guess it must have been my time as Senior Clerk and the successful implementation of the 2nd marina development at Evans Bay. Surely
26 it can’t have been the ordering of the monthly alcohol supplies, and even less so the office sweepstake during the Lions tour! By the way, this time I wasn’t too aggrieved at the lack of opportunity of applying for the position of Staff Clerk. With both the Staff Committee and the Board approving the recommendation, after 11 years employment with the Wellington Harbour Board in lower-level clerical roles, I’ve finally been appointed to a salaried officer’s position, with the associated benefit of no further requirement to be a member of the Harbour Workers Union. As my father once said to me when reminiscing about his appointment as a Wellington City Council Bus Inspector (and dad was definitely union-oriented) - the working class can kiss my arse, I’ve got the inspector’s job at last! My love of music (then and now) included a group called Strawbs and in 1973 they recorded an excellent song called “Part of the union” - key words of which song I’ve slightly amended and used as the title on the cover of these memories i.e. You don’t get me, I’m NOT part of the union. A couple of years after my appointment as Staff Clerk, several other salaried officers decided that it would be a good idea to form a quasi-union that represented salaried officers of the Board - they called it the Salaried Officers Society, SOS in short and probably quite an appropriate abbreviation. There was no way that I joined this group, and from what I observed from outside of that group, their achievements could be counted on less than the two fingers that I gave their Society. My appointment as Staff Clerk took effect from 1 June 1979 with my salary being a rather princely $10,600.pa. I mentioned earlier that during my first stint in the Staff Section I wasn’t sure what the then Staff Clerk (Dave Campbell) actually did, but now I was to find out that my principal responsibilities included maintaining the Board’s wage and salary structures which included various Awards, State Services Determinations, and Service Pay - probably better recognised as a Christmas Bonus. The Staff Address List, Annual Return of Staff, and various employment-related statistics were also in my brief, and I was required to be fully conversant with the Board’s superannuation and life insurance schemes. One other somewhat bizarre requirement was to finalise estate arrangements for deceased employees and former employees, mostly related to superannuation and life insurances. So whilst it was a management position, it wasn’t a demanding role and I also had the luxury of assistance from the Staff Section Clerk, that also not-very-busy position being maintained for a further two or three years. I should confess that one of the clerks, Dennis Rowe and I played many games of Battleships, continuing a fine tradition that had started with Dave Campbell and myself. I also had the capacity for other non-work activities to fill in my hours at work, such as being the club captain of the Midland St Pats Cricket Club. For a couple of years in the early 80’s much time was spent at my Staff Clerk’s desk ringing players, selecting teams, commiserating with guys who’d been dropped, organizing gear, massaging egos, and even assisting in bringing over the club’s first English professional, a guy called Tony Pigott who would be selected for the England touring side in the 1983-84 season while playing for MSP. One of my club captaincy years coincided with the MSP centenary celebrations in 1983, and the photo opposite is the 100th Management Committee of the Midland St Pats Cricket Club. There was one harrowing event that occurred in 1979. The Harbour Master’s clerk was a young lady called Marcia Dalrymple, and Dennis Rowe and I got to know her quite well as her duties included mail deliveries around the two Queens Wharf buildings, and she would often call into the Staff Section as part of her mail drop-offs. We didn’t know that much about Marcia, but she did tell us that she had a live-in boyfriend and that they shared a flat around Evans Bay, on the hillside almost directly opposite the NIWA premises. We would find out later that Marcia had confided in a couple of other female staff members that she lived in fear of her boyfriend, and that she was contemplating ending the relationship. Sadly she was never able to make that move as one evening at their flat the boyfriend shot her in the head with a Ramset nail gun, killing her instantly. He then turned the nail gun on himself, dying two days later in hospital. I still think of Marcia whenever I’m in New Zealand and drive past the NIWA building, and the circumstances of her death were a driving force for me when I became Employee Relations Manager in Griff Page’s time and was able to implement an Employee Assistance Programme that would be available to all staff.
27 When Dennis Rowe resigned, he was replaced by Clem Geraghty who was in the Staff Section with me for just short of 12 months before transferring to a position of Permanent Hand in the Traffic Department. A decision was then made to disestablish the Staff Section Clerk’s position, with the tasks associated with that role being absorbed into my role. I wasn’t unhappy with this as I had the knowledge, and certainly the capacity to pick up those responsibilities. Suddenly I had an office to myself with a great view over Queens Wharf, and not that many additional or demanding tasks to take care of. One bizarre memory from those days has come out of left-field - in those days inter-office communications were achieved by a rudimentary intercom system. All managers had designated intercom numbers - the Staff Clerk’s number was 25. There would be a buzz for an incoming call, I would press the “receive” button and identify myself i.e. “Staff Section, Cowan speaking”. Others merely answered “Stewart”, “Blewman”, “Watson” etc., I guess I was trying to be polite. The biggest danger of all was not deactivating the “receive” button at the end of the conversation, if it wasn’t the person on the other end could hear every word that was spoken, sometimes not that complimentary about the person listening or the request that they had made! And another memory totally out of left field from my Staff Clerk days probably epitomizes the considerably less than demanding workload that I was tasked with. The Staff Section office (circled in the 1896 photo opposite) which I now had to myself was brilliantly situated for afternoon sun on my back and on one particular day, after returning to my rather warm office following a pleasant hour (and a bit) on the snooker tables, I literally fell asleep at my desk, head on my hands. I’m not sure how long I had nodded off for, but on waking the first thing I saw was a pile of papers and envelopes on my desk that had not been there earlier. On examination, they turned out to be a delivery from the Accounts Office Messenger (yes, we employed people to deliver documents between the two buildings, Head Office also had a Messenger), who had clearly realized that the demands of my job had exhausted me and that my rest and recuperation should not be interrupted. Slightly embarrassing at the time, I should have snibbed the door before snoozing. All in all the Staff Clerk’s role was extraordinarily cruisy and I happily carried on as I had done for the previous 15 years, enjoying my time at work between 8.30am and 5.00pm with no real pressures, in a local authority environment where on-job performance was not the first consideration, and where outside interests could be pursued without any concern that work might intrude. It was a wonderfully relaxed period of time, and for someone who had, at that time, a secure and reasonably well-paid management job, no real career ambition, and no desire to pursue qualifications, working life couldn’t have been better. This continued until the arrival of Frank Baldwin in late 1983, and then life definitely changed.
28 “FRANKLY SPEAKING” - THE BALDWIN ERA In 1983 Jim Stewart announced that he would be retiring as General Manager. Within the confines of all Board offices there was much celebration as, based on previous retirements, the principle of “dead man’s shoes” would apply and everyone would automatically shunt up one position in the Board’s pecking order. Imagine the consternation within the organisation when it was announced that an outsider from the Nelson Harbour Board, Frank Baldwin was to be appointed as General Manager. Little did I know that in amongst the organisational bewilderment around Frank’s appointment was the hugely positive impact that he would have on my own career in the port industry. To the rank and file of the Wellington Harbour Board there was a lot of mystery surrounding Frank. We were vaguely aware of his real estate background, and we knew that immediately before heading to the WHB he had been the General Manager of the Nelson Harbour Board. Not much else was known about Frank (except possibly by the Board Members at that time), and I suspect that even now very little is known about him by those people that he worked directly with during his time at the Wellington Harbour Board. Fortunately, there is a wonderful article written by his son, Tony that encapsulates Frank’s life, and excerpts from that article are reproduced below. “Frank was the fourth of five children, born in the early stages of the Great Depression. His father, Percy was one of the pioneers of the heavy transport industry in Nelson, which he forged after returning from the First World War. Some of Frank’s happiest times as a young boy were working with his father. They both loved to build things with concrete. It turned out that Frank also had a special aptitude for numbers and organisational efficiency. At Nelson College, his House Master observed that “Frank’s general up-righteousness, pleasant personality, zeal, and ability in the various sports made him very popular with his fellow-students. He represented his House in practically every activity. Frank’s character and athletic ability and genuine popularity made it easy for him to exercise authority over his fellows”. For the first 14 years of his working life, Frank organised administrative systems for other people - in law, accounting, construction, and insurance. In the mid-1950s, he prepared and managed Bill Gibbon’s contract to build the Nelson hospital. At Knapps law firm, he was “extremely quick in his work, energetic, capable and systematic, showing a marked organising ability. He was capable of running an office with great efficiency”. Mr Connery of Knapps also observed that “Frank had a flair for figures and we found his ability to analyse financial statements of considerable value” - skills that were the foundation of Frank’s later career. In his 20s, Frank was immersed in sport. He was a powerful lock on the rugby field and an equally vigorous centre on the basketball court. He also represented Nelson at cricket, rugby (Seddon Shield champions), basketball (NZ champions), athletics (high jump, long jump, sprints and shot put - Hester and Mahar Cups). Attracted to Wellington by an offer to play for the top team in the Capital, he lived at the Wellington fire station in exchange for fighting the odd fire. This is when Frank met Erica, who played for the Wellington representative team. They married in 1956. Back in Nelson, Frank and Erica started their life-long journey of buying, renovating and selling numerous houses. Frank’s passion for sport - basketball, in particular - continued to surge. In 1957, he was awarded the NZ Guards Trophy (for best forward in NZ basketball). He played for the NZ Basketball Team from 1957 to 1963, culminating in a six-week tour of South East Asia. He would train by running up and down the sand dunes at Tahuna until he almost passed out. Frank’s civic activities in the mid-60s were extensive - as Secretary and President of Corso, Trustee-Treasurer of St John Methodist Church, Treasurer of the Nelson Athletics Association, and Secretary of Nelson District Cricket Association. By 1964, Frank had (in his own words) “a burning desire to use my energy, drive, initiative, personality and knowledge in my own business for my family’s benefit”. He had no particular field in mind. It just so happened that Bob Wadsworth offered to
29 sell his real estate business. Two years later, Frank partnered with Barry Brown. Between 1966 and 1978, they created the most successful real estate agency in the Nelson-Tasman region. Their approach was based on solid old fashioned values of honour and integrity. Nothing between them needed to be written down as “your word was your honour”. In addition to the Baldwin & Brown Group, Frank and Barry formed three other firms: Town & Country, Nelson Property Sales, and Williams Real Estate (in Rotorua). They also acquired Lumsden Real Estate. In the late 1960s, Frank and a group of passionate Nelson basketball players set out to build their own dedicated basketball stadium - a first in NZ. It was a remarkable achievement, with $500 in the bank and 6,600 hours of voluntary labour. The stadium at Stoke is still a hot house for youth and club teams in the Nelson area. In the years following its opening, Frank and the stadium committee organised and hosted the NZ Mens’ and Womens’ Basketball Championships, and the first miniball tournament in NZ. In the early 1970s, Frank also served as Manager of the New Zealand Men’s Basketball team. He is the only person other than Sir Lance Cross to have represented New Zealand basketball as a player, referee and manager. In 1978, Frank was asked to overhaul the Nelson Harbour Board. In Dave Holor’s words: “Management had been a benign autocracy and somewhat inward looking. So we wanted someone from the outside. Frank’s appointment was an outstanding success”. In his five years at the Nelson Harbour Board, Frank developed a 25-year plan to handle increasing forestry, fruit and cement exports, and introduced a proper financial management system with forward financial planning. Frank also built a reputation as an aggressive marketer of the port’s services, moulded a new management team, and led a range of new capital projects to support the Board’s new strategic objectives. In 1983, Frank was asked to overhaul the Wellington Harbour Board, which he did with the same whirlwind vigour. It was another transformation from sleepy local authority to commercial enterprise focused on providing customers with (in Frank’s words) “better facilities and services, and better prices while delivering an appropriate return on funds employed”. Frank also set out to compete very strongly against other ports. When Frank completed his job at the Wellington Harbour Board, Richard Prebble, as Minister of Transport at the time, noted in Parliament that the “Wellington container terminal is regarded by many ship operators as being more efficient than the other terminals at Port Chalmers, Lyttleton and Auckland”. Perhaps Frank’s most visible legacy from this period is the Wellington Waterfront Development. After examining waterfront developments in Baltimore, San Francisco, London and Sydney, Frank made it happen in Wellington. As the newspapers put it, Frank was the driving force. They described the development plan at the time as a world beater”. APPARENTLY NICKNAMED “FRANK THE FRIGHTENING” AND DESCRIBED as being 194 centimetres tall and wearing size 13 boots which he didn’t hesitate in applying to bureaucratic backsides during his post-WHB time at the Australian Civil Aviation Authority, Frank’s appointment as the General Manager of the WHB wasn’t universally accepted as two senior executives of the WHB (Karl Renner, Chief Engineer and Charles Hardy, Assistant General Manager) both appealed against his appointment, both of them almost certainly having aspirations for the top job. Their appeals were subsequently withdrawn, and Frank’s appointment was confirmed. When he eventually arrived at the WHB, I was holding down the position of Staff Clerk, with my boss being Graham Boswell who had become the Assistant General Manager - Industrial, and Dave Campbell as Industrial Officer - who shared the Staff Section office with me. Frank quickly established a reputation for being in a hurry, and this was definitely enhanced by his propensity for literally running up and down the stairs that led to his first-floor office. The Staff Section was adjacent to the bottom of those stairs, so we got early warnings when Frank was on the move - we could hear him very clearly as he bounded down the stairs. The management structure was one of Frank’s immediate targets, including the industrial relations area - the old days were over, and the Board was entering into the commercial world for literally the first time. In his first fortnight he assembled the entire workforce and displayed giant graphs showing why jobs were doomed unless the efficiency of the port was improved. That there were major implications for all areas of management became patently obvious one day when I was asked by Frank to provide him with some staff-related information, and I felt that I needed to let my boss know of this request. So I dutifully wandered up to Graham Boswell’s office on the mezzanine floor of the building, knocked politely, ente
30 the sanctuary of the Staff Section. Within a week, Graham had vacated his office and left on an undisclosed period of leave - I’d never heard of “gardening leave” at that time but I suspect that term applied pretty much to Graham’s situation. He never returned, and the last time I saw him was several weeks later when he came to my new office - now situated in the Wharf Office Building on the opposite side of Queens Wharf to sign the final paperwork relating to his early departure. I watched him literally shambling towards my office, he was a shell of the man that I had known for a number of years, it was not a pleasant meeting and was really my first experience of witnessing a sad and bitter end to a working career. With the benefit of hindsight (and quite a bit more work experience) It's not difficult to see why Graham’s career ended in such a way and was attributable to the not-to-be-questioned authority and decision-making powers that the position of Assistant General Manager - Industrial had enjoyed over many years. This position, with day-to-day support provided by the Industrial Officer had total autonomy in all decisions around the direction of industrial relations affecting the Wellington Harbour Board, with those decisions being considered during national award negotiations, and implemented following settlement of those negotiations. Advice and guidance from hands-on managers was minimal at best, and once the national award and the associated local schedules had been agreed and ratified, the hands-on managers literally had to work with industrial arrangements with which they had minimal to zero involvement and may well have disagreed with. This difficulty was quickly recognised by Frank and a shift in industrial relations practices together with the introduction of personnel management practices were integral components of the management restructuring that was about to take place. The move to a new office was a direct consequence of the management restructuring as more space would be required. Frank was determined to introduce personnel management practices into the business, remembering that the only remotely personnel- related activities under the Harbour Board regime revolved around industrial relations and of course, my own contributions as Staff Clerk - primarily records management and superannuation administration. So, with Graham Boswell departed, Dave Campbell having sought greener pastures, and Gary Silvester transferred to an administration role, one of the visible impacts of Frank’s tenure was the introduction of a Personnel Division within the Administration Department, with Colin Watson appointed as Personnel Manager. While Colin had no direct background in personnel management, he was an experienced administrator with an excellent knowledge of how the Board functioned, and well able to delegate responsibility - all in all a well-considered appointment at that time. Colin’s first step was to populate the Personnel Division, with a strong focus on implementing a new approach to how the Board managed its industrial relations. A position of Industrial Officer was advertised nationally, and Nick Ransom from the Aluminium Smelter at Tiwai Point was appointed. Nick was an experienced IR practitioner and had direct involvement with the Smelter’s achievement of implementing individual employment contracts with its staff, which at the time was considered to be a ground-breaking initiative. The next appointment was John Howard as Deputy Industrial Officer. John was a long-term Harbour Board employee who came out of the Tolls Officer section, representing that group as the local union delegate, with this experience proving very useful in his new role. These two appointments were strong indicators to line managers that they would be intimately involved in future industrial relations practices and reinforced by Colin Watson in the Board’s quarterly journal The Beacon: “We are concentrating on ensuring that the supervisory staff at the workplace are trained in industrial management skills, that’s where training is being targeted”. The final appointment was me, and I found myself promoted into the new position of Assistant Personnel Officer (Staff). Suddenly I had an additional range of responsibilities that included recruitment and selection, staff benefit management, salary administration, staff training (for administration staff), and general staff welfare. Under the new structure I reported directly to Nick Ransom, but as he was heavily involved in industrial matters I was pretty much left to my own devices. The photo above shows the newly-established Personnel Division team from left to right - Nick Ransom (Industrial Officer), John Howard (Deputy Industrial Officer), yours truly, and Colin Watson (Personnel Manager).
31 That Beacon article went on to state: While day to day problem solving is taken over by supervisors, industrial relations specialists are working on agreements to restructure the workforce and develop new industrial policy. The industrial relations specialists then act as consultants to the “client” departments i.e. administration, operations and engineering to advise on the working practices that those departments want to adopt to bring about the overall objective of introducing greater efficiency and therefore the long-term viability of the port. SO NOW I HAD NEW RESPONSIBILITIES, and definitely among the more interesting was recruitment and selection, an area that I had never been exposed to previously, and therefore totally inexperienced at that time. I remember that the first few interviews were carried out alongside Colin Watson, but it wasn’t long before I was going solo, with some excellent training provided by the Employers Association at their premises in Molesworth Street. Actually it’s not quite true to say I was going solo, at that time the WHB had a policy for a union representative to be present at every interview (except for management positions), so I was often accompanied by a random selection of union representatives, most, if not all of them being considerably less experienced than I was. Also in attendance was the supervisor of the work area (and sometimes the manager that they reported to), so there was never less than three of us at any interview - panel interviews. There was one other policy affecting recruitment that the WHB introduced around that time - every WHB staff member who applied for an advertised position was guaranteed an interview. This became somewhat onerous on occasions, as sought-after positions that were rarely advertised (such as Tractor Driver) attracted multiple applications and a very drawn-out interview and selection process. Union involvement in recruitment decisions would continue until sometime in 1991 when the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act significantly changed New Zealand’s industrial relations landscape. Involving the unions in recruitment processes was possibly well-intentioned, but frankly, the compulsory presence of union representatives in staff selection exercises, particularly when more than one union member had applied for a position, added zero value - union representatives simply refused to choose one of their members over other members. The reality was that management suffered their presence on selection panels and in the majority of instances we made recruitment decisions without their input. Part of my recruitment and selection responsibilities included the development of Job Descriptions, which didn’t really exist at that time, and if any attempt had been made at developing a job description for a particular position, it was a very basic document, and probably not at all up to date. My experience with job descriptions at that time was pretty much zero, and my first attempts were reasonably crude, but good enough to withstand scrutiny from Colin Watson and managers / supervisors for the positions being advertised. Over a period of time and with a lot of research into best practice job descriptions, I developed a model (based on Key Tasks, Expected Outcomes, and Performance Measures) that was not only adopted by the Port Company following its formation in 1988, but used consistently until my departure in late 2003, by which time I had a library consisting of over 100 job descriptions, including job descriptions for the Board Chairman as well as Company Directors. In later life this library would prove invaluable as I worked with other organisations whose job descriptions were either not accurate, not current, or simply non-existent. The New Zealand and Road Transport Industry Training Organisation would also contract Start Training Ltd to develop a library of job descriptions for two industry groups that they represented i.e. the Bus and Coach Industry, and the Ports and Stevedoring Industry (that was an easy task!). Towards the end of my time around the Wellington waterfront I did a quick calculation of recruitment interviews that I had carried out, and in 23 years of recruiting staff I reckon I had completed just over 1,000 interviews. There’s quite a few memories from these interviews, and a couple of the more left-field ones are described as follows. • In early 1988 we advertised for a Fitters Labourer, that position being in the Mechanics Department. I headed down to the Mechanics Office (roughly opposite the railway station) where I was interviewing with the Mechanical Engineer, Alan Wells, the Foreman Fitter, Phil Jocelyn, and the compulsory union representative - I think it was Kevin Burrows. We’d shortlisted 6 or 7 candidates and after interviewing several of them we were waiting for the next person to arrive. There’s a knock on the door, the Mechanics Office clerk comes in and with a big grin on his face tells us tha
32 associated staff responsibilities. As was our practice at the time, the position was advertised internally and it attracted one internal application from a guy called Barry Grigg who was employed as a Blacksmith’s Striker. Under current policy at the time, Barry was entitled to an interview and so he arrived at the Queens Wharf offices where the Operations Manager, John Roil and I were carrying out the interviews. After some opening pleasantries, Barry was asked why he had applied for the position of Plant Officer, to which he replied, “I’ve always enjoyed gardening and everyone says that I’ve got green fingers”. This was another interview that didn’t last very long at all and we did advise Barry that he probably should have read the Job Description. As an aside, the successful applicant was Roger Sullivan who had worked previously for the WHB and was returning from overseas. His appointment didn’t sit at all comfortably with the local unions as Roger had been the Secretary of the Harbour Workers Union during his earlier period of employment and was now literally “hopping the fence”. It was also the beginning of a long working relationship between Roger and I, and one that continued for several years after both of us departed the port. There will be future recollections around some of the internal selection exercises that I would be involved in during Griff Page’s and Graham Mulligan’s tenures. That’s also where I’ll recall some reasonably significant enhancements to the port company’s recruitment processes, which in my view added considerable value to the often-difficult process of attracting and retaining really good employees. It is an area that I continue to be very proud of. Development of personal files doesn’t exactly sound like one of the more challenging or romantic tasks that you could be assigned, but back in the mid-1980’s it was a task that I was charged with and which I still consider was one of the best learning opportunities within a Personnel Division still in its infancy. Remember the Harbour Board’s system that was maintained by the Staff Section Clerk - staff change notices (which contained minimal information) were received, coded, and filed for posterity. Any documentation (letter of application, references, qualifications held, letter of appointment etc.) received as part of a new employee’s application might have been retained by the Department concerned, but more probably destroyed once the staff change notice had been prepared and forwarded to the Staff Section. My task was to create a system of individual personal files covering the employment life of upwards of 500 employees. New employees presented no problems, I was now fully involved in recruitment and selection processes and therefore all documentation relating to a new employee was available to me, including formal offers of employment which I wrote. Existing employees provided a significantly different challenge, not necessarily in locating their information as the starting point was the Staff Section’s departmentally based coding system that I was familiar with, but in the time that was consumed in locating and extracting the information that was thought to be available within other departments, but might not have necessarily been so. I’m certain that my research and investigation skills became well-honed as I trawled through probably thousands of records in an attempt to identify documents that needed to be located within individual personal files. It’s fair to say that for many existing employees their files were pretty lean to start with, but for those who remained in the WHB and Port Company’s employ, their files, complete, up-to-date and confidentially and securely maintained by the Personnel Division, became the single source of truth. A very lengthy process, but a very rewarding one. FRANK’S INITIAL FOCUS ON RESTRUCTURING MANAGEMENT and administration saw the appointment, in February 1985 of Ray McCarty as Finance Manager. Ray’s primary tasks included overseeing the upgrading of the Board’s accounting and costing systems, with a lot of time spent reorganizing data processing and ironing out the inevitable teething problems. I got on very well with Ray, providing him with information and background on finance and accounting staff that he inherited. He was enthusiastic about everything, related very well with people, and was proving to be a real asset to the Board’s management team, so it was a real shock at the beginning of 1986 to learn of his death from a sudden illness. Ray was survived by his wife and three children. As sad as Ray’s passing was, his death was the catalyst for a significant human resources-related legacy. At that time, other than as provided in the Harbours Superannuation Plan (to which Ray was not a contributor), there was no insurance-type provision to assist families of deceased staff members. In Ray’s case, Frank obtained Board approval to make a special one-off payment to Ray’s family, and
33 covered all staff who were not members of the Harbours Superannuation Plan, meaning all WHB employees now had access to death/disability cover. Over the next 17 years up to the time of my departure from the port, this cover was applied on 7 or 8 occasions, one of whom was a Harbour Pilot who suffered a permanent disability, more fully covered when remembering GDM’s tenure. DEMARCATION AND INFLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS are generally considered to have been the targets of Griff Page (under legislated port reform) and then Graham Mulligan (achieving the takeover of Container Terminals Ltd), but in my view Frank Baldwin was the forerunner who recognised that historical working arrangements were stifling productivity and placing the port in a competitively precarious position. The first two years of Frank’s tenure saw him focused on management and administrative structures, well-illustrated by the creation of a Personnel Division. Early 1986 saw him turn his attention to operational structures, with increased flexibility of plant, equipment and people as high priorities. He sounded that warning very clearly in his Frankly Speaking column in the Autumn 1986 issue of the Board’ quarterly journal - BEACON, as follows: Operationally the Board has had a good three months in this financial year but the recent projections from the primary sector and the manufacturing industries clearly sate the year ahead is going to be difficult, and to survive these industries must be “market led”. If we are to maintain a viable port we must also follow the “market led” philosophy for port operations. The market is telling us clearly that we cannot continue with historical methods of cargo handling nor the existing labour arrangements. We all note with concern the adverse effect the market is having on shipping operations and ports around the world. Management must strive for greater cost-effective efficiencies to have any hope to maintain our trading position in this very competitive trading world. The best way to ensure we do so is by sensible, flexible use of our plant, equipment and labour. We see the real impact of this policy and philosophy in the shipping, manufacturing and primary produce companies who have carried out major restructuring and also on those who have been unsuccessful in doing so and who finish up going to the wall. Even in New Zealand we are now aware of shipping companies who are reducing their ports of call and consolidating their cargoes into fewer ports. Wellington is ideally geographically place for this providing we can back up that position by supplying efficient, cost-effective, reliable service. Without that we will be bypassed - “turnaround time” is the critical and important factor to all cargo operations. I think it’s fair to say that the waterfront unions were less than enamored with Frank Baldwin with his open and obvious targeting of demarcation issues, labour flexibility, and port reform generally, well before the passing of the Port Companies Act. Consider the following extract from the same BEACON issue as Frank’s column above: Workers in the port are well aware that the administration and management of the port has undergone extensive changes in the last two years. There was a saying around here that the wellington harbour board was a 100-year-old ship set in concrete. The general manager is chipping that concrete away and setting the ship on a new course. As a union executive member, I do not support the management aim of making the workplace fully flexible to tackle whatever tasks need to be done. If more tractor drivers are needed at the container terminal, then the board should lift its sinking lid policy and employ tractor drivers. However at least one union official, Kevin Jackson understood what Frank was attempting to achieve. The following extract comes from an email Kevin wrote many years later and provides a different first-hand view of Frank himself and his time at the WHB, particularly suggesting that Frank set the groundwork for future port reform processes: The eighties were an interesting period for the Wellington branch of the Harbour Workers Union - the ending of the Muldoon Government, the nuclear debate which the Wellington Branch took strong action on in line with many other unions in the Capital, stopping work for just over a week. Then the Lange led Labour Government and “Port Reform”. Adding to the mixture was the era of the last General Manager of the WHB, the late fearsome Frank Baldwin, described by a colleague close to him as “humorous but ruthless” replacing the mister nice guy, Jim Stewart. I think we were lucky with Frank Baldwin’s appointment. I liked him. He had charisma and I enjoyed him as an adversary, knowing full well what he was but that from time to time he could be full of bullshit. There was an instance during a meeting
34 of the WHB Committee members, Baldwin himself and the Port Conciliation Committee when Jimmy Milne stopped Baldwin in full flight, calling him “nothing but a stand over man” for reversing a board decision that had been made in Frank’s absence. Frank Baldwin pre-empted “Port Reform”. As Garry Evans once said, “it looks like Mr. Baldwin is going to bring Wellington into the 20th century by the scruff of its neck”. There’s no doubt in my mind that Frank Baldwin saved Wellington a lot of anguish further down the line. Griff Page benefitted from most of the work done by Frank Baldwin and the late John Roil. Griff, in my opinion and others, didn’t have a good grasp on things and just followed through on plans that had been implemented. I felt sorry for John Roil as I think he would have been a good CEO. From what I picked up from talking to John Roil and others, Roil had little tolerance for Board members. He once said to me that all they were interested in was the recreational areas with little knowledge of the industrial issues of the port. I often wondered if this cost him being appointed as CEO. But it wasn’t only the waterfront unions (apart from officials like Kevin) that weren’t totally taken with Frank. It’s interesting that one of my colleagues in the Personnel Division still to this day has no time for Frank, referring to him as “just a real estate agent from Nelson”. This is despite Frank being totally responsible for the creation of the Personnel Division and the subsequent appointment of my colleague out of union ranks. WITH NEW RESPONSIBILITIES, I STARTED TO THINK about whether I should be considering pursuing a relevant qualification, without actually knowing what a relevant qualification might be. A confession is probable necessary about now, as shortly after joining the Harbour Board I was regularly encouraged by Tom Blewman, the Board’s Secretary at the time, to enroll in, and complete a management-related qualification. I actually did so for half a year in 1969 then withdrew from the course in the second half of that year, believing that a career path that required personal commitment to studying had no appeal and there were far too many other exciting alternatives. Many years later, I have to concede that Tom was absolutely right to encourage me as he did, but back then I simply wasn’t ready to commit to extramural studies when other activities such as cricket and rugby were considerably more attractive and interesting. So it was that in early 1985 a friend of mine, Dennis Rowe (who had been the Staff Section Clerk) told me that he was going to Wellington Polytech a couple of nights each week where he was studying towards the New Zealand Institute of Management’s Certificate in Supervision and Basic Management. I had a look at this certificate course and it looked promising - including several subjects with a personnel-related focus, so in July 1985 I enrolled at the Petone Technical Institute with my first two subjects being Labour Relations, and Human Resource Development: People at Work. Six months later and I’ve passed both subjects with A’s, enough encouragement for me to continue studies in 1986 where I tackled 3 subjects (Personnel Practice, Economics, and Resource Management) in the first term, and another 3 subjects (Accountancy, Marketing, and Principles of Organisation) in the second term. All were successfully passed with a mixture of A’s and B’s, and the successful achievement of the Certificate in Supervision and Basic Management. It seemed logical to continue studies in 1987, this time towards the NZIM Diploma in Management. I’ll come back to those future external studies and on-going personal development activities shortly as part of the Griff Page Years. As an aside, the neat thing about attending Polytech after work was that on Polytech nights the Board provided me with a vehicle to get from Queens Wharf to Petone, then from Petone to home. It wasn’t the most salubrious vehicle being the Accounts Department pay van, a poorly maintained, uncared for and clunky beast (complete with floor shift gears - 3 forward, 1 reverse). It had a couple of seats and tables installed in the back from which payroll personnel distributed pay packets (cash in those days) every Tuesday to employees who were literally coming out of the woodwork as the van toured the various working areas of the port - some of these employees weren’t seen from week to week except on Tuesdays! This was my first experience of a company vehicle and I definitely wasn’t complaining at the time.
35 A memory comes back from cash pay packets from those days. All employees (from salaried officers down to the rank-and-file) were paid by cash, the concept of payment by direct credit wasn’t even close. So back then, Accounts Department staff calculated the weekly payroll, and every Tuesday morning a couple of staff wandered over to the National Bank in Featherston Street, collected the cash and returned to the Accounts Department where cash was counted for each individual’s pay packet and inserted, by payroll staff, into adhesive envelopes which were sealed and a pay slip stapled to each packet. How there was never a payroll snatch during the walk back from the bank does remain a bit of a mystery. Payroll Clerks were responsible for calculating and making up wages for various departments of the Board, and one payroll clerk saw an opportunity to make an extra bit of cash on the side. His plan was simple, he literally pocketed 10 or 20 cents from each employee’s pay packet, figuring that such a small amount wouldn’t be noticed. He was right, and it wasn’t until several months later, when the departments he was responsible for changed with his new departments now including Construction where there were quite a few Greek employees. Unfortunately for the Payroll Clerk concerned, the Greeks counted their cash religiously, making sure that it tallied exactly as their pay slip stated. Complaints were made by several of them, an investigation was carried out over the next two or three weeks, and the Payroll Clerk was literally caught red-handed, with his services being terminated for theft. As a total aside, I knew the Payroll Clerk concerned from younger days - he was from Brooklyn, lived just up the hill from Mum and Dad, and was a year or so behind me at Brooklyn School. Possibly due to my 1985 examination successes, during November 1985 I was advised that my position had been re-designated as Personnel Officer, and it was about this time that I made application to become a member of the Institute of Personnel Management New Zealand, a newly formed organisation. In early 1986 my application was approved, and I had become a foundation member of IPMNZ. Having achieved a professional membership, I made an application to Colin Watson to attend the Personnel Management conference that was to be held in Auckland in late October that year. A little bit to my surprise, approval was forthcoming, and in late October 1986 I headed to my first conference, in fact, apart from driving a Board Member back to Palmerston North during early WHB days it was my first out-of-town venture in my working career up to that time. The one downside was that the approval for my attendance didn’t include staying at the Sheraton Hotel where the conference was held, rather I found myself accommodated in a motel some two kilometres walking distance away from the conference venue. It didn’t worry me at the time, but meeting other delegates and interacting with them proved to be more of a challenge than it should have been, and I certainly made sure that I stayed at the relevant venue when attending future conferences / training programmes. I would go on to attend another 5 Personnel Management conferences, (Rotorua, Christchurch - twice, Auckland again, and Wellington), eventually resigning my membership in 1998 as the Institute became increasingly influenced by women out of organisations such as insurance companies where gritty and challenging issues such as negotiating employment conditions with waterfront unions and pickets at the wharf gates just simply didn’t register. Add in the increased political correctness that the Institute was favouring, and it was very clear to me that future benefits out of my ongoing membership would be minimal at best and zero at worst. AS MENTIONED EARLIER, THE PERSONNEL DIVISION had been relocated over in the Wharf Office Building at Queens Wharf. I had enjoyed an excellent office in the building opposite, but my new office was even better. It was huge, probably designed originally for 5 or 6 people, and when the Personnel Division moved into the Wharf Office building, John Howard and I shared the new office for several weeks until John moved next door to another office that had been renovated for him. I was now on my own in more space than I could have ever imagined, and as a bonus my desk looked directly out onto Jervois Quay, a major thoroughfare in and out of Wellington, and the pedestrian crossing that brought the lunchtime crowds from the city and onto the wharves. I do confess to window gazing on more than one occasion! I well remember one occasion when I wasn’t window gazing, when around 10.00am I was startled by a screaming of brakes, followed almost simultaneously by a thumping, crunching sound. I looked out of my window in time to see a person flying through the air and about to hit the ground almost 10 metres away from a car which had slid sideways before stopping. There was no movement from this
36 to the Clarrie Gibbons kiosk to buy morning tea and this was a daily occurrence. On this particular day the traffic lights had changed and John decided to dash diagonally across the road and was struck by a vehicle that had run the red light. Information received at that point was that John had died at the scene. This was confirmed a couple of hours later by a visit from the Board’s Cargo Manager, Nicholas St John Morley-Hall, regularly referred to by the staff as the “man with two fathers”. In reality he hadn’t come down to confirm that John had died, he came to tell me that I would have to go up to Wellington Hospital and identify the body. I guess that as the Personnel Officer such duties were thought to fall within my brief, however I had not only never imagined that I would be identifying a dead body, I had never actually seen a dead person at that time. Whilst agreeing that I would do this, I had - and still do hold the view that the Cargo Manager was looking for someone else to identify John as he didn’t want to carry out the task himself. So it was that a taxi was arranged and I travelled to Wellington Hospital, where I located the mortuary and explained why I was there. I recall being taken down to a windowless, cell-like room where there was a policeman waiting, and a table and a body covered by a sheet. After confirming who I was and who I was employed by, and that I was ready to identify John, the sheet was pulled back. While I didn’t know what to expect, I found myself looking at someone that I didn’t immediately recognise. This was not John as I remembered him. He was (I hate to say it) deathly pale, his hair was sitting wildly (almost bouffant), and the expression of shock that was still on his face distorted his features so much that I had to dig deeply into my memories of him before I was able to confirm that the person on the gurney in front of me was indeed John Posselt. I would rate this as one of the three most difficult people-related experiences that I had to deal with during my HR career (the other two occurred later (Graham Tall and Willie Pourini) and will be covered in the Page and Harris eras), and an early eye-opener for me of the many varied and unexpected challenges that I would be facing in the new world of personnel management. On the afternoon of 20 November 1987 I was working in my office when the lights in the office suddenly blacked out, actually all the power in the Wellington central business district was cut simultaneously. Several hours later we would find out that the cause of the blackout was a helicopter crash in one of Wellington’s suburbs. Peter Button, a pioneering helicopter rescue pilot was piloting his Bell Jet Ranger on a flight with local photographer Ronald Woolf and property developer Dion Savage. During the flight, police called in the helicopter to assist tracking Peter Carr, an offender who had escaped from Rimutaka Prison. During the search Button's helicopter drifted into high voltage transmission lines, lost both rotor blades, and crashed in Churton Park killing all three on board. Ironically Peter Button had been the helicopter pilot who assisted when the lines were first built. I recall Ronald Woolf very well, as most of my cricketing team photos were taken at his studio. Only two days before his death, Peter Button had received the Queens Gallantry Medal for his part in the rescue, on 2 July 1986, of the crew of the police launch Lady Elizabeth II which had capsized in heavy seas at the entrance to Wellington Harbour whilst on a training mission. Despite the appalling conditions Button and his son Clive managed to save two of the four crew members, skipper Constable Jim McLean and crew member Constable Rod Heard. Crew members Constable Glen Hughes and Senior Sergeant Phil Ward both died in the accident. The photograph opposite shows Peter Button’s helicopter hovering in the troughs with its rotor blades below the peaks of the oncoming waves, estimated to be 10m (33ft) high. Shortly after the Lady Elizabeth II rescue it was announced that a tender for the provision of helicopter services to the WHB, which wished to fly its harbour pilots out to ships before they reached the harbour entrance, had gone to a rival firm. The future of Peter Button’s company, Capital Helicopters was placed in jeopardy as a result of his firm's failure to win this contract, and there was a public outcry that Button's efforts were not being recognised by a body that was often reliant on his volunteer efforts. A helicopter service for WHB harbour pilots was maintained for several years, with that service eventually reverting back to pilot launch transfers. I would have quite a bit to do with the Wharf Police in later years, particularly after I took over industrial relations responsibilities under Graham Mulligan. They were always excellent to deal with, and perhaps it was made easier for
37 me as the Sergeant-in-Charge was a guy called Cam Tremworth who was an opening bowler for the Collegians senior cricket team, and he and I crossed swords on several occasions on the cricket field. TOWARDS THE END OF FRANK’S ERA, AND AS the impact of the Port Companies Act 1988 became a reality and bringing significant challenges for industrial relations, another position of Industrial Officer was added, with Paul Wright appointed out of the Otago Harbour Board to this position. Amongst his industrial responsibilities, Paul was also required to manage the redundancies (of which there were many) that were necessary as the Board transitioned itself from a bureaucratic and stagnant local authority to a fully commercial organisation as required under the Port Companies Act. Little did I know that within a very short space of time I would be handed the responsibility for these redundancies because Paul was finding it too difficult and stressful, but more of that shortly under Griff Page’s tenure. Back in those days, the cleaning of offices was carried out at night by WHB staff and the cleaner responsible for the Personnel Division was a guy called Terry Farrow, who happened to be a staunch member of the then Harbour Workers Union. We knew that Terry had a predilection for seeking out information that would be useful to his union, and he wasn’t adverse in pulling ripped documents from rubbish tins and sellotaping them together. Now this might seem a bit extreme, but consider some comments made by Kevin Jackson who was the Union Secretary around that time: John Roil always wrote his reports out in pencil longhand for his typist, remember it was the 80”s. The typed report would be returned to John Roil along with his original notes. I should imagine that he would have checked the report out and then ripped up the original longhand copy, into very small pieces. Terry Farrow was the office cleaner at the time, starting work at some unsociable hour. Terry would retrieve the torn reports from the bin and “sellotape” them together, then deliver them to the Union office. John and I would study them and prepare ourselves for their formal presentation, at the negotiating table. It was a good advantage to have. As Terry would say jokingly “never employ a union man as your cleaner”. So knowing what Terry was up to, on several occasions we prepared some mocked up reports about industrial issues that would be viewed as extremely controversial by the Harbour Workers Union, marked them “final draft”, then ripped and placed them in the Personnel Manager’s rubbish tin. We also surreptitiously marked the level of sellotape that sat prominently on the Personnel Manager’s desk. Without fail the next morning, the sellotape dispenser was considerably lower than the previous night, and morning tea was sent speculating, with much amusement on the responses of the union officials on reading the dastardly plans that the Personnel Division was hatching. I LOOK BACK AT THIS PERIOD IN MY WORKING CAREER with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction. Frank Baldwin’s arrival was like a breath of fresh air, totally deodorizing what had previously been a stagnant, wasteful and unfulfilling local authority environment. I guess that I was pretty fortunate in being in the right place at the right time i.e. a world-wide focus on genuine people management had come out of its infancy, and was gaining increased exposure and maturity in the commercial world in which the harbour board was beginning to find itself, and the Staff Section in which I was ensconced as the sole occupier, being recognised by Frank as the basis from which real personnel management processes and activities could be developed and implemented, resulting in a high performing and effective human resources management team that would eventually be recognised as a leader within the New Zealand port industry. I have so much to thank Frank Baldwin for, and I will always consider him to be the person who not only unlocked my career potential, but even more importantly provided me with the encouragement and incentive to step away from a 16-year near-moribund working existence, during which my major achievements could be described as two marriages, a couple of overseas holidays (Norfolk Island and Hawaii), two children, club captain of MSP, playing senior cricket for 12 seasons, assisting in bringing the first English professional cricketer into Wellington club cricket, and captaining the championship-winning 1984-85 MSP senior reserve side. That there was a fairly obvious lack of working career achievements before Frank’s arrival is a bit of an understatement! This was also the time when I received my first external work accolades. The first related to the development of an Information Booklet for Staff, there wasn’t one prior to me writing this document. When it was in its final draft form, I sent it to the Wellington Regional Employers Association (the Board was a member of this organisa
38 important aspect of management) and also from an Industrial Relations point of view I believe you have done an excellent job. The fact that both staff members and the union have had an opportunity to contribute can only auger well for the Harbour Board in the future. In the meantime keep up the good work. I look forward to a finished copy that I can use in seminars to show other less enlightened companies how it really should be done! The second accolade came from the National Provident Fund - you’ll recall that when appointed as Staff Clerk I became responsible for the Board’s superannuation schemes, two of which were governed by the National Provident Fund (Defined Benefit Plan, and National Superannuation Scheme). Towards the end of Frank’s tenure as General Manager, I received a letter from the local representative of the National Provident Fund which included the following: Please accept both the National Provident Fund and my own thanks for the excellent effort that you are displaying in supporting the Fund in your organisation. Many other Local Authorities are not fortunate enough to have personnel officers who are conversant enough with the NPF schemes to provide the valuable support service for their employees’ superannuation schemes that you do. As we are all aware, superannuation is of extreme importance to all staff members to ensure their financial security in retirement and the help that you are able to give them in this regard is certainly appreciated by all. For all the effort that you have displayed in promoting the NPF and the time-consuming day to day administration of existing accounts - thank you! Looking back at these accolades now, I can’t help but think that both were a couple of early indicators that the construction of my personal road to career success had finally commenced, with more than a few shovel loads being placed in position - I’m sure that Steve Maraboli would approve of my slightly amended version of his words that I referred to earlier i.e. “the road to success is always under construction”. The announcement of Frank’s resignation to take up the Chief Executive’s position at the Airways Corporation was personally unsettling, I knew that my career was starting to blossom under his leadership and I was thoroughly enjoying the new challenges that Frank had made available to me. Then I heard that his Personal Assistant and a good friend of mine at work, Robyn Brettell would be going across to the Airways Corporation with Frank, definitely a double whammy! I have one other abiding memory of Frank Baldwin. Several years after Frank had left the port to take up the CEO role at the Airways Corporation, Clare Murphy and I headed up to the Wellington Club on the Terrace to attend an after-hours business function. There were probably a couple of hundred people attending this function, and Clare and I were mingling somewhere around the middle of the throng. I happened to glance towards the entrance and to my surprise I saw Frank Baldwin heading into the venue - given his height he was pretty hard to miss. But what amazed me more was his reaction when he looked in my direction and spotted me - he waved and smiled, and immediately marched over to where Clare and I were standing and greeted me by first name like a long-lost colleague. Now you have to remember that I probably hadn’t seen Frank for 7, maybe 8 years, and during this time Frank would have met many, many other business people, politicians and the like, both nationally and internationally. Yet many years later he could instantly recall an HR person from his time at the Wellington Harbour Board and go out of his way to greet and socialize with him. Superb! Frank Baldwin adopted a maxim from a United States basketball coach, John Wooden: “There was a man. The more he gave, the more he had”. There is no doubt in my mind that Frank lived fully to this maxim.
39 “ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE IN THE PLAYGROUND” - THE GRIFF PAGE YEARS If I had to explain Griff’s time as Chief Executive in less than 10 words, I can’t think of anything more descriptively accurate than “organisational change in the playground”. This is not intended to be a derogatory statement, rather I would suggest that it is a statement of fact. When Griff was appointed, we were coming out of the Frank Baldwin era. This era had been marked by significant changes, but as mentioned earlier, any number of these changes were not popularly received by the rank and file. Hindsight is fabulous, and when I look back at the Baldwin and Page eras, there is no doubt in my mind that Frank Baldwin not only set the groundwork for the changes that were inevitable, but he also ensured that many of these changes were either underway or implemented well prior to port reform, including not only commencing the rationalization of a seriously over-staffed and underperforming workforce, but more importantly taking the first - and most difficult steps in removing the organizationally destructive issues of demarcation. Staff numbers during Frank’s era certainly declined, flexibility in working arrangements gained traction as long-established demarcation lines were challenged, and the obscenity of the “sinking lid” policy as referred to earlier by one staff member at the time became an increasing vocal theme of waterfront unions. Frank Baldwin is remembered negatively by many of the staff who were there at that time, primarily I suspect because that for the first time, the operational performance of a harbour board was seriously under question and to the rank-and-file Frank was clearly the examiner. When Griff’s name is mentioned, the response is generally positive and I suspect that this is because (i) Griff deliberately portrayed the “hail fellow, well met” approach, and (ii) any changes occurring during Griff’s time could be attributed directly to the legislative requirements of port reform, therefore not of Griff’s making. The reality is that reductions in staff numbers, mostly achieved by redundancy, were considerably greater under Griff’s regime than were achieved during Frank’s era, and there were a couple of organisational changes that would not stand any scrutiny today. I’ll come back to these shortly. Griff was also viewed by the troops as being every bit as fallible as they could be. This is best evidenced by his admission in the December 1991 edition of the Company’s staff magazine Pipitea Port Pourri when he advised everyone: Anyone who writes a column such as this often ends up preaching about this or that, trying to get a message across. Well, I know I have done that and this time last year I warned everyone about the dangers of drinking and driving. And guess who isn’t driving this Christmas! (The answer is not Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer). Yes, I admit that I erred and now I’m paying the penalty. So, if you see me walking or being driven you now know why. Don’t feel sorry, just don’t do the same. So in 1987 we had a Chief Executive for the ages, and we would find out that he knew how to enjoy himself. Looking back now, Griff’s appointment was pretty inspired, the Company’s management team would feel relatively comfortable and secure, the unions hoped for, and maybe even sensed a seismic shift from the Baldwin days, while the rank and file didn’t fully appreciate the significance of port reform. Actually, I suspect that all three parties (management, unions, and rank and file) had no real idea of what was coming. LIKE ALL INCOMING CHIEF EXECUTIVES, GRIFF WAS DETERMINED to create his own brand of organisational culture, with his version having a primary focus on enjoying one’s working life in the new corporate world that had evolved from port reform. One of the first opportunities to develop an inclusive and fun culture came with the introduction into New Zealand of dragon boat racing, with the first festival being held in February 1989 and on Wellington Harbour. With encouragement from a newly appointed Marketing Manager and strong backing from Griff himself, interest was sought throughout the company from anyone brave
40 enough to jump into a long, narrow, canoe-like boat that carried 22 people - 20 paddlers, one sweep (hopefully keeping us in a straight line), and a drummer (providing the rhythm and pace of our paddling). We shouldn’t have worried about interest levels as we were swamped by responses from all work areas of the company. This was probably just as well because we had overlooked the basic requirement for regular practice sessions which were generally held on weekdays between 5.00pm and 8.00pm. This suited most organisations, but not so great for companies like us where shift work was the norm for a lot of our people. While we quickly sorted out our top crew, there was many occasions when shift work meant that we turned up with half the preferred crew at best but having a good number of reserves meant that we were able to put close to a full boat on the water at most practices. As is often the case, our first year’s involvement in dragon boating was the most enjoyable. It was a new opportunity for all of us, and for me personally, it provided an excellent opportunity to stay involved in a team sport as I had only recently retired from cricket after 25 years involvement. Everything about this sport was new, and there was a compulsory requirement for crews to be uniformed, with most crews creating T-shirts adorned with corporate logos and other branding. Not for Port of Wellington though, and I will definitely take the credit for what we ended up looking like. For a number of years when playing cricket for Midland St Pats, our home base had been the Prince of Wales Tavern, situated across the road from the Basin Reserve, and generally referred to as the “POW”. As the Wellington Harbour Board had just been commercialised and rebranded as “Port of Wellington (POW), it appeared rather obvious to me that there was a potential play on the POW term, and that our uniforms could reflect that. That idea was suggested by me, accepted by the group, and so we became convicts in uniforms that we wore for the first two dragon boat regattas in Wellington, as well as four subsequent regattas in Auckland and Lake Karapiro. I’ve still got my uniform! The downside of these uniforms (superbly sewed by the female crew members) was their absolute unsuitability for water sports - they could not absorb water and became totally waterlogged within seconds of the beginning of races. They looked good though, so much so that we won the corporate uniform prizes at both the Wellington and Auckland regattas in 1989. That’s us above in February 1989 replete with balls and chains and just prior to our involvement in a festival parade through the streets of the capital. Our first racing experience took place on Wellington Harbour on a beautiful Wellington Sunday. The crowds turned out in large numbers, and we were well looked after by support staff. Probably the only factor we hadn’t properly thought through was where we would be based - somebody had come up with the idea of placing a 40-foot container adjacent to the racecourse where we could store our gear, relax in between races etc. This didn’t really work that well as after our first race the container floor was literally awash with a surprising amount of Wellington Harbour - courtesy of our waterlogged uniforms. However, it didn’t seem to affect us too much as we won our first 3 races to gain a place in the semifinal. And we got off to a great start in the semi-final, level pegging in front with another crew at the half-way mark, but then disaster struck. The 3rd placed boat (on our port side) suddenly veered off course and headed straight towards us, striking our boat literally amidships. We were pushed out of our lane and having to take evasive action to avoid running into another crew on our starboard side. We could only watch in anguish as the crew we were level pegging with paddled away to win rather easily. There go our chances of heading to the nationals in Auckland, we thought. But there was one final twist to come. The organisers had obviously seen what had happened and took the decision to also invite us to the nationals, probably assisted by the popularity of our award-winning (but totally unsuitable) corporate uniform! So, on the Friday of the following week, we’re on an Ansett flight (they were one of our sponsors) to Auckland to compete in the inaugural national dragon boat championships. Our group numbered about 35, and travelling with us were Griff Page and the Chairman of the Board, Nigel Gould, both accompanied by their wives. As a marketing ploy they had booked a hotel suite for a client function, the hotel not only being opposite Queens Wharf where the racing would occur, but also looked straight out at the head office building of the Ports of Auckland, a major competitor. The client function was held on race day, with a Port of Wellington banner strategically placed in full view of competitors, spectators, and of course, Ports of Auckland.
41 As for the team, we were well accommodated at a motel on the outskirts of Parnell, and our Friday afternoon was free until the pre-regatta party which was held in an old cargo shed on Princess Wharf. Dressed in our convict uniforms and dragging chains and balls (plastic), our well-timed entrance into the venue was brilliantly received by all other competing crews. I’m pretty sure that we were the most popular team at the party, we certainly attracted a lot of very welcome attention from the other crews! Post party, we trailed back to our motel for some well-earned relaxation as may be seen from the photo opposite! As racing took place only on the Sunday, we were able to enjoy a commitment-free Saturday, with several of us heading to one of Auckland’s beaches on the North Shore. At night, our entire group headed to a Parnell pizzeria, with the Chairman, probably believing that we would be focused on the next day’s racing, advised that the tab was on the Company. Unfortunately, his assumption on the team’s focus was wrong on several counts - free drinks, very slow service (even more drinks), with the Chairman’s wife, along with Griff enjoying the evening as much as everyone else. A great night, and an extraordinarily impressive meal and bar tab must have been run up over the several hours we were there! I can still see the pained look on the Chairman’s face as he watched the tab ticking over and the majority of the crew, plus his wife thoroughly enjoying the Company’s generosity! So, onto race day, and probably against all odds (considering the previous night) we were in good shape and ready to go. Paddling out for our first race was an experience that none of us are likely to forget, there were 30,000 plus spectators lining Princess Wharf, considerably in excess of the numbers that had watched us in Wellington. That’s us on the right with the crowds of spectators in the background. Very memorable! We easily won our first 3 races to qualify for the semi-finals, but unfortunately our nocturnal activities had probably caught up with us and we finished fourth, missing out on the final. But dragon boating wasn’t over for the year. With not much convincing required, Griff approved an entry into the national championships that were to be held on Lake Karapiro, a couple of weeks after the Auckland regatta. This time, about 40 of us, including Griff are aboard a bus and heading north, arriving at Lake Karapiro in late afternoon, with just enough time to pitch tents, fire up a couple of barbecues, and then hunt out the parties that we knew were taking place. Three of us (Glen Hay and Ricky Dapas were the other two) spotted lights at the top of a slope that looked promising. It turned out to be another team’s tent where partying was definitely the order of the night. I know we left after midnight, and clearly recall walking out of a well-lit tent into total darkness and having to negotiate our way very carefully downhill to our canvas accommodation, just a wee bit under the weather. But like Auckland, on Saturday morning our powers of recovery were remarkable, and we easily won our 3 preliminary races and qualifying for the semi-final. Now some drama. We’re lined up on the start line for our semi-final, but not quite in position when the starter’s gun sounded. We lost about 5 seconds and were dead last at the halfway point. We made up some ground and finished 4th, not a good enough placing to get us in the final. But Griff was not having this and off he strode to the organiser’s tent and lodged a protest, based on our disadvantaged start. He came back smiling, the organiser’s had agreed with him and added us into the final as an extra crew. There wasn’t to be a fairy tale finish however, we paddled into 5th place which we were happy enough about, we were the 5th best crew in New Zealand during the first year of dragon boat racing.
42 And there was more to come. The regatta party kicked off around 6.00pm, with probably 1,500 paddlers and support crew crammed into a large marquee, complete with rock band. It only took about 30 minutes before the first paddlers were attempting to climb the posts holding the marquee up, an activity that became more and more interesting as the night wore on. A great night, with some very tired but happy dragon boaters clambering onto our bus for a very long Sunday trip home. These bus trips had many hilarious moments, most being directly attributable to Glen Hay’s antics. Already well known for Donald Duck impressions, Glen, a true character, added wigs, bow ties and water pistols to his repertoire, and he was a source of continual entertainment (and annoyance) during these trips. Another genuine character, and a regular member of the dragon boat crew was Mick Munnelly (pictured right) who at the time of our races was employed as a Tug Hand. My favourite dragon boating memory of Mick occurred when we were on the harbour for an early morning practice. The Company’s Marketing Officer had arranged for a local radio station, ZM-FM to follow us around in a small inflatable and broadcast live, including occasional interviews with the crew. ZM-FM’s morning announcer was the well-known Nick Tansley. Halfway during the practice session, Nick waves us to a stop and asks if we could do our team chant. Well, we didn’t have a team chant but that didn’t deter Mick at all who called out to us to follow his lead. So with a microphone pointed at him from only a couple of metres away Mick starts to chant: Mick: We’re out here with Nick Tansley Us: We’re out here with Nick Tansley Mick: He’s the man from 2ZB At this point we were collapsing with laughter and at high risk of capsizing as we watched Nick Tansley frantically trying to terminate the ZM-FM live feed and the free advertising for a competitor radio station! I ran into Nick Tansley 20 odd years later at Nelson airport, and he still remembered that occasion! Mick Munnelly will feature again towards the end of this chapter. Dragon boating was to become a regular event over the next few years, highlighted by a 2nd equal placing in a subsequent Wellington regatta which resulted in an automatic entry into the Auckland regatta - we didn’t do so well that time, with this trip unfortunately memorable due to the totally unacceptable behaviour (almost certainly drug-related) of our team captain, who was prevented by a team mate from physically assaulting me at Auckland Airport, and who was then forcibly removed from the Ansett aircraft (at the time they were one of our major sponsors) for his aggressive behaviour towards the flight crew immediately prior to take-off. On our return to Wellington, this guy received a final written warning that during his employment would remain permanently on his personal file. I’m still not 100% certain that a never-ending warning would have withstood a legal challenge, but I got a hell of a lot of satisfaction in issuing it! The guy never paddled for us again. We also travelled to Lake Karapiro again, unfortunately failing to make the semi-finals, but again thoroughly enjoying the after- race party. After a couple of years, we joined forces with the Wellington Regional Council, one of the Company’s shareholders, necessitated by serious reductions in Port of Wellington staff - due to redundancies that I will allude to shortly. Our combined crew competed in Wellington on two occasions, and also headed north to another regatta held at Lake Matahina. We didn’t have a great deal of success, but like previous years, the fun factor was high. A final memory of Griff from dragon boating days, and it’s from one of the trips to Lake Karapiro, and the morning after a post- regatta party. Several of us had made our way down to the lake and were enjoying an early morning swim, when we looked up and saw Griff weaving his way in our direction, eyes sticking out like organ stops, toothbrush and soap in hand and looking definitely the worse for wear. Another one of those examples where Griff demonstrated his human frailties which definitely endeared him to the Company’s rank and file.
43 DURING A PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT MEETING IN LATE 1987, I floated the idea of the Board hosting an annual long service dinner, including presentations to recognise the length of service of individual employees. Not an original idea, many other companies held similar events. The idea resonated with my colleagues, Nick Ransom presented it to the senior management team, they approved it, and suddenly I was tasked with organizing the Board’s first-ever long service dinner. It didn’t turn out to be quite as big as Ben Hur, but it was a significant function as all employees (plus wives / partners) who qualified for one or both of the two awards were invited - we had decided to recognise 15 and 25 years consecutive years’ service. After the first event, I heard that some staff were of the view that the 15-year certificate was only included as senior management knew that many employees with over 15, but less than 25 years’ service would never qualify for 25 years recognition due to imminent port reform and the associated redundancies. Cynical - yes. Accurate - almost certainly not. The first long service dinner was held on 25 March 1988 at The Pines in Houghton Bay, we needed a venue like The Pines because of the numbers attending (252 employees, wives and partners). I calculated that the invited employees had a collective 2,545 years of service and an estimated 5,293,600 working hours. The evening was a great success and was the forerunner of many more long service dinners during Griff and Graham Mulligan’s tenures as Chief Executives. The photo opposite (with Griff looking happy and Nigel Gould looking stern) was one of the groups receiving long service certificates, and the guy kneeling in the middle (the only one holding his certificate and resembling Jim Morrison from The Doors) was Guiddo Zuppani, a Cleaner in the Mechanical Offices. We would find out later that Guiddo was so proud of his 15- year certificate that it was framed and hanging in the lounge at his home. You never know what’s important to another person, and it certainly made me aware of the significance of this event to other people! Guiddo’s position of cleaner was made redundant shortly afterwards, possibly contradicting my earlier view that 15-year certificates were not just included because of known pending redundancies! Another long serving employee was Hughie Williams who was employed by the WHB as a Fitters Labourer and came over to the port company on its formation in 1988. The photo on the left shows him receiving a 25-year long service award from Griff Page, with the Chairman, Nigel Gould in the background. That function was held at the Central Park Cabaret, and was the only occasion that I remember Hughie wearing a tie! There’s an excellent story about Hughie and his spare time at the WHB (of which there was a great deal) which Hughie filled in over a period of time by manufacturing a cross bow plus a number of bolts. Of course, if you are going to manufacture your own cross bow and bolts it is obligatory that you test its performance in an “appropriate” location. Hughie’s “appropriate” venue was the Mechanical workshop at Kings Wharf, and he set himself up at one end of the workshop, loaded a bolt, aimed at the far end of the workshop, somewhere between 50 to 75 metres away, and let loose. According to one witness the bolt hammered cleanly through the far wall and continued on, finally embedding itself in the external wall of an adjacent building approximately another 30 metres further on, which at that time was probably the Electrical workshop. Had anyone being walking past at the time, they too would have probably been pinned against the adjacent building and drawing their last breath! As the instigator of long service dinners and having a long employment with the Wellington Harbour Board and the Port Company, I definitely qualified for both the 15 and 25-year certificates. My 15-year certificate was presented at the inaugural long service dinner in 1988, nearly 5 years after achieving 15 years, and my 25-year certificate was presented at a function held
44 on 23 July 1993. Originally framed, and I still retain them as important reminders of my rather lengthy career around the Wellington waterfront. Copies of both certificates follow. Probably because of my success in organising the first long service dinner, and following a function at Todd Park celebrating the formation of the Port Company (more about that shortly), I was tasked with organising the Company’s first combined staff Christmas party at the end of 1989. In earlier WHB days, there were a series of separate departmental Christmas functions, always happening around midday on Christmas Eve. For instance, Head Office would close at 1.00pm and Head Office staff would head to the Board Room for food and refreshments. Two floors above in the same building the Engineers staff would head to their messroom at the same time. Across the road, Accounts staff did exactly the same. Sometimes, several long- stayers from each department would join forces later that evening. In 1989 that all changed. Todd Park was booked again, and invitations were sent to all staff, directors, and wives/husbands/partners. The function was so successful that it became an annual event, with the major change being a shift of venue, the next few functions being held at The Pines. For the 1990 function, a very good local Wellington band (the Harbour City Showband) was booked, and very generously, the Pines management included the late Dalvanius as additional entertainment - at no additional cost. It’s probably appropriate at this time to acknowledge a couple of contributing factors: Firstly, I knew Tony O’Brien, owner of The Pines, very well as we had played rugby together at Oriental-Rongotai for a number of years. Secondly I was able to second the Payroll Clerk, Fionnuala Smyth to assist in organising this event, Fionnuala would become an awesome resource in the organisation of future long service dinners, and the annual Christmas functions. The Christmas functions were outstanding successes. In 1989 twelve months had elapsed since the formation of the port company and memories of redundant colleagues had dimmed, or at least were starting to dim. Griff had well and truly established himself as a “hail fellow, well met” Chief Executive, and there was a generally wide-spread feeling of positiveness throughout the workforce. Most of the staff had been at the original Todd Park function back in 1988 and therefore a precedent of free food and alcohol plus excellent entertainment had been set! There were photos taken at all Christmas functions, and a couple from The Pines are reproduced below. On the left is Dalvanius with a couple of members of the Harbour City Showband accompanying him, and on the right are three genuine port company characters, Barry Farrow, Warren Stoddart and Billy Millar clearly enjoying themselves. There was
45 another photo (which I can’t locate) of the same three gentlemen facing Dalvanius from about a metre or so away - either serenading him, attempting to distract him, or more probably just simply enjoying themselves! I acknowledged Fionnuala earlier, and the excellent help she provided in organising long service dinners and Christmas functions, and she certainly deserved to enjoy herself at these functions, as evidenced by the photo on the left taken at The Pines. The venue would again change in 1992, with the photo above taken at the port company’s social rooms, the first time that this venue was used. Griff, and later Graham Mulligan would both comment positively on the Christmas functions in the staff magazine, Griff saying in 1989 “Great to see so many people enjoying themselves as they did at the Christmas function last Friday. It was a great event and my sincere thanks to all those who carried out the organising”, and in 1994 Graham stating “Firstly and foremost I would like to thank all those involved in organising the excellent Christmas function held on Friday night. Well done!!” I briefly mentioned the social rooms above, and the development of this facility is another example of Griff’s focus of creating an organisational culture where fun and enjoyment was absolutely possible in a corporate environment. When the port company was formed, personnel who had previously been domiciled at Queens Wharf were relocated to refurbished premises in the previous Waterfront Industry Commission building at Hinemoa Street. This building had a large area upstairs that had been used as the Watersiders’ cafeteria but had been left empty when the refurbishments were completed, and an approach was made to Griff by the Company’s social club for that area to be redeveloped into a social facility that could be enjoyed by all staff. Probably not surprisingly, Griff enthusiastically supported this proposal, plans were drawn up, an establishment fund created, and with weekend labour provided by volunteers within the Company, it wasn’t long before renovations were complete and a bar and lounge area plus a snooker room were officially opened in October 1992. Pictured below on the left during the official opening are Griff, Sam Broad, Clare Murphy and Neville Hyde performing a particularly ungainly and uncoordinated version of the Birdie Dance, and on the right are a couple of employees enjoying a game of snooker on one of the two large tables that we had procured. There’s an interesting story about the snooker tables arriving in the social facility. The two tables used to reside on the second floor of the Accounts Building at Queens Wharf, and they were the tables that I regularly played on during lunchtimes at the
46 WHB. On the formation of the port company, the tables were overlooked even though they were deemed to belong to the social club. The development of the social rooms saw an approach to Colin Watson, who by then was the WHB General Manager, for the relocation of the tables to the port company. The answer was a resounding “no”. So one Saturday morning and a snooker table company and a crane company hired and paid from the establishment fund, the two tables were surreptitiously dismantled, lifted out of the building, transported to Hinemoa Street, lifted into the social rooms and reassembled - where they remained. I’M NOT SURE THAT IN MY YOUNGER DAYS I ever had a burning desire to go to Outward Bound, but in early February 1992 an opportunity arose that was too good to refuse. One afternoon Griff wandered into my office and told me that he had received an invitation to attend Outward Bound for a “potential sponsor’s” weekend and that he couldn’t attend, but did I? Well, I jumped at the chance, and I soon found myself in Anakiwa experiencing quite a few of the experiences that are part of any Outward Bound course e.g. rock climbing, abseiling, sailing / rowing a cutter, and completing a ropes confidence course. All things considered, I found it a completely different experience, sometimes challenging, sometimes frightening, sometimes exhilarating - but always rewarding and well worth the effort that was necessary. But one thing niggled at me for some time after returning to Wellington, and it was to do with the ropes confidence course. While we were in Anakiwa, we were told that all activities were voluntary, and if we didn’t want to participate in any, then we didn’t have to. I chose not to take part in the high ropes exercise that involved climbing a rope ladder attached to a rather tall pine tree, then traversing between that tree and another pine tree that was a reasonable distance away, using 3 ropes - one to step on and two to hold onto. I looked up at this rope structure which was about 20 metres up in the air and said “no way, I don’t need to do this”, so I didn’t. Weeks later and back in the safety of my office I was seriously regretting not completing the high ropes activity, my decision not to was definitely preying on my mind. There seemed to be only one thing to do, and so I submitted an application to attend a 9-day Outward Bound Compact Course, which was duly approved. So on a Saturday afternoon in early March 1993 I joined 11 other rather nervous and apprehensive companions at the Picton Ferry Terminal to start our Outward Bound experience. Collectively we were McKenzie Watch. Because of the sponsor’s visit that I had been on, I was aware that the physical demands of the course would be intense, and I had prepared myself quite well for the physical requirements. What I was not so well prepared for was the barrage of mental demands and challenges that the instructors seemed to find great delight in placing before us as regularly as possible - a couple that I won’t forget in a hurry were recorded in my Watch Journal and are repeated below. We awoke after very little sleep to a perfectly calm morning and realized that we were faced with at least a 5-hour row. The oars on the cutter were not dissimilar to poorly finished lengths of 4 x 2’s, and we had a major physical effort in front of us. I was well focused on my role as stroke (my dragon boat experience had been recognised) and I was quite prepared for the work that was required. The instructors gave us directions, but instead of immediately being sent on our way, we were forced to strip, jump into the sea (very cold at that time of the morning) and swim twice around our craft. We were faced with an extremely unpleasant task and our focus had been totally destroyed. Yet I had no choice but to harden my resolve, do the swim and immediately refocus on my role as stroke for the other members of the Watch. The reality of being responsible and accountable for the consequences of your actions was brought into sharp focus on the rock face today. Sanding on the top of the rock face controlling a belaying line for a relative stranger who has not only placed their trust in you but has also placed their life in your hands leaves you in no doubt at all that you have accepted a huge responsibility. You know damn well that the consequences of any mistake or misjudgment by yourself could be disastrous. I can’t imagine how the concept of accountability could be more clearly demonstrated.
47 The 9 days at Anakiwa and around the waters of the Queen Charlotte Sound passed very quickly. We clambered over rope courses and associated obstacles, climbed rock walls (3 times, one of which was completed with blindfolds on) and abseiled back down, tramped through the mountains for a couple of days, rowed / sailed a cutter, kayaked, spent a day and a half “solo”, and ended with a 14-kilometre run through mountain tracks. All in all, I think we spent the first and last nights at Anakiwa, the rest of the nights we slept under canvas in various places around the Sounds. That’s us (McKenzie Watch) photographed on the right, and I suspect just before we headed off on our kayaking adventure. Through practical experiences, Outward Bound enhanced my appreciation of the power of corporate Values Statements - Port of Wellington was at that time in the process of presenting a draft set of Values Statements to staff i.e. customer focus, integrity, learning, health and safety, responsibility and accountability, challenging, teamwork, quality, and environmental commitment. My experiences at Outward Board led me to understand that that the organisational values being developed at the port were not only completely recognizable in the outdoors environment, but also capable of an easy translation from that outdoors environment directly into the day-to-day working activities of the port. And so it was that on my return I put forward a recommendation to the senior management group for the Company to sponsor up to 5 employees per annum to attend Outward Bound, plus one sponsorship annually to a family member of an employee. It actually took a few years for the staff to see any outcomes from these recommendations, actually mid-2002, about a year before my departure from the port, when two family members were selected to attend the 22-day Standard Course. And that high ropes exercise that caused me anguish from the sponsor’s visit? No issues second time around, I completed the ropes course and in fact I asked the instructors whether I could have another go on the high ropes, unfortunately declined. BUT IT WASN’T ALL BEER AND SKITTLES during Griff’s time, and there’s no doubt at all that a huge amount of organisational change occurred under his leadership. As I mentioned before, the process of reducing staff numbers had commenced under Frank Baldwin, but they increased dramatically during Griff’s reign. In the year leading up to 1 October 1988 (when the Port Company was formally established) there would have been somewhere around 300 redundancies, most of which were achieved “voluntarily” - but many of the guys who “volunteered” actually didn’t want to go. On several occasions I was confronted with grown men breaking down and crying as they realised that volunteering would in fact be the end of their working lives. I saw this first-hand as by that time I had been handed responsibility for managing the majority of redundancies - the first of many “fix- it” jobs that would be given to me as you’ll recall that the industrial officer originally assigned the role was finding the processes too demanding and stressful. Although I attempted to carry out the process objectively and maintain the dignity of the guys affected, for a long period of time I was probably the least popular person around the Wellington waterfront. One particular instance stays with me, and it was from a Friday night when around 40 men were finishing up at the same time. An informal function was arranged in one of the sheds with drinks and food provided - as in the photo below. I thought it would be a good idea to attend the function and say farewell to the guys who had “volunteered”. Big mistake. No-one spoke to me, and my presence was acknowledged by stares of disdain at best and loathing at worst. Feeling distinctly like one of those biblical lepers, I finished my glass and skulked out, promising myself that it would be the last function of that nature that I would attend - it was. I’m not sure that this particular photo was from that specific evening, but it was taken during one of the many farewell functions that became the norm during mid to late 1988.
48 With the formation of the port company on 1 October 1988 and the end of the first redundancy phase, I admit that managing the redundancies had taken a lot out of me, and I actually approached Nick to request voluntary severance for myself. The package would have been good, and I saw a consulting opportunity out in the wider world. Nick heard me out, then told me that he believed I had a good career in front of me at the port, and he wouldn’t support any severance application from me. So, my time at the port wasn’t yet up, and the consulting world was going to have to wait another 15 years for my arrival. And Nick would provide me with a letter (opposite) describing my role in assisting with the required outcomes of port reform, particularly my management of the Company’s Voluntary Severance Agreement. Nice to have but it certainly didn’t reflect the real difficulty of the assignment, particularly given my relative lack of experience at that level at that time. I suspect that Nick wrote this letter as a direct consequence of my request for voluntary severance, he certainly gave it to me only a week or so after I had spoken with him. Probably all port companies celebrated their formation, Port of Wellington Ltd certainly did with a dinner and dance function for all staff, directors, wives and partners at Todd Park in Porirua. Staff were presented with corporate gifts by Griff, Jeremy Coney, the former NZ cricket captain was the guest speaker, and the port company’s life was off to a memorable start. Also memorable was the rather impressive celebration cake which was on full display to everyone entering Todd Park, only problem being that when it was time to cut the cake, it had vanished. Now this was a pretty large cake and it would have taken some shifting. The guy responsible eventually returned the cake in the week following the function, with several slabs missing, consumed and enjoyed by the guy concerned and other culprits. Maybe the sunglasses were an intended disguise to avoid detection when removing the cake? Around the same time as the Todd Park dinner and dance there was another dinner to celebrate the birth of the port company, it was held in a restaurant on The Terrace and all management staff and wives / partners were invited. The majority of us were somewhat perplexed to see a random guy and his wife arrive at the same time as Griff and his wife Cecily and sit alongside Griff and Cecily during the dinner. The mystery was soon explained - the guy was Neil Martin (pictured left) and he was announced by Griff as being the company’s newly appointed Port Services Manager and in charge of all shipping and cargo operations. Griff’s announcement took most of us by total surprise, although the previous Operations Manager (John Roil) had just been made redundant there had been no indication of any replacement, the position of Port Services Manager had not been advertised, and Neil had literally been headhunted from Australia by Griff and handed the job. My view was then, and still is that John Roil had every attribute required to be the Port Services Manager, and I continue to believe that John’s role of Operations Manager and the new position of Port Services Manager were pretty much identical. I also believe that John’s redundancy was based on his face not fitting plus Griff’s
49 desire to have an old chum as his 2IC, which the senior operations person in Wellington always has been. John went on to hold senior operations roles at both Port Otago and Port of Napier. Looking back, Neil’s tenure as Port Services Manager represented one of the most divisive periods in the port company’s history. Neil went out of his way to create a “them and us” environment i.e. port services versus the rest of the company. At the time it was compounded by the port services team being relocated to new premises in Waterfront House on Waterloo Quay, while other functions (general management, human resources, finance, administration, marketing) remained in the ex-WHB offices at Queens Wharf. Visiting Waterfront House was always an unpleasant experience, we were made to feel unwelcome and second- class citizens by most of the port services staff that we interacted with. It would be some months before the Queens Wharf- based staff would move into renovated premises in Hinemoa Street, with a further delay before the port services team moved there as well. It was not a coincidence that Neil Martin had moved on before all staff were located in Hinemoa Street, and it was only then that the “them and us” culture was able to be rectified. I am aware that the majority of port services staff did, and probably still do, rate Neil highly, but in my view from a human resources perspective, his time at Port of Wellington was damaging and detrimental to the development of a harmonious corporate environment. I was not sorry to see him go. In the two years post 1 October 1988 and after staff numbers had been seriously reduced by port reform, another 75 positions were declared redundant, most of them achieved by compulsory redundancy. I’ve got vivid memories of a couple of these redundancy situations, neither of which would stand scrutiny today, and they are described below. The first related to the Electrical Section where there were around 20 electricians employed, all of whom were on substantial salaries. During a restructuring negotiation, the Electrical, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) eventually agreed with the Company’s proposal that 6 electricians were surplus to future requirements. Bizarrely, the EPMU also agreed that the Company could arbitrarily decide which electricians would stay and those electricians who would be made redundant. So the Engineering Manager, probably with assistance from the Personnel Manager, literally picked 6 electricians who were no longer required. I confess to being uncertain as to the criteria that was used, but I strongly suspect that the prime reason would have been around the opportunity to remove perceived troublesome or difficult employees rather than any experience, skill or qualification consideration. At that time, I was not involved in the industrial arena, but I was to become involved as I was called into the Human Resources Manager’s office, provided with a list of 6 names being the redundant electricians, and instructed to drive to each of their residences the next day and advise them verbally that their employment had been terminated. All electricians had been rostered off that day and told that they may or may not receive a visit from a Company representative - if they did not, they would resume their normal roster the following day. I was “generously” provided with a company vehicle, and so it was that I headed out early in the morning to Paraparaumu and the first redundancy victim. Knocking on the door, I was greeted by Gary, invited inside where I had no option but to convey the news, with his wife and two children listening. To his credit, Gary acknowledged that I was only the messenger and that the situation was not of my making. And so the day continued, five more calls with varying responses by the guys to their loss of employment, these responses ranging from acceptance (mostly) to outright rage in one instance. Looking back at that time, had I been more confident and/or experienced in the industrial field I would have seriously questioned the process that led to the selection of the 6 electricians, and certainly challenged the lack of consultation, the absence of any support mechanisms, and the callous method of advising the redundant electricians that had been devised by senior management. It was definitely one of the more difficult and unpleasant assignments during my time at the port, and if I had my time over again, I would seriously question the legitimacy of the process. The second situation concerned the management team of the Finance Department and occurred some months later. It had been decided that one senior financial position was no longer required, so the position holder was called down to the Personnel Division on some pretext - but nothing to do with a redundancy situation. Totally oblivious to what was about to happen, the young lady arrived and was taken into the Personnel Manager’s office where her boss was also waiting. There was no b
50 not directly involve me, I inherently knew that what I had just witnessed from my office, and what was later explained was absolutely wrong and indefensible and should not have occurred in the manner it did. Perhaps it’s ironic that the Personnel Manager was to suffer a similar fate a year or so later. This occurred after the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act which had already resulted in the departure of the Industrial Manager, to his credit he had recognised the changing face of industrial relations and decided that there was no future role for him, thereby leaving on his own terms. Back to the Personnel Manager, I recall one afternoon in late 1993 being called into his office and being told that he had been advised, by Griff that his position was no longer required and that he would be leaving the Company. Given the suddenness of this situation, again there appeared to be little, if any consultation involved. A bit of a different situation to the finance person though, the Personnel Manager chose to stay on for another month, which turned out to be a difficult and embarrassing time for all involved, suddenly he had no apparent authority nor was he able to provide direction to his staff, and frankly, we didn’t know what to say to him. We now made decisions for ourselves without reference to Nick, and with all due respect to him, the rather crude expression - “spare prick at a wedding” was most apt. From a personal perspective, the decision to remove the position of Personnel Manager definitely opened doors for me, I now reported directly to the Chief Executive with a new position title of Employee Relations Manager, and suddenly I was part of the Company’s industrial relations team, which meant an interesting mix of responsibilities as I continued to be the Company’s “confidant” for employees. For the next year or so I was part of a two-person negotiating team, with the leader of the team being Paul Wright, the Port Services Manager. Other senior managers joined us as we negotiated terms and conditions for the areas that they were responsible for. Although I had a secondary negotiating role, I was required to record the outcomes of negotiations, and once agreement had been reached, to prepare employment contracts for review and eventual signing by all parties. As a means of gaining a full understanding of industrial relations, formally documenting contract outcomes was extraordinarily useful, and it was a task that I deliberately retained when I became fully responsible for the company’s IR processes in mid-1994. As my IR responsibilities blossomed under GDM’s time it’s appropriate to reflect these under the “We’re not here to shag spiders” chapter that follows shortly. A couple of memories with a link to redundancies. The first concerns one member of the wharf construction crew, Alan Thomson who was commonly referred to as “Wahine”. Alan had a history of emotional instability, and was known to own at least one firearm. His redundancy was reasonably uneventful until reports reached my desk several weeks later that he had been sighted several times by port security staff in the early hours of the morning wandering up and down the company’s external boundary fence. It appeared that Alan was pining for his job inside the gates, so he decided to don a uniform (blue shirt, blue jacket and blue trousers) and carry out his own night-time security patrol of the port, albeit outside the fence line. It took a couple of warnings, then the threat of police involvement before he desisted. A couple of years later, the daughter of one of the company’s managers came home late one night and spotted a car parked opposite their driveway with the driver sitting in darkness. The manager wandered down the drive and was more than surprised to recognise the driver as Alan Thomson. Knowing Alan’s history (mental instability, gun ownership, unauthorized private security patrol) set off alarm bells for the manager - “what’s he doing outside my place at this time of night?” and so the police were called. It turns out that it was a total coincidence that Alan was parked there, he was waiting for his wife who was at a Tupperware party two doors across the road! The second occurred at a function in the WHB Board Room at Queens Wharf. Whilst not 100% certain as to what the function was for, I suspect it was the official disestablishment of the WHB which occurred on 1 November 1989. During the evening I found myself in a group of business people, one of whom was Colin Watson, the last WHB General Manager and the guy that offered me my first job way back in May 1968, and he took great delight in introducing me as “the port company’s hatchet man”. The looks on a couple of faces told me that I probably wouldn’t be added to their Christman Card lists! LOOKING BACK FROM A PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE, the timing of my appointment as Employee Relations Manager was quite remarkable, as a couple of years earlier I had realised
51 A quick out-of-work memory about John Algar. He turned up to work one Monday morning, walking extremely stiffly and with obvious bandages around his hands, there would have been other bandaging. It turned out that John had been out on his bike around Newlands / Johnsonville and was literally ambushed by a rather large and unrestrained dog leaping out of a property that he was cycling past. Although in obvious pain, there were no complaints from John resulting from this canine assault, and other than my one-off recollections of a bruised and battered IT Manager, I best recall John as a guy who would only too willingly help others to understand the mysteries and intricacies of information technology in an era when there weren’t that many obvious avenues of assistance. I remember John with a high degree of fondness and respect for his ability to help others understand the world of IT and computers. My improved computer skills were put to good use when assigned responsibilities for the company’s payroll section, including hands-on production of the monthly management payroll. This was another of those “fix-it” jobs that I was given during my career at the port, the Industrial Manager who had been assigned payroll unfortunately couldn’t get to grips with payroll requirements with lower-level staff having to step in and produce the monthly management payroll for him, an unacceptable situation as confidential management salary package data was therefore exposed to union-based employees. There were two payroll staff members, one of them being Fionnuala Smyth who as mentioned earlier also provided much appreciated assistance in the organisation of the long service and Christmas functions. The other staff member, the senior Payroll person at the time, was Mark Thomas who was an unabashed homosexual, and who had been subjected to a serious amount of homophobic abuse from fellow staff members in the Accounts Office, particularly from his direct supervisor during pre-Port Company days at the Wellington Harbour Board. On one occasion I had Mark in front of me along with his union representative and his Accounts Office supervisor, it was a pretty ugly meeting and if there was any doubt before that meeting that Mark had been subjected to homophobic abuse, there was absolutely no doubt by the time the meeting ended. His supervisor didn’t last very much longer, and the Payroll function, including both staff members were transferred to the Personnel Division. Sadly, Mark brought his personal bruising’s into our Personnel Division, and while Fionnuala never complained, I strongly suspected that she wore the brunt of his anger and frustration. Eventually a restructuring of the payroll function occurred, Mark’s employment was terminated by way of redundancy (including appropriate consultation and union representation) with Fionnuala absorbing both Payroll roles, which she managed more than satisfactorily over the remainder of her employment with the port company. Back then, the Company’s computer systems, including payroll were Mainframe based and hosted by Dun and Bradstreet Software Services. Shortly after becoming responsible for payroll I was approached by a Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) representative who asked if I would be part of the D&B New Zealand User Group. It seemed like a good opportunity so I agreed. After a couple of meetings of this group I was elected to be the New Zealand representative on the Australian User Group, and required to attend their meetings, including one conference, all held in Sydney. This all expenses paid arrangement lasted for nearly two years, at the end of which the Australian User Group absorbed all New Zealand activities, including funding - they had clearly been strategizing a takeover for some time and it actually made sense given the relative size and strength of both User Groups. A great experience though. Industrial relations was also a straight-forward fix as the company had previously sent a couple of employees on an industrial relations certificate course at Victoria University. This was also around the time when the Industrial Relations Act was replaced by the Employment Contracts Act, and the IR certificate programme was heavily focused on the new legislation. I requested attendance as part of my training, this was approved, and in February 1993 I headed to VU for the first of three 2-week modules towards the IR Certificate. Day 1 was
52 memorable for finding myself sitting next to Murray Cowan - no relation. A couple of notable guys on the course were Wayne Butson who would go on to become the National Secretary of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, and someone that in the future I would cross swords on several occasions when dealing with RMTU-related disputes, and Peter Jennings, son of Sam Jennings, a well-known New Zealand trade unionist from the Waterside Workers Union. Ironically his son was far more management oriented. Well presented by Professor Hince (extreme right, back row in the preceding graduation photo, with yours truly dead centre in the back row), this programme was exceptional value - it comprehensively covered the new industrial relations legislation and equally importantly provided me with an excellent industrial relations base that would serve me well a couple of years later when the industrial relations portfolio landed fully on my desk. There were some seriously good management development programmes around at the beginning of the 1990’s, and rather fortunately I was approved to attend two of these programmes, the first being a week-long Management Development Programme at Waikato University, and the second being a 3-day Strategic HR Management Programme held in Auckland. Both programmes were extraordinarily useful and again I was provided with a lot of information (some of which I realized I already knew) and exposed to a number of workplace situations that would hold me in very good stead in the ensuing years. The photo above was taken at the Management Development Programme at Waikato University, I’m second from the right, front row, and four along from me is a guy called George Sutherland, an old cricketing mate from Midland St Pats days. Small world! The final part of my personal development was the completion on the NZIM Management Diploma which I had commenced back in 1987. This Diploma (on the right) was completed with a mixture of polytech classes and correspondence courses, but all requiring final exams to be sat and passed. The intriguing aspect of the Diploma was the realisation that a number of the polytech tutors were simply not that good at what they did, often ill- prepared and in many instances unable to legitimately respond to questions from students, in some instances even preferring to bluff their way through. I remember thinking that I could do much better than some of the tutors, and so it was that on completion of the Diploma in 1989 I approached Wellington Polytech and applied to be a part-time tutor of management-related programmes that they were offering. My application was accepted, and for the next 3 or 4 years I headed up to Wellington Polytech (and later out to the Petone Technical Institute) and presented two-hour programmes towards the NZIM Certificate in Supervision and Basic Management. During one particular term, on the Monday night I presented to a group of food and fashion students, Tuesday night I travelled to the Trentham Military Camp and presented to army personnel, and on the Wednesday night I was back at Wellington Polytech presenting to a range of “normal” students from different organisations. Definitely a wide range of learners, and on the Monday night I always felt that my choice of attire was under acute scrutiny by the fashion students! One of the more enjoyable exercises was during a Labour Relations class at the Trentham Military Camp when I split students into two groups, one taking the part of the employer and the other assuming a union role. Their task over several weeks was to develop their respective bargaining positions for the negotiation of an employment contract, the general outline of which I had prepared for them. The actual negotiations took place over the last two days of the course, and it was always fascinating to observe not only the negotiating tactics that had been developed, but also how the participants adapted to the roles of employer or union representative. One instance really stands out: the employer spokesperson was himself a very confident speaker and more than capable of holding his own in a debate, the union spokesperson was considerably less confident and was becoming rather flustered. Before I had a chance to call a time-out to give her a bit of breathing space, she stood bolt upright and pointing at the employer representative, shouted “you’re nothing but a shit”! It was definitely time-out following that outburst, but a great lesson for those students of the importance of self-control during negotiations and knowing when to call a break in negotiations when your argument in support of a claim is under siege and/or when a counter argument is undermining your position.
53 On a personal note, a rather important lesson came out of my polytech tuition days, but I never really appreciated that lesson until many years later, actually in late 2003 when my days at the port were numbered. Sarah and I were about to enter a new phase with our newly formed company, Start Training Ltd (STL), and I was making a presentation to the New Zealand Defence Force for STL to present a basic stevedoring course to members of 5 Movements Company who were based in Linton. 5 Movements sent a couple of sergeants down to the Trentham Military Camp to meet with me, and while my presentation seemed to be reasonably well received, one of the sergeants stated that he now needed his Captain to be involved. He disappeared, I waited, and then he returned with his Captain who’s first words to me were “hello Graeme”. The Captain was “Mac” McColl (pictured left) who had been one of my students at the Trentham Military Camp in 1992, and who had clearly remembered me some 11 years later. I’ve often heard that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and this adage may well be true, but in this case I much prefer to believe that Mac’s recognition of me was a case of “it’s not the subject, it’s the quality of the tutor’s knowledge, presentation and rapport with people”. A great lesson that stays with me. By the way, Mac McColl would have also witnessed the “you’re nothing but a shit” outburst that was detailed above as it occurred at the Trentham Military Camp with Mac being part of the union team. More about Mac (who sadly passed away in October 2016) when I reflect on STL. And a second “by the way”, STL went on to present ?? basic stevedoring courses and ?? advanced stevedoring courses to Defence Force personnel over a 10-year period - which probably further proves the value of the lesson. There was one other training and development opportunity that I definitely hadn’t considered when identifying the areas that I needed to develop if I was going to achieve a successful human resources career in the port industry, or anywhere else for that matter, and that opportunity related directly to my responsibilities relating to recruitment and selection. This opportunity related specifically to our recruitment and selection processes which at the beginning of 1992 consisted of advertising, shortlisting, interviews, and reference checking. Around that time I became aware of a company called Saville and Holdsworth Ltd (SHL), a world-renowned psychometric testing organisation who published a range of aptitude tests e.g. numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, calculation, reading comprehension etc., and a personality test i.e. the Occupational Personality Questionaire (OPQ). More importantly, they provided training to enable their range of tests to be administered by in-house personnel, interpreted, and feedback provided to candidates. I had no doubt at all that these aptitude tests and the OPQ would be a huge enhancement to our recruitment and selection processes, so after receiving approval as part of my 1992-93 Performance Review, I attended SHL aptitude training from 3-6 August 1992, and then OPQ training from 10-12 August 1992. With that training successfully completed, I was now licenced, on an annual basis, to purchase and use selected SHL aptitude tests and the OPQ. Interestingly, SHL licencing was portable and did not restrict me solely to Port of Wellington. Over the next couple of years, I would add the SHL Motivation Questionnaire, and their Inventory of Management Competencies to my portfolio of SHL tests. As I knew would be the case, the inclusion of these tests represented a huge enhancement to our recruitment and selection processes, with two examples in particular standing out, one relating to the selection of a Tug Master (more about that shortly) and the other following a redundancy situation where a new position had been created (more about this one under Graham Mulligan’s time). Some years later I would make a presentation at an IIR (institute for International Research) Conference on the benefits of occupational testing in recruitment practices. MY APPOINTMENT AS EMPLOYEE RELATIONS MANAGER finally provided an opportunity to implement a project that I had been promoting for a couple of years i.e. an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that all staff and their families could have access to. In summary, the EAP was able to be used for any personal problem that might have been affecting the employee, their partner, their children or other family members. Such problems could have included relationship difficulties, drug or alcohol abuse or addiction, money problems, violence, sexual abuse, grief difficulties or physical and mental ill health. I contracted EAP Services Ltd, owned and managed by Anne Tucker (pictured right) as our external provider, with Anne’s role primarily being the initial contact point for staff wishing to access the programme, and making all arrangements, totally confidentially for t
54 The initial group of EAP Referral Advisors are identified below. John Brothwood - Cargo Robyn Ramsay - Head Office Paul Drake - Marine Falipo Laufiso - Works John Flynn - Electricians Ray Conder - Training The concept of Referral Advisors was probably the one aspect of the EAP that didn’t really work. I can’t recall any referrals being placed through these people, and in hindsight I suspect that the reality was that the Company’s employees recognised my role (and hopefully myself) as their preferred destination when they required assistance with personal problems that they were facing. A gambling issue, an alcohol problem, a drug addiction, and several relationship issues were included in the referrals that I made into the EAP. I would also discover sometime after the appointment of Referral Advisors that at least one of them had destroyed any trust that he had with staff by a condescending and “holier than thou” attitude that he demonstrated with blue-collar workers. One of the more interesting referrals followed the discovery of one of the Company’s Tug Masters under the influence of alcohol, he was detected by the Chief Executive’s Executive Assistance while she was escorting a group of dignitaries on a tour of the tug. It transpired that the Tug Master was being protected by his tug crew who knew full well about his drinking problem, their “protection” including times when the tug was on operational duties. The Tug Master underwent a successful rehabilitation at Hamner Springs and was able to return to active duties. The tug crew received a general warning that their “protection” was totally unacceptable, with their misguided loyalties seriously exposing the Company to financial loss, legal claims, operational difficulties and reputational damage. Overall the EAP was a successful employee relations tool. It assisted a number of employees and in a couple of instances it probably saved their jobs, it was funded by the Company, totally confidential, and remained firmly in place at the time of my eventual departure. IN THE EARLIER CHAPTER ON FRANK BALDWIN’S TIME when describing the death of John Posselt who was hit by a vehicle while running across Jervois Quay, I mentioned that identifying John at Wellington Hospital was one of the three most difficult people- related experiences that I had to deal with during my HR career. The second experience related to one of the Company’s Plant Drivers, Graham Tall who endured a very long illness before eventually being admitted to Wellington Hospital where he passed away soon after. Before his death and as part of my employee relations responsibilities, I arranged to visit his wife at their home
55 to offer any support that might be required. My timing couldn’t have been worse, his wife had been advised that same afternoon that Graham was suffering from Aids, and his passing was imminent. His wife was extraordinarily distressed, the news obviously had more than one implication. I will be forever thankful her sister was present, as Graham’s wife was inconsolable and it would have been very difficult for me to provide the personal and intimate family support that her sister was providing. Whilst a totally sad situation, I confess to a feeling of relief that I didn’t have to deal with Graham’s wife on my own. One other memory of Graham Tall, who was physically opposite to what his surname suggested. During a bulk mailout to all staff, I rather fortunately intercepted his letter that had been properly addressed to Mr. G. Tall, Plant Operator, but with the salutation “Dear Mr. Short”. Possibly a Freudian slip, but one which caused embarrassment for the Personnel Division receptionist, and a decent amount of hilarity for other members of the Division. GRIFF’S TENURE SAW ME ATTENDING my first management retreat and it was held at Flock House just out of Bulls. The retreat was team focused, all departments of the Company had senior and middle managers in attendance, and the three days at Flock House were facilitated by two gentlemen, Sebastian Green and Glyn Hurley, who had been the two consultants used earlier by the Executive Management team at a four day “retreat” at the Portage in the Marlborough Sounds - there’s more about this shortly under Graham Mulligan’s time. The photo on the left was taken at Flock House and captures me chatting with the Financial Services Manager, Robert Stewart - I reckon it was a more convivial conversation than the one Robert would have with Graham Mulligan and I a year or so later! More about that also under GDM’s time. As Flock House focused on teamwork, most of my memories of the few days there relate to the physical activities that were undertaken, with no recollection at all of Sebastian or Glyn’s facilitation. A couple of memories in particular stand out. The first was an orienteering exercise where we were randomly placed into teams comprising five members, with one of my team mates being Griff Page. It’s fair to say that we were the most competitive team, and it wasn’t a real surprise when we won the event with relative ease. However, there was a bit of an uproar (from us) when we were relegated to third place for apparently not reading our instructions properly and leaving behind a fence post that we were supposed to carry. A totally unfair decision of course, but without any right of appeal! The second memory relates to another obstacle challenge, a ropes course several metres off the ground and built between trees. This time we were in our departmental teams, our human resources team consisting of the Human Resources Manager, the Industrial Manager, the Employee Relations Manager (me), the Training Manager, and the Personnel Officer. The course actually wasn’t that demanding and easily completed by four of us. The fifth person was a bit of a problem though, the Human Resources Manager, our boss was last to complete the course and when he reached the first level, he literally froze and couldn’t go any further. One of my colleagues even suggested to him “don’t worry, Nick, you can do it, you won’t hurt yourself” which not surprisingly only made things worse. it took two of us to climb up to where he was and assist him back to ground level. And of course there was the refusal of a Marketing Manager to take part in the orienteering exercise, she was the only one to avoid that activity using the excuse that that she had developed a serious headache and needed to rest in her cabin - a Tui’s Ad comes to mind here. A couple of years later under GDM’s tenure we would discover that under any sort of pressure this lady would resort to other sympathy-seeking tactics such as seeking refuge under claims of pregnancy - actually, fabricated pregnancies, and she had a habit of bursting into tears whenever her performance was challenged, which happened on more than one occasion. Protected by an Executive Manager during Griff’s regime, there would be no career longevity for her under GDM’s management.
56 One more memory comes out of Flock House and is a breakfast time memory. It was our first morning and the first session was to commence immediately after breakfast. Just as breakfast was finishing, Nick wandered over to me and asked whether I had seen John, our Industrial Manager. I hadn’t, and a quick look around the room confirmed that John wasn’t there. No worries, I said to Nick, I’ll go and check his room to see if he’s gone back there. Finding out where John’s room was from Reception, I wondered over and was a bit concerned to see the curtains still drawn. I knocked on the door, but no reply. Knocking a bit more heavily, still no reply. Starting to fear the worst, I was about to hammer more violently on the door when I heard a groan from within accompanied by “I’m coming”. John eventually opened the door, he was still in his pajamas, and he had literally slept through his alarm and would have continued sleeping for some time if I hadn’t turned up. As told to me by John, this was the first night in many years when John did not have to invest his entire time after work, and on the following morning pre-work caring for his wife who had suffered a serious stroke some years earlier. That night at Flock House John had literally crashed as soon as his head hit the pillow and he enjoyed an uninterrupted sleep for the first time in many years. LIKE A NUMBER OF ORGANISATIONS PORT WELLINGTON had a social club which, whilst not that active, did from time to time organise social events and trips to other ports to compete in a range of sporting events. The social club was a strong contributor to the development of the Social Rooms as recorded earlier. In 1992 the social club advertised a one-day wine tour to the Marlborough region, and about a dozen or so of us registered our interest. Our wine trail got off to a good start with a fairly smooth crossing on the Arahura. The weather in Picton was pretty mild and pleasant and actually warmed up as the day progressed (or was it the wine?). Our luxury coach took us on to Blenheim for lunch as preparation for the onslaught (several of our group had already prepared themselves quite nicely on the ferry. The first stop was Montana winery, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere with a capacity of 20 million litres of wine. After an interesting tour around the vineyard, we were taken into a hospitality room to sample their wares and have a sneak preview of the forthcoming TV ads promoting Montana wine. The next stop was the Cellier le Brun (who produced as much champagne in a year as Montana produce wine in a week), the “Methode Champenoise”. Not actually to be called champagne as we were told, as Champagne is the name of an area in France and who were they to use their name to grace the bottles of their product? There was a wonderful, dark, cool cellar full to the brim with “cooking” champers, and I’m sure that a few of our group wouldn’t have minded if they’d accidently been locked in and the key lost for a while! Recognisable guys from our group in the photo above are Brent Packer, Dave Barton (leaning on the wall), and John Murfitt. Onto the Cloudy Bay winery, named after the actual bay discovered by Captain Cook. By now, the sun was getting rather warm, or perhaps it was the roaring fire in the reception area of the Cloudy Bay winery? More tasting and tours and then onto the final vineyard, Hunters. By now we’d had enough of learning about the various methods of winemaking, so we were quite pleased to pass on the tour and go straight to the tasting.
57 As the sun set, we boarded our coach laden with our purchases (with the two previous photos probably speaking for themselves, that’s Dave Barton sitting next to me) and took the scenic route from Blenheim through the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound back to Picton to rejoin the Arahura. To carry on in the “spirit” of the day, the sampling of alcohol continued in the “Hospitality Room” on the ferry, and as we approached the ferry berth our “on duty” linesmen were being given not very helpful advice from the upper deck by our “off duty” travelling companions. All in all, an excellent fun day, and whilst I didn’t go on other social club organized trips, this one was definitely worthwhile. IN EARLY 1993 WE BECAME AWARE OF A NATIONWIDE joint business and union initiative called Workplace New Zealand. The objectives of this initiative were described as: Making the most of new technology, increasing the capability of the workplace to adapt to change, and linking marketing, production, and service strategies to the industrial relations system. The suggested benefits included: For workers - more secure and interesting jobs, career paths with better opportunities to learn new skills, greater responsibility and better rewards. For organisations - more gains in productivity, efficiency and profits. Griff saw merit in Port of Wellington being involved in Workplace New Zealand and tasked me with establishing a joint management / union working group that would attend the Workplace New Zealand conference, and then be responsible for post-conference implementation of agreed reforms. So it was that 11 of us headed to Rotorua at the end of September 1992 for a 3-day conference. Union representatives from RMTU were John Murfitt (Boatman), Roger O’Brien (Fitter), Beth Simpson (Office Administrator) and Rodney Young (Plant Operator), from the Merchant Service Guild was William Corbett (Pilot), and from the Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union was Dave Mulholland (Electrician). From the management side Griff and I were joined by Barry Weir (Senior Foreman), Paul Wright (Port Services Manager) and Clare Murphy who at that time was a Marketing Assistant. The photo above shows the 11 of us outside the Lakeland Hotel in Rotorua immediately before the start of the conference. As far as conferences go, Workplace New Zealand was a little disappointing. Firstly, it was an extremely touchy-feely conference, the organisers had clearly decided that as management and unions would be sitting side by side and ready to embrace workplace reforms in a nonconfrontational environment, it was a great opportunity to incorporate a series of demonstrative and rather over-the-top activities at the start of each conference session. I well remember being in one session which the facilitator started off with a handholding exercise, what it was intended to achieve still remains well beyond my comprehension, but I found myself holding hands on one side with John Murfitt from the RMTU, and with Ken Douglas, President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions on the other. Fortunately there wasn’t a photographer in the room! As an aside, maybe I actually made an impression on Ken because several years later when I saw him at a rugby game at Ngatitoa Park, he looked at me and greeted me by first name. The second disappointment, actually not so much a disappointment but more a realization that in comparison to many other organisations represented at the conference, Port of Wellington was a long way down the road to workplace reform. Port reform itself had already ensured that we had been through the downsizing phases, the re-structuring of the company had been achieved, financial performance was sound, and most importantly the staff were becoming increasingly more skilled and much more able to carry out the many and varied demands that were now being asked of them in the workplace. So the intention to have the joint management / union working group to be responsible for post-conference implementation of agreed reforms never really occurred. From memory there was one subsequent meeting of that group, but after that it literally fizzled out as there were no reforms of any significance for the group to get their teeth into. Griff however remained an advocate of the principles of Workplace New Zealand, and as my job title at that time was Employee Relations Manager, he required me to maintain an overview of Workplace New Zealand’s future initiatives, one of which turned out to be an alliance with Workplace Australia, with our Trans-Tasman neighbours hosting their workplace reform conference in Melbourne in 1994. Griff’s instruction to me was to attend this conference, which would turn out to be a life-changing event for me. Actually the conference was postponed until May 1995 and as this was during Graham Mulligan’s early days at the port, I’ll cover the Workplace Australia conference when reflecting on Graham’s leadership.
58 LATER IN 1993 AND DURING A DISCUSSION with one of the Tug Hands, Mick Munnelly (who would shortly be appointed as a Tug Master, more about this appointment shortly) about out-of-port Tug trips, Mick suggested quite strongly that until an out-ot-port voyage was experienced it was difficult, no, nearly impossible to understand the challenges involved, particularly different shift patterns, and the foul weather that the tug crews almost inevitably had to endure. By way of explanation, out-of-port voyages occurred when a tug was required to go into dry dock (generally in Lyttleton) or when one of the tugs was leased to another port company. Before these events occurred, an out-of-port agreement would be negotiated, and at that time I was part of the Company’s negotiating team. As part of Mick’s lecture to me, he suggested that when the next out-of-port voyage occurred, I should step out of my office and accompany the crew to observe the reality of an out-of-port voyage. I don’t know whether he expected me to agree with him, but I did and towards the end of August 1993 I flew to Christchurch with the crew to pick up the tug “Toia” for its return trip to Wellington after dry docking. There was one requirement that needed to be taken care of - for me to travel on the tug I needed to be signed on as an official crew member, and so it was that my role on the Toia was deemed to be Chief Cook, fortunately a position in title only and no requirement for me to go anywhere near the galley. The two Certificates of Discharge above show my position, dates of the voyages, and properly signed off by one of the two Tug Masters, Bob Mckay - the other rostered Tug Master on both voyages was Geoffrey Thompson. The second certificate relates to a delivery voyage to New Plymouth in the middle of February 1994, when the tug had been leased to Port Taranaki while their tug was in dry dock. After boarding the tug in Lyttleton I was allocated my cabin which just happened to be immediately above the Voith Schneider engines, extremely powerful beasts and sounding extraordinarily loud from my cabin. I often wondered whether the cabin allocation was deliberate, but more likely it was the only unoccupied cabin on that voyage. I occupied the same cabin on my second voyage. Mick had warned me of the rough seas that the tug inevitably faced, but ironically on both voyages that I was on, the sea was as flat as the proverbial pancake. I couldn’t resist reminding Mick of this just before the next out-of-port negotiations took place, I think my comment was something along the lines of “out-of-ports are pretty cruisy, aren’t they Mick”? It was taken in good humour as Mick and I had developed a very good relationship. A couple of memories from those trips are worth recording, the first being a comment passed to me after boarding the Toia in Wellington for the delivery voyage to New Plymouth. I reported to the bridge where several crew had gathered, including the Tug Engineer, Maurice Myers (on the right of the photo alongside Richard Darlow from the Institute of Marine and Power Engineers). Seeing me arrive, Maurice grinned and loudly announced for everyone to hear “come for a ride on daddy’s yacht, have we”. I have to add that I wasn’t the only one to suffer Maurices’s brand of humour, he would often refer to members of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, especially Tug Hands with whom he worked on a daily basis as wheeltappers and shunters which was never well received. Maurice and I crossed swords on several occasions when the Tug Engineers collective employment contract was up for negotiation.
59 The second memory also comes from that delivery voyage - I had decided that the best way to experience an out-of-port voyage was to attach myself to one of the watches, basically there were two crews on board, one on duty and the other resting. So it was that shortly after dinner, one crew plus me headed to our cabins with alarms set for an 0300 hours watch change. Around 0100 hours, the call of nature necessitated a trip to the head, and as I headed down the passageway, the door to another cabin opened and out stepped the second Tug Master, Geoffrey Thompson. I confess that he literally scared the hell out of me as in the dimly lit passageway Geoffrey was not immediately recognizable and more so as he was dressed exactly like Willy Winky in a nightshirt and nightcap, definitely not the sort you drink! It was a vision that I will never forget! The out-of-port tug trips were not only enjoyable and excellent experiences, they also gave me a valuable insight into these voyages, even though the sea conditions on both voyages just happened to be absolutely tranquil. From a management perspective, I’m pretty confident that I earnt the respect of the crew for being willing to go with them, and whilst it didn’t alter the manner in which future out-of-port voyages were negotiated, the crews and their representatives knew that the other negotiating party had some real understanding of what the crews faced when sailing out of the harbour limits. I REFERRED ABOVE TO THE APPOINTMENT of Mick Munnelly as a Tug Master. Historically all Tug Master appointments required applicants to hold a Master Foreign Going certificate, which enabled Tug Master’s to take the tugs on out-of-port voyages. Pilots employed by the Company also held Master Foreign Going tickets so there was an abundant supply of suitably qualified personnel within the Company. I proposed that the Company introduce a new career path for Tug Hands who held the qualification of Commercial Launch Master (CLM), the minimum qualification required to be in control of a tug. The downside of a CLM was that the holder could only operate in harbour limits and not take the tug on out-of-port voyages - this wasn’t seen as a major issue given the number of Master Foreign Going tickets already in the Company, and the creation of a new career path for Tug Hands was viewed as a positive move for those employees. So it was that in the first half of 1993 a position of Tug Master was advertised both internally and externally, with a minimum qualification requirement of CLM. This decision did not sit well with the Merchant Service Guild who argued vociferously that a Master Foreign Going ticket was the was the only qualification that the Company should be looking for, and that the decision to introduce a lower-level qualification as the entry point was doing nothing except targeting lowest common denominator employees. The Guild’s approach was at least consistent with their elitist beliefs that their members were far superior to other employee groups, even though they had their own in-built hierarchy of importance i.e. Pilots at the top of the tree, with Tug Masters a tier below. The other factor that caused the Guild some distress was that holders of the CLM qualification would almost certainly be members of other unions such as the RMTU. The Company held its ground and applications for the position of Tug Master, as advertised were received. At the time the vacancy was advertised, only one of the Tug Hands, Mick Munnelly held a CLM ticket and yes, he was a member of the RMTU, and I well remember Mick walking into my office with his application and telling me that he didn’t expect to be appointed as the Company would go for a Guild member holding a Master Foreign Going ticket. Mick, who often boasted that he was my industrial conscience, was 100% incorrect, he was appointed as Tug Master and headed off several external applicants who held a Master Foreign Going. Apart from his knowledge of the port and his tug experience, one of the main reasons for his appointment was the result of the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) that I administered, particularly the three factors of Conventional (Mick demonstrated a strong preference for well-established methods), Variety Seeking (Mick did not seek variety, he referred routine and was well prepared to carry out repetitive work), and Decisiveness (Mick’s preference was for fast decision making and to reach conclusions quickly). Mick’s preferred style against these three OPQ factors were considered vital for a Tug Master to demonstrate e.g. with a tug working underneath the bow of a large container ship, democratic or consensus decision making could have catastrophic consequences. Mick’s appointment came into effect on 19 October 1993, his training was completed and for several years he was a professional and competent Tug Master, and more than the equal of others holding the “higher” qualification. Sadly Mick passed away in t
60 THE END OF 1993 SAW THE ANNOUNCEMENT of Griff’s resignation, time for him to move on. The photo on the right recalls Griff’s farewell at the end of March 1994, most appropriately in the Company’s social rooms, when he was presented with a set of golf clubs by another of the Company’s avid golfers, Barry Weir. It’s interesting to look at Griff’s reflections of his time at the port when he focused on the challenges that were faced, such as the creation and formation of a port company out of the previous local authority structure, the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act, and the perception of being one of the “poorer” ports for customer service. The March 1994 issue of the Company’s staff magazine “Pipitea Port Pourri” recorded Griff’s highlights as he saw them, and probably not surprisingly he stated: As most people will realise I’ve always enjoyed the sporting activities and the things like the cricket matches and obviously the dragon boat racing and the rugby trips are all events that I’ve enjoyed - they’re all highlights. It’s been rewarding for me to meet a number of really tremendous people and to work with them - that’s a large part of my memories of Port of Wellington. Griff’s tenure was seriously influenced by port reform and some immense changes that were required at the time. However his legacy will be that of a Chief Executive who believed workplace fun and enjoyment enhanced corporate success. At his farewell function and in addition to the golf clubs, Griff was also presented with the following poem written by one of the pilots, Bob Field. THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE 1. Now Griff was a man who came with a plan To change the port around And before we knew, he had dropped a few While others just left the town. 2. That one was easy, it must be said The Harbour Board was put to bed For Port Companies were now all the rage And Wellington’s was led by Page. 3. Government then joined in the fun Said that he had jumped the gun For although the Beehive had formed the plot The rules had changed - but not a lot. 4. That was back in eighty-eight Port Company was now on the gate But our base and office seat Was moved from Queens, further down the street. 5. And as the years did pass on by Pilots to ships, dropped from the sky Using helicopters was fairly new And that reduced their numbers too. 6. Although not happy about it all Griff himself, stood firm and tall For change is what he had to show With good results, as all we know. 7. The Corporate image was complete With brand new gate at Hinemoa Street Full of screens and cameras new T’is known now, as the room with a view. 8. Now all these things caused concern And further challenges, Griff did yearn So in the year of ninety-four Griff just said, “I’m leaving you all”. 9. But really Griff in an overview It’s been very good working with you So we wish you well and every success In whatever you do, to challenge you next. Bob Field March 1994
61 WITH THIS CHAPTER OF MY PORT MEMORIES incorporating a playground theme and then ending with the presentation of golf clubs to Griff, a golfing story seems to be the most appropriate way to finish off Griff’s time at the port, and it relates to the 1990 Watersiders’ golf tournament at the Shandon Golf Course in Lower Hutt. Griff headed out there in time for his tee-off spot, opened his car boot and discovered his golf clubs had been left behind. An embarrassed phone call or two and the clubs are finally delivered, but it was later discovered that this was the second time that Griff turned up at a tournament without his clubs. The cartoon on the left appeared in the Company’s staff magazine with a caption reading THE CLAYTONS CLUB - the club you have when you don’t have a club. I accept full responsibility for the production of the above cartoon. At the time I was using a very early version of Printshop software, and it was particularly easy to (i) remove the club, and (ii) insert a caricature of Griff’s face. It was received in good humour!
62 “WE’RE NOT HERE TO SHAG SPIDERS” - THE MULLIGAN ERA On a Monday morning in early April 1994, a distinctive white range rover drove through the port entrance signaling the beginning of the Mulligan era. There is an urban legend relating to a visit that GDM made to the port before his official start date when he purportedly drove into the port and stopped at the port security entrance as all visitors were required to do. The port security window was eased open and GDM was asked what his business was - GDM responding by requesting directions to the port offices. The port security officer leant out of the window, pointed at a sign-posted building on the left-hand side of the road about 100 metres away and said “can’t you f%*#ing read? Urban legend or not, there were several changes occurring within port security shortly after GDM started, with the photo opposite showing GDM with the new port security team that had seen the external recruitment of Karen Funnell as the Port Security Supervisor. One rather notable omission from this team was the port security person who questioned GDM’s eyesight and reading skills! The white land rover became a familiar sight around the port as GDM adopted a high-visibility approach to being the Chief Executive of a major port company. He was out and about on a regular basis visiting all areas of the port, rapidly meeting the majority of staff, and developing a very full understanding of the business itself and the culture of the organisation. Maybe the operational staff were suspicious as to why GDM was so regularly visible in the workplace, which could explain another urban legend concerning the use of radio telephones that broadcast the message “Shark in the park” whenever GDM’s range rover was sighted moving around the port. One bit of knowledge about GDM that I acquired early on was that he was also a Rongotai College Old Boy, about three years behind me when I left in 1968. Many years later I was able to remind GDM about his time with Rongotai College’s drama club, particularly a production in 1970 of Aristophanes’ ancient Greek comedy, The Birds. The College’s Te Rama magazine of that year recorded “an unholy quartet of second- class gods was rendered suitably ridiculous” - one of those gods being GDM who is circled in the photo on the left. THE FIRST 3 MONTHS OF GDM’S TENURE WERE NOTABLE for the lack of leadership action being demonstrated by GDM - or should I say, an apparent lack of leadership activity. The reality was that GDM was taking a personal, first-hand and on-going interest in discovering how the port was run, identifying blockages within the organisation including inefficiencies that had been either ignored or didn’t seem to worry anyone, efficiencies that were not yet realised, performers and non-performers, the relationships between management and the various unions on-site, and the general state of organisational culture both internally and as perceived by external parties - particularly customers of the port. The significance of this became alarmingly clear to me when GDM had been in the role for a couple of months and asked me to organize a luncheon meeting between all union representatives and himself, plus me as the Company’s Employee Relations Manager - my title at the time. Well, I thought to myself that this must be great, he obviously thinks that I am ok in what I am doing, and we’ll both present a combined front to the unions and I’ll be seen as a key player in the new way forward. It's not a particularly difficult job to organize a luncheon for up to a dozen people, all you have to do is make a few phone calls, get someone else to organize the catering for that many people, then sit back and enjoy your perceived new role in life. But no,
63 there’s often an unexpected twist. The “few” phone calls very quickly revealed that the various unions (at that time there were 6 on site namely the Rail and Maritime Union, the Waterfront Workers Union, the Merchant Service Guild, the Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union, the Foreman Stevedores Union, and the Institute of Marine and Power Engineers) decided that they would all look for maximum attendance, and so attending this luncheon would be all the national representatives and well as all local delegates, totaling about 50 in all. We gathered in the company’s Social Rooms and following an enjoyable lunch and an amiable chit-chat with various union officials and delegates, it was time for GDM to address the meeting. In hindsight I’m probably not sure what I actually expected him to say, but I certainly did not expect his opening comments to be: ”please don’t worry as I’m not here to attack the unions, instead I am seriously concerned as to how the Company is managed and I will be reviewing the management structure of the business and making some necessary and overdue changes to that management structure”. As the solitary management representative present, I suddenly felt horribly exposed and very lonely as 50 pairs of eyes of the gathered union officials and delegates slowly turned in my direction, with none of them showing any signs of sympathy with my discomfort, the level of which must have been very, very apparent to everyone there. As you can possibly imagine, the next couple of weeks were rather unsettling as we were still not seeing any changes coming out of the Chief Executive’s office, and yet I knew without any doubt that the management team that I was part of was under severe scrutiny and would be subject to some serious change. So it was that one morning I walked into GDM’s office - I can’t remember why I had to be there, but what I do recall with total clarity is GDM looking up at me and saying “Aha, just the person I want to see”. My heart felt like it had stopped beating, and I thought to myself that this is it, I’m going to be the first casualty of GDM’s management re-organisation. GDM looked at me for a moment or two, and then said: “There are 230 of them out there, there’s one of me, do you want to join me?” I very quickly worked out that there were only two possible answers to this question, and I was also sufficiently alert to realise that a “no” response was unlikely to be career-enhancing, so I blurted out “yes” as quickly as I could. This seemed to be a satisfactory response as GDM proceeded to sit me down in his office, close the door and reveal that he wanted to establish what he called an Executive Staff Unit which would comprise 3 people, one of which was me and with the unit reporting directly to him. One of the subjects we discussed during that meeting (once I’d recovered my equilibrium) related to an approach that GDM had received from the Management Consultancy Company that I referred to earlier under Griff’s regime when describing the unsavory redundancy situation within the Finance Department. This company was trying to sell themselves to GDM for an ongoing role with the port company. As was his wont, GDM advised me that “I won’t have them involved, they’re nothing but failed managers and bludgers trying to tell us what to do, they add nothing to the company except unwanted expense, and we can do much better by using our own resources”. Now this was a fairly radical approach, after all, previous regimes had relied heavily on external consultants / facilitators, and there was a classic photo in the staff magazine (opposite), taken in the early 1990’s of the then executive management group enjoying a four-day weekend (one days travelling either side) at the Portage Hotel in the Marlborough Sounds, the photo’s caption literally alerting all staff that “EXECUTIVE MANAGERS HOLIDAYING AT THE PORTAGE? Ignoring the question mark, it probably wasn’t a holiday, but it also wasn’t just the executive team, they were accompanied by two, yes, two consultants, plus the Training Manager who had wheedled his way in. Making matters worse, the attendant article stated that “Ultimately the whole staff will gain a very clear view of where we are going and what we want to be as a company”. Sadly, future staff newsletters revealed a deafening silence relating to outcomes from the Portage “holiday”. So little wonder that GDM’s response to the Company’s use of external consultants was seriously less than enthusiastic.
64 Jumping ahead a little bit in time, the Company continued to hold management retreats during GDM’s leadership - there were two of them and both held at a venue within the Company’s business catchment area i.e. Solway Park in Masterton, but presentations at these retreats were always made by the executive / senior manager directly responsible for that part of the business - as envisaged by GDM’s statement that “we can do much better by using our own resources”. As an illustration, at one Solway Park retreat, I was required to present the Company’s IR Strategic Plan that had been developed for the forthcoming negotiations, be questioned by any manager, and be prepared to explain the logic and /or business case behind any element of the Plan. GDM was 100% correct, we had the in-house expertise available to us, our management team at that time was extraordinarily capable, and we definitely did not need those people whom GDM had previously described as “a bunch of failed managers and bludgers trying to tell us what to do”. I attended both management retreats held at Solway Park, and they were great events with the presentations focused not only on the issues that the Company was facing but also opportunities for future growth and development. However there are several other memories from those retreats that still lurk but are not necessarily to do with the actual reason for being there - the business stuff. So here goes. • The first memory is from a social event following the day’s business activities, in this instance, indoor cricket. Clare Murphy and I had been tasked with the end-of-day entertainment so it wasn’t a huge stretch for both of us to select indoor cricket as the evening’s sporting entertainment. We decided not to advertise the activity, so everyone boarded our bus totally oblivious to what had been planned, and we headed off to the venue. All was good until we arrived at their indoor cricket centre (which was pretty easily identifiable by its name and logo), when all we could hear from the middle of the bus was “I don’t like indoor cricket” - yes, GDM, our Chief Executive was definitely not a fan of indoor cricket. Clare looked at me in panic while I tried the “not me” look, but the evening worked out ok, GDM did actually enjoy himself. • The second memory relates to a guy called Pierro Borcic who at the time of the management retreat was employed as a Ship’s Planner. The morning session ended and we all headed out for morning tea being the usual fare i.e. tea, coffee, biscuits. But not for Pierro. He wandered into the room with a cigar in his mouth and a glass of red wine in his hand. His manager, one of the Germans who had been lured out of Ports of Auckland, spotted Pierro, marched over to him and loudly demanded that the glass of wine disappeared and the cigar be extinguished. Pierro did as asked but looked particularly aggrieved as he saw nothing odd about a glass of red and a cigar being his preferred choice of morning tea refreshments. • The final memory only became apparent sometime after our arrival back in Wellington. The second of the two ex-Ports of Auckland German managers had taken a serious fancy to one of the female staff attending the retreat, and the feeling must have been pretty mutual. By way of explanation this particular management retreat had been extended to include Foremen, Planners, and a selection of middle management personnel which included the particular female staff member. An overnight liaison between the two of them led to an on-going, but short-term relationship, terminated eventually when the German manager resigned and headed back to Auckland. But a subsequent memory comes out of that. At the time he was married to a significantly older woman who decided to attend his farewell function in a Courtenay Place restaurant, which had become the norm when a manager was departing the company. All other senior managers and close associates of the departing manager were invited to these functions. I can still see the wife staring daggers at Clare Murphy, whom she clearly assumed was the other half of the affair, having found out about it. Unfortunately while she had the first name right, it was a different spelling and a different lady! Clare was thoroughly enjoying herself, and most particularly when it was her turn to “roast” the departing manager, with the sight of the totally uncomfortable and squirming German manager, who, in full view of his wife was terrified as to what Clare might, or might not have been about to say, this being worth the cost of the lunch all by itself! BACK TO THE EXECUTIVE STAFF UNIT, AND AS ADVISED to the existing Executive Management team on Friday 22 July 1994, its primary role was to “advise on organisational structure and change processes”. More detail was provided in notices not only to staff but also to clients sent out under GDM’s signature on Tuesday 26 July which stated: Staff A special team comprising Graeme Cowan, Clare Murphy an
65 issues at the management level and that these issues need to be addressed urgently. It is also clear that in some cases there is a poor reporting structure in place and that people are hindered from carrying out the jobs required of them. These issues are to be addressed so that the Company is better positioned to move forward with every confidence and strength toward the new opportunities that are before us. This study will be confined to management level positions, although changes made at that level could well mean changes to responsibilities and reporting lines at other levels of the organisation. customer needs. This review will be done internally by a special team reporting directly to the chief executive. Every care will be taken during this process to ensure that our operating efficiency as well as our safety and service will not suffer during this period. Nevertheless, it is absolutely essential that we install the best people in the positions to do the job at the highest quality standards of service, safety and efficiency. One change that had already occurred, but which was not referred to in the advice to staff was that GDM had appointed me to the executive position of Human Resources Manager. The advice to staff identified two of my colleagues who GDM and I had agreed would be eminently suitable for appointment to the Executive Staff Unit - Clare Murphy and Ray Conder. • Clare’s position at that time was Marketing Assistant and as such meant that Clare wasn’t a member of the management team, and the last thing that she would have been expecting was an appointment to the ESU. GDM had observed Clare’s performance and while he liked what he saw he also realized that some convincing might be necessary. So, on the 28th of June 1994 Clare and I were treated to tickets to Athletic Park to watch Wellington play the touring South African rugby team. My task was to let Clare know about the ESU and its purpose, and how she could contribute to it. We missed some of the rugby (the final score was South Africa 36, Wellington 26) as we talked about the ESU but not very much as Clare required little convincing - her time in the Commercial Division had demonstrated some serious management failings to her, and she was extraordinarily keen to be part of the ESU and the future path that the port would be taking. Shortly afterwards Clare was appointed to the position of Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive. Clare and I often discussed ESU progress at social functions - NOT! Pictured enjoying ourselves at a staff Christmas function with Glen Hay and John Harris, two of the new Foremen appointed as part of the cargo handling management review. • Ray was a bit of a different issue. His position at that time was Training and Safety Manager, and on the surface, he seemed to be a more than suitable addition to the ESU. After all, his training and safety responsibilities meant that he interacted with employees at every level, and over several months he had demonstrated an ability to articulate management concepts with some ease. Like myself, Ray already reported directly to the Chief Executive but he was not a member of the current Executive team. Unfortunately, there were other factors about Ray’s performance that were not apparent at the time the ESU was formed, but more about that later. The 3 of us literally reported direct to GDM and our primary task was to review the management structure of the business, recommend changes that we considered appropriate, and in most cases, to ensure that those changes as approved by GDM were fully implemented. This meant that suddenly we had the authority to question anything we wanted to, investigate and analyse any arrangement that had been put in place under previous management regimes, and to ensure that any structural changes to the management team resulted in the best people being appointed - all under the express authority of the Chief Executive. Effectively we had been elevated into a role that overrode the functions of the current Executive team, which at that time comprised the Commercial Manager, the Port Services Manager, the Property and Administration Manager, plus of course GDM. For me personally this created challenges in dealing sensitively with people that I had worked with for many years, however there was a job to be done, and it’s my view that we were very successful and I know that we were instrumental in bringing about a number of very necessary changes within the management group. The life cycle of the ESU was extremely
66 short, we were formed in late July 1994 and disbanded in mid-December 1994 - approximately 4 ½ months during which time we successfully restructured the entire management team. In the December 1994 staff magazine GDM commented: “You will have noticed some changes to staff within the management area. There have been some redundancies which reflects the top-heavy structure of this organisation and some changes of positions in other areas. Whilst always regrettable, there is also a certain degree of inevitability that there will be some organisational disruption whenever there is a change of leadership. I certainly intend to have a management structure which encourages initiate and innovative ideas and generates mutual trust and credibility”. Before going into the detail of some of the major challenges that we faced, it’s an appropriate time to recall a management philosophy that GDM introduced to the management team. For those of us that listened carefully and paid attention it stood us in good stead as we looked to move forward i.e. FIFO. Now most people will recognise FIFO as an acronym for “first in, first out”, and often used as a method for identifying persons when redundancy situations occur. Not so in this context - FIFO was in fact the acronym for “fit in or fuck off”, and it epitomized GDM’s very clear and open approach to developing and maintaining an organisational culture that ensured the Company was best able to respond to the needs of the business, particularly its customers, as well as staff and the wider port community. If any manager was not prepared to fully commit to this philosophy, then literally they weren’t fitting in and for them there would be an unwelcome and painful consequence. Unfortunately, there were some managers who had difficulty in understanding the new direction, or perhaps they were too entrenched in the ways of the past - for them a difficult period was rapidly approaching with the repercussions of the new FIFO philosophy about to strike. Several of these are examined in more detail below, not only because they were dealt with under the brief of the ESU, but more importantly because they still provide valuable management lessons in any organisational context. • As mentioned earlier, the position of Port Services Manager was part of the Executive team that GDM inherited, with the incumbent being responsible for the operational divisions (cargo, engineering and marine) of the business. After the Chief Executive, this is arguably the most important position within any port company and a position on which the Chief Executive places absolute reliance, trust and industry credibility. Fortunately, as GDM had spent several months evaluating the organisation and the people who worked within it, it became quickly apparent that there were a number of issues around the then position holder’s performance as the Executive Manager of 3 customer-focused work areas, and further compounded by the obvious absence of any practical, hands-on experience and/or knowledge within those areas that he was responsible for at an executive level. His appointment to this role had occurred during the previous management regime where unfortunately, performance concerns had been overlooked, and possibly because the previous Managing Director had somewhat foolishly accepted an invitation to be a godparent of one of his children. There are many things that you do not do as a Chief Executive of any organisation, and one fundamental rule is that you DO NOT ever put yourself in a position when you cannot unemotionally manage the performance of anyone who reports to you. So, within the first few months of his tenure, GDM was faced with an Executive Manager whose work performance had been allowed to continue at an unacceptable level, with this view worryingly reinforced by clients and staff. Action was clearly required to remedy a difficult situation for the company, but fortunately GDM never was, and never will be someone to baulk at taking required actions however challenging they may be. I have always been a huge supporter of GDM and his direct approach to management, but this is the one occasion where it went wrong - and could have been considerably worse. This is what happened. Somewhere during mid-August 1994, I wandered into GDM’s office and we got onto a discussion about the position of Port Services Manager. Incidentally, the Port Services Manager’s office was literally across the passageway, probably no more than 20 metres away from GDM’s office. GDM and I talked about the process for proceeding towards a new executive role of General Manager - Operations, and then suddenly GDM said something like ‘I can’t wait that long, let’s get him in here and be done with it’. So, I exited GDM’s office, walked over to the Port Services Manager’s office and said ‘GDM wants to have a chat, can you come over please?’ We walked back over, shut the door, and GDM started the process of advising the Port Services Mana
67 office), so that he could make any calls that he needed to do. What I didn’t expect was the extraordinarily loud wailing and weeping that came out of the Board Room, and then to be told when I went back in that phone calls were not necessary, but could I drive him home please? Driving him home was reasonably tense but not a huge problem, however pushing past a Tug Master coming up the stairs who insisted on speaking urgently to the Port Services Manager on a marine-related issue definitely was!!! Within 24 hours we received a formal letter from his solicitor advising that the Port Services Manager had suffered loss of dignity, humiliation and distress, and that a personal grievance was being lodged. Further, compensation amounting to just under $250,000 would be claimed, noting that the original redundancy entitlement was in the vicinity of $48,000. It was interesting to note that the particular solicitor had, within the previous few months, represented the company in a stevedoring dispute with the unions - not surprisingly he never worked for the company again! I was tasked with achieving an out-of-court settlement, and following a meeting a couple of days later, a deed of settlement was signed with final redundancy compensation agreed at $77,000 - meaning that loss of dignity, humiliation and distress was worth an additional $29,000. This settlement meant that we were able to focus on to consequential restructuring within the cargo division without the distraction of a personal grievance that could well have ended up in the Employment Court. • One of the immediate flow-on effects of the departure of the Port Services Manager was a review of direct reporting positions, one of which was the Operations Services Manager. Once again there were serious concerns relating to the performance of the position holder, who had been appointed by the Port Services Manager over a considerably more experienced and hands-on stevedoring specialist. There was a deep suspicion that this appointment represented a deliberate attempt by the Port Services Manager to avoid having his own shortcomings exposed. So as part of the overall restructuring within the operational divisions, a new position of Cargo Manager was established, and internal applications invited of which one applicant was the Operations Services Manager. As part of the selection process, all applicants underwent psychometric testing which was carried out internally by me as a trained and accredited Saville and Holdsworth facilitator. The results were illuminating, clearly revealing that the Operations Services Manager had attempted to manipulate the tests, as determined by the almost zero consistency of the test profiles. The results were individually fed back to all applicants, with the Operations Services Manager eventually conceding that he had attempted to fudge the results. To ensure total fairness of the selection process, he was offered, and he accepted another opportunity to undergo the tests, with the results being completely different - and much more as was expected the second time around. Unfortunately for him, the final outcome of the selection process was not in his favour, and his position was declared redundant with appropriate notice. • The person appointed to the new position of Cargo Manager was the experienced and hands-on stevedoring specialist that I referred to earlier. His name was Roger Sullivan, and he came with the added advantage of having been the union secretary of the Harbour Workers Union. Roger and I would work closely over the next few years, with this relationship extending past our time at the port when Roger became a valued contractor for Start Training Ltd as well as a good friend. As part of his appointment as Cargo Manager, it was decided to create a new group of Cargo Foremen, with internal advertising attracting a wide range of applicants. The selection process would have worked well, all applicants would have interviewed with decisions made based on skills, knowledge and experience. Unfortunately during the process, there was the “Opera” incident where several favoured candidates were invited to the Opera Bar in Courtenay Place. This gathering became public knowledge and caused a high degree of bitterness amongst those not invited but who had applied for the new positions. I have heard the “Opera” incident referred to on a number of occasions, including discussions that I have had well after my departure from the port in 2003. The final selection and appointment of the Cargo Foremen, all with differing backgrounds and skills, and the on-going work that they performed are good indicators that the decision to establish a group of motivated Foremen was the right one, but there has always been an unsavoury odour attached to the selection process that can be linked directly back to that meeting at the Opera Bar. The structural changes that the Executive Staff Unit was tasked with achieving included restructuring of a number
68 allowance”, a travel fund, a club membership, and a rather expensive Executive sabbatical leave provision. With a recent appointment to the new position of General Manager - Finance and Administration, a number of responsibilities that had previously been under the umbrella of the Corporate Services Manager had been removed, so GDM tasked me with negotiating a new position of Property Manager with Neville, eliminating the existing employment benefits referred to above, and reducing Neville’s annual total remuneration package by $9,500. Effectively I was negotiating not only with a long- standing work colleague but I was also renegotiating the terms and conditions of employment of someone who until recently had been an Executive Manager and enjoying a higher status in the organisation than me. This was one of my most difficult Executive Staff Unit assignments, but it was successfully completed with Neville’s terms and conditions changed significantly with some elements cashed up, and his previous executive status removed. One factor that made this task easier to achieve was Neville’s desperation to remain employed, even with a reduced status. • The position of Marketing Manager had been held for several years by Rowena Hill, and there was a general consensus that her on-going employment had been protected by her immediate manager, one of the Executive team at the time. GDM was immediately unimpressed, particularly at her propensity in bursting into tears when questioning became difficult, and work excuses based on a series of phantom pregnancies that occurred on a regular basis. The position of Marketing Manager was disestablished, the position holder made redundant, and a new position of Business Development Manager established which became part of GDM’s senior management team. • One of the more significant management changes that GDM was keen to make was the appointment of a Marine Manager, the position being responsible for all of the Company’s marine activities i.e. harbour pilots and tug and launch activities, and a full member of the senior management team. When GDM arrived at the port, Bob Field held the position of Executive Pilot and was the designated leader of the pilotage team, also responsible for professional nautical advice to port services management. Bob was first employed by the Wellington Harbour Board as a harbour pilot in 1971, following a lengthy career with the Union Steamship Company. His first role with the WHB was as Tug Master for the newly arriving tug Kupe, and in fact made the delivery voyage of Kupe along with the then Deputy Harbour Master, Cyril Sword. Bob’s brother-in- law was Charles Smith, another harbour pilot who later became a long-serving Marine Manager for the port company - more about Charles shortly. Following his appointment as a licenced harbour pilot in 1972 and eventual rise to the position of Senior Pilot, Bob’s career underwent a few twists and turns, culminating in his appointment in mid-1989 as Executive Pilot. The management restructuring that took place in late 1994 resulted in GDM appointing Bob as Marine Manager, although this trial had a probationary nature about it, primarily because of concerns that Bob may have been conflicted as Marine Manager by his on-going membership of the Merchant Service Guild. And so it turned out to be. During the first half of 1995 the port was in dispute with the Merchant Service Guild, and I well remember one meeting with the Guild when the Company was represented by GDM, myself and Bob Field as Marine Manager. GDM and I were seated in the Board Room waiting for the Guild (and Bob) to arrive, and in walked Bob attired in full dress regalia, complete with epaulettes and peaked officer’s hat. About the only thing missing was a ceremonial sword! Bob then deliberately positioned himself in a seat midway between the parties - neither with one side nor the other but leaving us in no doubt at all that his loyalties were indeed conflicted. It wasn’t too long afterwards that Bob’s probationary period as Marine Manager was called to an end, and the position offered to his brother-in-law, Charles Smith. As it turned out, the appointment of Charles was a masterstroke, and to his credit, Bob was fully accepting of Charles’ appointment and provided him with excellent support during the remainder of his time at the port. I have fond memories of phone calls around 5.00pm from Charles to join him and Bob for a glass of wine (or 3) in Charles’ office, where the events of the day were dissected and analysed, and many solutions devised. Sometime during in the late 90’s Bob with diagnosed with throat cancer and was off work for a protracted period of time. After going into remission, Bob returned to full-time employment for 2 or 3 years, but sadly his condition reappeared, and he passed away in early 2003. I recall visiting Bob at the Te Omanga Hospice, and I to this day I remained humbled by Bob’s positiveness and gentle nature that he de
69 CEO’s as presented by Bob to both departing CEO’s, and these are replicated at the end of the Page and Mulligan years respectively. • Given the sensitive nature of the work carried out by the Executive Staff Unit coupled with my human resources responsibilities, GDM decided that I should relocate to a more secure office, which coincidently provided me with a full view of staff moving around the office. It was from that vantage point I was able to observe one of the finance team departing the office in tears. When this happened for a second time, I intercepted her and discovered that a victimising situation was alleged in the finance section, and by the Financial Services Manager, a guy called Robert Stewart. Some discreet enquiries with other staff members confirmed that this was in fact occurring, and that complaints had been made in the past, but without any apparent action being taken. Worryingly, finance staff were totally skeptical of lodging further complaints as Robert was a close relative of one of the Company’s executive managers, in fact, that executive manager was responsible for Robert’s initial appointment. Nepotism at its very best! No problem for the Executive Staff Unit in sorting this out as we reported to no-one except GDM, and our raison d'être certainly included the identification and rectification of any management failings. Following a full investigation that discovered 7 previous complaints - some of which had been clearly buried at a very senior level, Robert was given a written warning together with documented performance improvements and time frames. He resigned almost immediately, thereby opening the door for an immediate restructure of the Finance Section. The relief of finance staff at Robert’s departure was unmistakable, not quite dancing in the aisles but very close to it. All staff responsibilities of the executive manager related to the departed financial services manager were removed as part of the overall management restructuring processes. It was immediately necessary to apply some loving care and attention to the remaining group of rather battered finance staff. As an initial remedy we gave the leadership of the team to the existing Management Accountant, a truly nice guy who gave every impression of being incapable of vindictive or disparaging behaviour and who was well thought of by all of the finance staff. But it was also necessary to reintroduce a team environment where trust and belief in each other was paramount. So, I put a proposal to GDM that for several days the entire team should be taken off-site to the Sir Edmond Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre, located in the Tongariro National Park. As was his wont, GDM approved the concept immediately and arrangements were put in place, including the hiring of specialist outdoor trainers from the Centre. Day-to-day facilitation was provided by myself with assistance from the Training Manager. We travelled to Tongariro by car, arriving late afternoon. Shortly after, the group was taken to a field surrounded by heavily wooded and rather steep hills where they were advised that there was a track that would take them through the hills back to the Centre in time for dinner - their challenge was to find the track! This group had been leaderless for quite some time, and it immediately showed as everyone immediately headed off in different directions hunting for the elusive track. I well remember one of the newer members of the team, Monique saying rather quietly “I think it’s over here”, but being ignored by her senior colleagues, one of whom suddenly yelled to everyone before disappearing into the “track” he had found. Like an obedient flock of sheep everyone followed, only to find 10 or so minutes later that the track had narrowed badly and could only lead into a mass of thick forest that was clearly impassable - not to mention a rather steep drop on one side. A slow backtrack down was necessary and the search resumed. Finally, Monique became a bit more vocally insistent, her colleagues eventually listened to her, and a short trek later, we were back at the Centre with darkness not that far away. As an exercise on day 1, this was gold for us facilitators and we were able to highlight fundamental principles of working together such as collaboration and constructive communication. A great start to this team building initiative. The time away with this group was an outstanding success, and a seriously enhanced team atmosphere was clearly recognizable back in the day-to-day working environment at the port. However, there are two other memories that stand out whenever I think of those days at the Outdoor Pursuits Centre. I should add at this point that all outdoor activities included the active involvement of us facilitators! The first memory occurred on the Tongariro River where the specialist outdoor trainers had the group construct a tyre raft that would be paddled several kilometres down the river. No problems lashing the t
70 off to paddle the Tongariro River. Pretty easy paddling to start with, and lots of opportunities for viewing our surroundings which were quite spectacular - one of the female crew (Paula) even tried to convince us to paddle to the riverbank so she could pick some flowers, no chance! But suddenly the river decided to be not quite so friendly, the water became more agitated and steering our raft became an increasing challenge, seriously intensified by the sudden and totally unexpected emergence of rocks in the middle of the waterway. Our raft had morphed into a pretty cumbersome beast that was becoming impossible to control as Jason and I attempted to manouvre around the rocks and worse, there was a bloody big one straight ahead of us and we would not be able to avoid it. We didn’t avoid it, the first tyres went over the rock and folded over, with Jason and I being thrown unceremoniously into the river. Fortunately the raft hadn’t jammed on the rock and floated past, with Fionnuala managing to grab me and help me scramble back onboard. Someone must have helped Jason do the same on the other side as suddenly both of us are wriggling our way through the others and regaining our positions at the front. Somehow, both of us had held onto our paddles and with a full complement of paddlers back onboard, we managed to steer our way down to calmer waters where a couple of the specialist outdoor trainers were waiting for us. I recall they asked if we had any problems coming down, I answered “no problems”, but the saturated state of Jason and myself probably belied this statement. The second memory was from the Centre’s rather awesome flying fox which had been built over a very deep gully, accessed at the top by walking towards the edge of the gully then stepping onto a 45-degree slope which was the point of no return, you simply took off. The other end was attached to a huge pine tree some 100 metres away, with a tyre positioned 20 or so metres before the pine tree and intended to prevent a rather serious collision. The tyre worked well, it certainly stopped you and there was a bit of bouncing back and forth as momentum slowed and stopped. The only way back was to be pulled up by the others at the top via a pulley rope attached to the fox. When it was my turn, I couldn’t understand why I continued to dangle over the gully instead of being pulled back to the top. This was until I heard shouting from Grant Oelhrich (who at the time was the finance team’s union representative) who was calling out “20% increase, 20% increase”. It was of course around the time of union negotiations which included the potential for pay increases, and I was the Company’s chief negotiator! They left me dangling for about 5 minutes, then relented. They didn’t get 20%! Back in the workplace the finance team was now stable, the disharmony within the group had been removed, there was a new co-operation between team members, and the new manager adapted well to his responsibilities and led in a quiet and confident manner. POSTPONED FROM 1994, THE WORKPLACE AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE was rescheduled for May 1995, and with GDM approving my attendance, I travelled to the Crown Hotel in Melbourne as the sole representative from Port of Wellington. The timing was good as the purchase of Container Terminals Ltd was nearing its completion, and a staff announcement was scheduled for the end of the week following my return to Wellington. The conference was held over 3 days and in a similar format to the New Zealand version back in 1993 with delegates pre-assigned to “home groups”. Once in the “home group”, further company-specific separations occurred which meant that as the only delegate from Port of Wellington, I had nowhere to go. But neither did 4 other people, one of whom was from Adelaide (Vicky Knuckley), one from New South Wales (can’t remember his name), one from the Auckland Employers Association (Jim Meyland), and one from Tasmania (Sarah Lester). So our “home group” consisted of 5 random delegates, and whilst we didn’t come up with any earth-shattering innovations for workplace reform, our discussions were open and wide-ranging, our experiences were freely shared as were any workplace reform plans that were either in place, or planned in our respective organisations, for example, I disclosed the port company’s plans to develop an in-house training unit. We got on so well as a group that we decided it was worthwhile staying in touch after the conference to use each other as sounding boards and/or sources of information for any workplace reform initiatives that our organisations were either implementing or simply considering the merits of. A great idea in principle, but the reality was that only two of us (Sarah Lester was the other) bothered to communicate with the others post conference. Knowing my interest in developing an in-house
71 training unit, Sarah provided me with several contacts around Hobart of organisations who had successfully implemented in- house training departments, and once GDM had been made aware of these contacts, he quickly approved a trip to Hobart for me to view and evaluate these training departments, the programmes that they were presenting, and the backgrounds and experience of their in-house trainers. The Hobart organisations included Cadbury’s (who provided excellent samples of their chocolate), and Australian Newsprint Mills (visitor’s pass recently discovered)! The outcomes from this four- day trip proved invaluable in the eventual development of Port of Wellington’s training unit, (GDM had previously appointed me as the Company’s Knowledge and Skill Training Coordinator on 18 July 1995, with that appointment including full authority to establish and manage a Training and Education Unit and to ensure that it was staffed appropriately). I also became aware of Sarah’s background in Total Quality Management (another initiative that GDM was keen to implement), but more of this shortly. A conference-related memory comes from the conference dinner. The New Zealand contingent had arranged pre-dinner drinks in the downstairs bar, and being on my own, as was Sarah, I invited her to join with the New Zealand contingent. We were both provided with badges that identified our place of origin (that is, my place of origin) but as an invitee into the New Zealand contingent, Sarah was also required to wear one. What neither of us realised was that the New Zealand contingent, including the two of us, would be required to present a group haka. I’d never participated in a haka before, Sarah certainly hadn’t, and I can only imagine what the two of us looked like as we attempted to copy the actions of others more versed in the art! Fortunately, we managed to hide ourselves in the back row, hopefully mostly hidden from view. Many years later, Sarah would find her Team New Zealand Badge (pictured right) hidden at the back of a drawer. There’s also a couple of pre-conference memories from the Workplace Australia trip, and both relate to my first visit to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, better known as the MCG. The first was buying a beer inside the concourse of the stand (a first for me) then tripping on the stairs leading to my seat and totally losing the drink - very embarrassing! The second was trying not to be involved in a punch-up which erupted around me between two groups of supporters. One group was Collingwood supporters, but I can’t remember who the others were supporting. There were a few “handbag” punches thrown but it was all over in less than a minute with no damage done. FRIDAY 26 MAY 1995 WAS PROBABLY THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAY of GDM’s tenure, even though it happened just over 12 months after he started at the port. It was significant because it was the day that GDM and I, accompanied by other members of the senior management team plus the Company’s industrial lawyer, Jane Latimer, strode over to the messroom of Container Terminals Ltd (CTL) and advised the assembled staff that CTL had been purchased by Port of Wellington and that the two entities were now one. A bit of background is probably necessary. Containerisation changed the very look of New Zealand ports. In the 1970s the four cellular container ports - Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton and Port Chalmers - were suddenly reclaiming large areas of land, filling in old wharves and dry docks, demolishing wharf sheds and throwing up massive shore-side container cranes. Why? Conventional ships loaded cargo gradually from wharf sheds or straight from railway wagons or trucks. To accommodate as many ships as possible, ports built long finger wharves. Container ships, however, loaded so quickly that the cargo needed to be pre- assembled close to the berth. As each container vessel replaced many conventional ships, berth numbers were less important than having large areas of flat land right behind the container cranes. This was reasonably simple to achieve at Wellington, where there was a long breastwork wharf i.e. Aotea Quay. Even so, Wellington still had to fill in some old wharves. 1984, when the container ships Tolaga Bay, New Zealand Pacific and Mairangi Bay lined Wellington’s Aotea Quay.
72 On 19 June 1971 the first all-container ship to visit New Zealand, “Columbus New Zealand”, berthed at Wellington’s new Thorndon Container Terminal. In eight days on the coast, the German-owned Columbus Line vessel also called at Auckland and Port Chalmers. That schedule turned heads. According to the Waterfront Industry Commission’s number- crunchers, in 1971 the average ship on the same run spent a frustrating 34.63 days in Kiwi ports. Worse, it wasted 10.53 of those days anchored in the stream waiting for a berth, awaiting labour or held up by bad weather. All that time the ship incurred harbour dues, electricity and water charges and labour costs while earning nothing for the shipping line. During their stays the first four container ships visiting New Zealand ports worked about 9,000 tonnes of cargo per voyage - 2,000 more than conventional ships and called at just two ports instead of four or five. Fewer ports, more cargo, four times as fast - it was a revolution. In Wellington, Container Terminals Limited operated the container terminal facility on land and buildings it leased from the Wellington Harbour Board (and later the Port Company), who, as the owner and operator of the Wellington port, provided cargo and ship handling facilities and equipment to Container Terminals Limited. So for nearly 25 years, strong demarcation lines existed, two companies provided an unnecessary duplication of labour resources, the customers paid for it, with Wellington being regarded as the most expensive container terminal in the country. Previous WHB and port company management would have been well aware of this situation but either chose to ignore it or more likely, found it all too difficult. GDM saw all of this and knew that it had to end, and quickly. His target was the total restructure and integration of port company operations with those of the container terminal and cementing the outcomes with a “Just in Time” service philosophy. GDM also knew that one of the keys to achieving this was to have a strong senior management team around him, particularly in the operational area. So it was that GDM lured two managers from Ports of Auckland, Volker Lankenau and Hans Wetendorf. The following photo has Volker on the extreme left, with Hans 2nd from the right. Volker would hold the position of GM - Operations, while Hans became the Cargo Services Manager, effectively having day-to-day responsibility for the container terminal. Other members of the senior management are GDM (next to Volker), Ken Sutherland (Commercial Manager -Special projects, and the only survivor from Griff Page’s senior management team), Mark Law (GM - Finance and Administration), Clare Murphy and yours truly, Charles Smith (having just been appointed as Marine Services Manager), and Graham Poynter (Business Development Manager). Hindsight tells me that collectively (with a couple of individual exceptions) this was the most effective senior management team that I ever worked with. With that thought in mind, it’s an appropriate time to reflect on several of my senior management team colleagues, starting with “the Germans” - Volker Lankenau and Hans Wetendorf. Volker was the more senior of the two of them and he would prove to be an invaluable asset in the very necessary implementation of a state-of-the-art container handling system - SPARCS, as part of the takeover of CTL. Volker’s knowledge and expertise in this area was unchallenged at that time, and his contribution towards the initial integration of the port company and CTL and the enormous improvements in container handling turnaround times was simply outstanding. Unfortunately his wardrobe could not be considered to be amongst his many attributes, it seemed to consist of one suit (yes, the one in the above photo), and an SS-styled full-length leather coat. GDM still refers to him as “Colonel Klink”! Hans was a slightly different proposition - his wardrobe was ok and he was very personable, but again with hindsight I suspect that we were dealt a dud hand with his appointment, as I recall that Volker’s move to Wellington was a 2 for 1 deal - Hans coming as well. Hans had certainly enjoyed a good reputation in Auckland, but I really struggle to remember any significant or positive impact that he made during his time managing the Wellington container terminal. I certainly expected more from him as a senior manager and his couple of years in Wellington, from a corporate perspective, were pretty unforgettable. Was he carried by Volker; I believe he was.
73 Charles Smith had been appointed as Marine Services Manager literally days before the senior management team photo above, taking over from Bob Field. The photo on the left shows Charles during a break in union negotiations with the Merchant Service Guild. With Byron Barnett and Bob Kingdom to the left of the photo, we would have been negotiating terms and conditions for the tug crews. Bob Field is in the middle, and John McLeod, General Secretary of the Merchant Service Guild is next to Charles. John was well-known throughout the industry as “Marmite” - a little bit goes a long way! Charles had previously represented pilots in negotiations with the company, and he was always a formidable adversary due to his detailed knowledge of shipping movements in and out of Wellington, pilots work patterns to best accommodate that shipping, and historical reasons leading to terms and conditions that were current at that time. The data that he could produce to counter the Company’s claims was quite extraordinary. GDM’s decision to appoint Charles to a senior management position was inspired, suddenly the historical knowledge and almost indisputable data that Charles had previously used to counter Company claims was now available to the Company and well able to be tweaked in our favour, which Charles achieved very successfully. Of all my colleagues, Charles was the most effective and informed negotiator and the person that I always looked forward to being in negotiations with. The management lesson here should be obvious - the identification of talented people within an organisation should be an inherent skill of any Chief Executive, particularly within high-risk industries, of which ports are, and while GDM demonstrated this talent on any number of occasions, the appointment of Charles to a senior management position epitomizes GDM’s far-sightedness around the bigger picture. One more memory about Charles (other than the pleasant after-hours glass of vino down in his office, along with Bob Field and occasionally other pilots - described elsewhere). Sometime in the late 1990’s Charles suggested to me that as the Company’s lead negotiator (specifically referring to pilot negotiations), I probably needed to personally experience boarding a container vessel in the middle of the harbour entrance, and early in the morning while it was still dark. I suspect that Charles was expecting a negative response but what he probably didn’t know about me was that this sort of challenge couldn’t be ignored (particularly after my experiences on the high ropes at Outward Bound a few years earlier), so I had absolutely no hesitation in accepting his invitation. So around 5.00am on a weekday morning Charles and I headed out on the pilot launch to meet an incoming container vessel. Yes, nerves were definitely setting in as the launch was positioned and held steady below the pilot ladder, and from where a leap of faith would occur. Charles stepped off first and climbed rapidly. Then it was my turn and there was no turning back. My vivid recollection is how steady the launch was and how close it was to the pilot ladder - it literally only required one small step off the launch to grasp (very tightly) the ladder and start to climb up the side of the vessel and onto the deck. It seemed to take no time at all before I was on the bridge of the vessel watching Charles in complete control with ship management into Wellington having been handed over by the ship’s captain. Whilst the conditions at the harbour entrance meant that it wasn’t a challenging transfer from launch to container vessel, the experience of boarding a container vessel and then observing Charles’s professionalism in bringing that vessel into Wellington was something that I will never forget. Back to the takeover of CTL which was predominantly owned by P&O Ports, with a couple of shipping lines also having shareholding. Negotiations around the sale were carried out by GDM on behalf of Port of Wellington, and senior executives from P&O Ports. I had a minor involvement leading up to the negotiations when GDM engaged the services of a prominent Wellington lawyer, Stephen Kos who specialised in commercial litigation. I can still see Stephen arriving at the port in his vintage Rolls Royce - totally impressive! GDM and Stephen were interested in the historical background that led up to the creation of CTL, and I sat in on a couple of meetings to assist in the identification of key players from the late 1960’s. It turned out that there was only one name of interest - Jim Stewart who was the General Manager of the WHB at that time. Realising that he was rather elderly, Stephen recommended that Jim was questioned with some urgency, with his state of health and his memory being totally unknown. Prophetic words indeed as within a week I spotted Jim’s obituary in the Dominion - we never did extract the information from him.
74 GDM relates one story from the negotiations where P&O executives demanded a sale price of $5m to which GDM replied “we think you should pay us $2m to take it off your hands - that’s the loss you posted last year!” As it turned out, the negotiated settlement price was $2m. Interestingly, handshakes acknowledging agreement for the sale and purchase were achieved one day prior to GDM’s first anniversary at the port, a target that he had set himself to achieve shortly after starting at the port. There were still some blocks to overcome, one of them being Commerce Commission approval. On 12 April 1995 Port of Wellington was cleared to buy CTL by the Commerce Commission, with the Commission Chairman Dr Alan Bollard releasing the following statement: The Commission had concluded that Port of Wellington would not acquire or strengthen a dominant position in any market. The possible effects of the proposal on the ship handling and cargo handling markets were investigated, and the Commission's view was that the proposal would result in some aggregation of market share in the cargo handling market. However, actual and potential competition would continue to be provided by other market participants and other ports. While the proposal would involve vertical integration between the ship handling and cargo handling markets, the proposal was unlikely to lead to any major change in the existing market situation. There was also the question of due diligence in general, and I was tasked with specifically examining CTL’s human resources policies, practices and procedures, determining what they had in place and what they didn’t, checking conditions of employment contained in individual and collective employment agreements, identifying any current or unresolved claims against CTL with an HR flavour, and determining redundancy liabilities that Port of Wellington would inherit once the purchase had been finalised. To achieve this, I was given carte blanche to question their senior managers (Peter Snow, Ken Watt and Colin Fowke) and request access to any HR-related files and documentation that I considered necessary in order to provide an accurate and complete due diligence report. I also had freedom to recommend the retention of any staff members with experience and attributes that would be useful to the port company post-acquisition. For a week or so I was domiciled in a CTL office studying a stack of human resources documentation, talking to staff members at all levels, and from a CTL management point of view, probably making a general nuisance of myself. At the end of it all, I concluded that CTL’s HR systems were rather basic, and that while collective employment agreements were in place and current, terms and conditions were substantially different to those contained in Port Wellington CEC’s. There were no current and/or outstanding personal grievance claims against the Company. Training was predominantly on-job and presented by one permanent employee. I concluded that it would be extremely difficult for senior management staff to be integrated into the Port Wellington structure, but I did identify two employees, Christina Thom (Payroll Clerk) and Don McGrory (Trainer) whom I believed could be usefully transferred. I was right about one of these two people, more about this shortly. The positions held by Ken Watt (Terminal Manager) and Colin Fowke (Company Secretary) were surplus to future requirements, while P&O Ports offered Peter Snow (Managing Director) another management role with that company (I believe it was somewhere in India) with that offer being accepted by Peter. It was some years later when Peter Snow returned to New Zealand and lodged a personal grievance against Port Wellington, claiming non-payment of redundancy from when CTL was taken over. As this occurred during Ken Harris’s tenure, I’ll cover those events in the next chapter. With Commerce Commission approval achieved, due diligence satisfactorily completed, Board approvals in place, and final sale and purchase documentation agreed and signed, it was time to advise CTL staff of what was about to occur. I remember the day very well, Friday 26 May 1995 with that date remaining with me as it was the same day that Wellington hosted a lunchtime street parade for Team New Zealand that had whitewashed Team Stars and Stripes, skippered by Dennis Conner, bringing the America’s Cup to New Zealand for the first time. The lunchtime street parade meant that our industrial lawyer, Jane Latimer, who was coming down from Auckland literally could not get from Wellington airport to the port company in time for the early afternoon meeting with CTL staff. Lateral thinking was required, and so it was that I boarded the tug “Kupe” and headed to Miramar Wharf to where Jane Latimer would arrive by taxi from the airport. What we had overlooked was that Jane would be required to board the tug by climbing down about 2 metres using a ladder attached to the wharf. With a slightly a
75 expectation that the port company would be taking over the running of the container terminal. So when GDM advised the terminal staff that they would in the future be employed by the port company, there were no great expressions of surprise. The liveliest part of the meeting occurred during GDM’s address when a hand shot up at the back of the room and a voice cried out “Mr Mulligan, are you going to make me redundant”? Now GDM wasn’t going to get into a redundancy discussion in that forum, so he deflected the question for another time and continued his address. But up went the hand again and somewhat more forcefully asked “Mr Mulligan, Mr Mulligan, are you going to make me redundant”? Quite properly GDM again attempted to deflect the question as inappropriate for this meeting, but the same guy stuck his hand up for a third time and repeated his question. From memory, the guy questioning whether he would be made redundant was Bryce Redfern-Hardisty, a permanent employee of CTL and the local branch Secretary of the Waterfront Workers Union - probably not surprisingly, he was. With the acquisition of CTL successfully completed, the focus turned to the immediate reduction of numbers in the cargo handling workforce, and the complete restructuring of collective employment contracts. These two challenges fell squarely on my shoulders as I was now fully responsible for the Company’s industrial relations portfolio, the Port Services Manager, who had previously led industrial negotiations had been made redundant as previously recorded. The more straight-forward task was the reduction of cargo handling staff as a number of ex-CTL staff, and a couple of port company employees had indicated a willingness to accept voluntary severance. In fact, the first offering of voluntary severance attracted sufficient numbers to achieve an initially acceptable reduction in the number of cargo handlers, but a further reduction in numbers was anticipated once a new collective employment agreement had been negotiated. As Cargo Services Manager, Hans Wetendorf took over responsibility for the day-to-day management of the container terminal, including cargo handlers and an integrated group of Foremen. Whilst relatively straight-forward, there was one instance resulting from the voluntary severance exercise that led us into the Employment Court, as described below. • A claim was received from two ex-CTL employees who had accepted voluntary severance, their claim being based on a severance payment of less than what had been agreed. The severance payment as provided in their collective employment agreement provided for a maximum payment of 52 weeks, and as they were both long serving employees, the 52-week maximum represented their entitlement i.e. $36,400. Their claim was that the Cargo Services Manager, Hans Wetendorf had agreed with both of them that they would each receive a severance payment of $70,000. The Company refuted this claim, and so the matter ended up in the Employment Court, Jane Latimer representing us, and Hans and myself appearing as the Company’s witnesses. During the evidence given by one of the claimants, a piece of paper was produced that was signed by Hans Wetendorf, with the amount of $70,000 written above his signature. On hearing this, Jane leaned back and passed me a note that stated ”we’re stuffed”. Hans and I gave our evidence, consistently stating that all severance payments made by the Company were strictly in accordance with collective employment agreements, and that no other alternative compensation had been agreed with any departing employee. Personally I believed this to be the case, but to this day I still wonder whether Hans had in fact agreed a higher amount of severance compensation, with insufficient knowledge of what was provided for within the CTL collective employment contract. As it turned out and notwithstanding Jane Latimer’s concern for our prospects, the judge ruled in our favour, noting that the Company’s witnesses were fully credible, and described the evidence given by the two ex-CTL employees as spurious and difficult to accept as factually correct. My attention then focused on the negotiation of a combined collective contract that would bring 3 separate unions under the umbrella of one industrial agreement containing common terms and conditions for all employees covered by the agreement. The three unions concerned were (i) Rail and Maritime Transport Union, (ii) Waterfront Workers Union, and (iii) Foreman Stevedores Union. The terms and conditions contained in employment contracts that existed at the time of acquiring CTL were completely different in just about every respect, and demarcation lines were well and truly protected as evidenced by CTL Stevedores carrying out all shipboard duties and Port Company Cargo Handlers carrying out all land-based duties. As a demarcation example, CTL staff operated all shipboard cranes and port company staff operated the container cranes, and althou
76 cancelled even when a vessel arrival was seriously delayed. Coupled with the well-entrenched demarcation issues, the lack of flexibility contained within employment contracts created a cost imposition that made Wellington’s container terminal the most expensive of all metropolitan ports. My challenge was to lead the Company’s negotiating team into battle against three different unions (with no love lost between two of them) and to create a single collective employment contract covering all three unions that removed all demarcation issues, ensured full labour flexibility, reduced costs, and improved service delivery. Not a small ask for someone who was actually leading a negotiating team for the first time! The outcomes of these negotiations are probably best summarised by comments made in Port Wellington’s 1996 Annual Report by the Chairman, Nigel Gould, and by GDM as below. Nigel Gould. The significant milestone for the Company during the year was the successful integration of the Container Terminal into the Company’s operations. Considerable productivity improvements were achieved within the terminal including the introduction of a new industrial agreement which provides the Company with a flexibility unequalled by any other port in Australasia. This arrangement combined with the successful implementation of new computer technology has ensured that the Company can offer its clients considerable improvements in cargo handling efficiencies and productivity, and in many instances at a reduced cost. GDM. Following the acquisition of the Container Terminal, Port Wellington focused on fully integrating its port operations under one management. Container handling costs needed to be substantially reduced and service delivery improved, as Container Terminals Ltd was regarded as the most expensive container terminal in New Zealand. At the time of acquisition the combined workforce was 280 and this has now been reduced to 212. The terminal and port company staff (including stevedores, crane and plant operators, and engineering staff) are now integrated into a demarcation-less workforce. This has been one of the key elements in being able to offer competitive pricing to our customers. Prior to this, unnecessary duplication of port labour resources carried a high cost. In June this year the Company introduced a new labour agreement for cargo handling staff which works on a “Just in Time” service philosophy and extends the boundaries of workforce flexibility. Under the new arrangements stevedoring staff work variable shift times of between 8 to 12 hours at a flat rate of pay with any overtime also on the same rate. So if a vessel needs to be worked for up to 12 hours, a single shift will work through until the job is complete. This means that only two shifts are required in 24 hours instead of the previous three. Staff will work any 40 hours over 7 days and start in 2-hour time slots on any day to coincide with ship and cargo operations. The port also has the unhindered ability to call on casual labour to handle busy periods. This enables the Company to have a smaller permanent workforce, with obvious cost savings, and productivity has increased. A further advantage to Port Wellington’s arrangement with casuals, is that the Company can look to recruit new staff based on “customer needs” and “quality service”, and a career path has now been established. The new labour arrangement is the first of its kind amongst the metropolitan terminals, and the union leaders who supported these initiatives deserve full credit for their foresight and leadership. So an extremely satisfying result had been achieved, and I was pretty proud of what had been achieved. While Nigel Gould and GDM quite accurately highlighted the productivity improvements that were now in place, a demarcation-less workforce, the subsequent cost savings, and the enhanced customer service delivery, one point they overlooked related to the negotiations being completed without any industrial action being taken, an excellent result in its own right given the magnitude of the changes that the Company was requiring the unions to accept. ALTHOUGH THE COMPANY NOW HAD CONTROL of the container terminal, my industrial relations challenges weren’t yet over. A collective employment contract covering pilots was due for negotiation, an agreement that contained several conditions of employment that the company was unhappy with, but which the pilots via their representatives (the Merchant Service Guild) had successfully retained for several negotiations over a number of years. My initial task was to develop an industrial strategy with an express intent of cost reduction through removal of the offending conditions and then negotiate a new collective contract that better reflected the commercial realities of the day. As I referred to earlier, Charles Smith had been appointed as Marine Services Manager, and he joined me in a two-person negotiating team. Our result was outstandi
77 was signed that did not specify numbers of Pilots to be employed, staff levels were reduced and a new roster agreed to reflect the reduced numbers, and ongoing savings achieved annually of $130,000. Towards the end of 1997 I wrote an industrial strategy to provide the pathway for achieving a required $2 million reduction in operating costs within the Cargo Section. In late April 1998 a new Collective Employment Contract (CEC) was signed within four days of the target date set earlier in January. On signing of the CEC an analysis of anticipated cost savings predicted $1.9 million savings in the next 12 months. There would be other industrial challenges that I would face in subsequent years, but the combined collective employment contract negotiations following the takeover of CTL, the Pilots negotiations a year or so later, and the 1998 Cargo Section negotiations were collectively the most demanding, and probably the most important. All were achieved without any days lost through industrial action. THE “JUST-IN-TIME” SERVICE PHILOSOPHY that GDM introduced as a critical element of the container terminal takeover had its genesis initially from a Quality Awards Foundation conference that both GDM and I attended in Auckland, followed by a trip to the Toyota plant located in Thames. Accompanying GDM and I on this initial trip was the General Manager - Operations, Volker Lankenau. It was a real eye-opener for us, the entire plant was structured on just-in-time principles with each stage of car assembly totally dependent on the timely completion and handover from the previous stage. I recall being told that Thames Toyota’s car assembly required standardised procedures for in excess of 300 employees working on a cycle time of 30 minutes to produce 40 cars a day. Employee downtime due to unexpected delays at the preceding stage was virtually nil, and the entire assembly was an incredible display of clockwork production, with the concept of internal customers (the next team in the assembly line) being apparent everywhere. We asked about training and were introduced to what effectively was 10-minute training modules, there was clearly a difficulty in releasing employees for day-long training (or longer) and their solution was to provide fully equipped training facilities and specialised trainers who were utilised every day for the presentation of 10-minute training sessions to small groups of staff from different production teams. The training that we observed was extremely focused and manageable with sessions occurring throughout the working day and having minimal impact on the efficient running of the plant, with the just-in-time principles consistently maintained. After leaving Thames Toyota there were five “must dos” if we were serious about introducing “just-in-time” philosophies into the port. But before elaborating on those “must dos”, there were a couple of simple demonstrations of our commitment to the principles of Total Quality Management that we could quickly achieve. The first (as other quality-focused organisations, including Thames Toyota were doing) was the placing, within the main reception area, of a montage of photographs identifying the Company’s key personnel and their roles. Yes, that’s my photograph that was included within the montage, taken, I suspect around July 1995. The second was the employment of a full-time librarian and the setting up of a library with a focus on quality-related material and resources which would be available to any staff member. GDM assigned me with the responsibility for this new function at the same time that he tasked me with managing the administration team, another one of those “fix it” jobs that I seemed to attract. Back to the five “must dos”. i. The urgent re-negotiation of collective employment contracts. Well before we headed to Thames Toyota, GDM and I both knew that the re-negotiation of the CTL and Port Wellington CEC’s into one single document was one of the major must-do’s if the integration of CTL into the port company was to be successful. Observing the “just-in-time” principles as practiced at the Thames assembly plant simply reinforced that urgency. The signing of a new labour agreement within three months of acquiring CTL has been fully recorded earlier, and there is no doubt in my mind that this achievement was a significant contributor to the to the positive integration of the CTL workforce (which had been reduced by 25%) and the successful implementation of “just-in-time” work practices.
78 ii. Standard Operating Procedures covering key operational functions needed to be either developed, or where already in existence, reviewed to ensure they were not only current but more importantly reflected “just-in-time” outcomes. The two critical operational areas where ‘just-in-time’ processes were vitally important were Cargo Operations, and Marine Services. As referred to earlier, Roger Sullivan and Charles Smith had recently been appointed as Cargo Manager and Marine Services Manager respectively, and they both personally developed comprehensive procedures covering their individual areas of operation i.e. Roger produced the “Code of Practice for Cargo Operations”, and Charles produced a “Safe Ship Management” manual covering pilots, tugs and launches. I had already established a full set of Human Resources employment-related procedures, ranging from “Recruiting a New Employee” through to “Departing Employees”, and many others that dealt with daily employment life, such as “Performance Appraisal and Development Review”, “Induction”, “Study Leave”, and “Conference and Training Attendance”. iii. Introduce other staff, including union officials to “just-in-time” as practiced by Thames Toyota. Recognising the role that the unions represented at the port would play in the initiatives that we needed to implement, GDM and I agreed that groups of influential employees, including union officials should visit the Thames assembly plant and see first-hand how Thames Toyota had implemented “just-in-time” principles, and how those principles could be incorporated into the port’s operational activities. GDM tasked me with organizing and hosting these visits. It’s fair to say that the initial reaction from the unions was one of disbelief, statements like “what’s a car factory got to do with the running of a port company” reflected the general reaction from the union officials. But perhaps swayed by a couple of paid days away from work and a night in an Auckland hotel paid for by the Company, nobody turned the opportunity down for travelling to Thames. At the end of the site visit, opinions had changed, probably best illustrated by John Murfitt, President of the RMTU who stated along the lines that “the processes carried out in the Thames assembly plant are not that dissimilar to the processes that occur in the port e.g. cargo arrives by vessel at the harbour entrance, pilot is taken to the vessel by launch, pilot brings the vessel to waiting tugs, vessel is towed to the berth and moored by lines handlers, cargo exchange is commenced with cargo loaded / unloaded or transferred to sheds or trucks, cargo exchange completed, vessel unmoored and moved off the berth by tugs, pilot takes the vessel to the harbour entrance, launch returns pilot to shore. Every step of the port’s operational processes is dependent on the successful and timely completion of the preceding step, exactly what happens at Thames Toyota”. The visit to the Toyota assembly plant appeared to open John’s eyes, but once back in Wellington I personally don’t recall any further support or interest in our quality initiatives being shown by him. However, taking union officials and other influential employees to Thames Toyota to see for themselves was an inspired move and yet another example of GDM’s leadership talents. iv. Introduce middle managers to Total Quality Management (TQM). The acquisition of Container Terminals Ltd and the need to integrate several of their Foremen into the Company’s existing middle management structure provided the perfect opportunity to introduce middle managers from all departments to the concepts of TQM. Having been recently appointed as the Company’s Knowledge and Skill Training Coordinator earlier, one urgent task was to identify an appropriately experienced TQM trainer to present 2-day TQM programmes to a number of middle managers, including supervisory staff. Having met Sarah Lester some months earlier at the Workplace Australia conference and understanding her quality background, I invited Sarah to submit a proposal for the training via the Company she was contracted to at the time (Ken Hosking and Associates), along with several other New Zealand-based providers of TQM training. The deliverables specified in Sarah’s proposal were the best match against the Company’s required outcomes, the proposal was cost-effective, and with GDM’s approval, she was contracted to provide TQM training for two groups of middle managers in October and December 1995 (Sarah is pictured right on the Wellington waterfront as part of her port familiarisation). I included my two in-house trainers on the first of these programmes as they would be presenting
79 TQM training for other staff in the future. More about them in a moment. Sarah’s training was well presented with positive feedback received, and the first steps in applying TQM processes at the port company were under way. Sarah and I worked closely together on this project, we discovered that we had much in common, and four or so months later in March 1996 Sarah had moved to New Zealand and we were living together in Belmont, Lower Hutt. We married on 2 October 1999. I’ve never said it publicly before, but I will now. I was married when Sarah and I met, it was not a happy marriage (from my perspective at least), and if it hadn’t been for my three children I would have left that marriage some time before Sarah and I met. 30 years after getting together I now know what a genuinely happy marriage is. v. Develop training modules in support of just-in-time principles. Having been authorised to establish and manage a Training and Education Unit, one of my first steps was to internally appoint two trainers. Beth Simpson was the first to be appointed out of the Administration Department, and the second was Don McGrory, CTL’s skill-based trainer and one of two employees that I considered would be useful additions to the port company - the other was Christina Thom, CTL’s Payroll Clerk and she turned out to be an excellent employee, eventually transferring successfully into a Human Resources role. Beth and Don were both in place at the time of the Thames Toyota visits, and the three of us visited the Thames assembly plant to specifically examine their in-house training processes, their programmes and their facilities. Beth was enthusiastic, Don considerably less so, more about him shortly. Back at the port both trainers were tasked with developing a range of quality-related training programmes that were modulised to 10-15 minutes duration and capable of being presented at short notice. I well remember one of Beth’s early attempts, the module was prepared, the training room was booked, and arrangements were made for employees to attend. Unfortunately only three of the booked employees turned up, one of whom was GDM. He wasn’t having any of this, down the stairs he raced, and within 5 minutes he returned with 7 or 8 sheepish-looking employees in tow. That module was very successfully presented! The modulised training proved to be very successful and was an important tool when educating staff on another significant management programme - the International Safety Rating System which in its own right, was simply another quality system. Coming back to Don McGrory, and a confession from me that this was my one mistake coming out of due diligence of the CTL human resources policies, practices and procedures that I had been responsible for. Seeing a skills-based trainer in their ranks and with authority from GDM to establish a Training and Education Unit (T&EU), without digging deeply enough, it appeared logical to transfer that trainer (Don McGrory) over to the port company as a permanent member of the T&EU. A definite mistake, I would find out later that that Don had very little concept of documented training plans, preferring instead to go into a training session literally “off the hoof”. Requests to produce physical training documentation were met with “yes, no worries” or similar, but nothing was ever forthcoming. I would also discover that his nickname at CTL was “Don the Con”, a moniker given to him by employees who had experienced his training performances. He was passively resistant to any quality-related training, with a classic situation occurring during Sarah’s second TQM training programme when Don and Beth were each required to present one part of the TQM training. At my request, Sarah sat in on their presentations and subsequently advised me that Don’s introductory statements were along the lines of “I don’t know very much about total quality management and I don’t really support it, but I’m here to give it a go”. Definitely not words that you would expect a trainer to utter! There were clear performance issues around Don, but the problem was resolved by a restructuring of the T&EU, brought about by three other employees (Murray Sidaway, Warren Stoddart and Larry White) becoming accredited assessors with the Stevedoring Industry Training Organisation, all three of them holding the unit standards relating to practical training required by the Company. Don was not a registered assessor, nor did he hold any unit standards. His position was declared surplus and he left with a redundancy payment, fortunately only a few hundred dollars more than what he would have received had he been made redundant earlier and not transferred into the TEU. A couple of years later Don would apply to become a registered assessor but as a Board Member of the ITO and part of the panel that approved assessor applications, I had no hesitation in effectively blocking his application based on his previous performances at the port compan
80 SOMETIME DURING THE FIRST 6 MONTHS OF GDM’S TENURE he was approached by the Training and Security Manager who recommended that the company should formally adopt a health and safety management system called the International Safety Rating System (ISRS). ISRS had actually been introduced (but with no noticeable implementation activity) during Griff’s regime. Health and safety legislation at that time (the Health and Safety in Employment Act) required all employers to develop and maintain an effective health and safety management system. Given his oil and gas background, GDM required very little convincing and quickly agreed to the implementation of ISRS as not only would it provide the basis for a formal H&S system, it was also quality-oriented, auditable and could result in external certification being granted by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an internationally-recognised accreditation agency. While the responsibility for implementing ISRS was that of the Training and Security Manager (ultimately to be his undoing), I was completely unaware at that time that GDM’s approval of ISRS was one of the most significant construction milestones in my own personal career path. A little bit about ISRS. It required organisations to develop a health and safety management system against a total of 20 elements, with these elements identified below: 1. Leadership and administration 11. Personal protective equipment 2. Leadership training 12. Health and hygiene control 3. Planned inspections 13. System evaluation 4. Critical task analysis and procedures 14. Engineering and change mgt 5. Accident/incident investigation 15. Personal communications 6. Task observation 16. Group communications 7. Emergency preparedness 17. General promotion 8. Rules and work permits 18. Hiring and placement 9. Accident / incident analysis 19. Materials & services mgt 10. Knowledge and skill training 20. Off-the-job safety Under the ISRS auditing system, formal accreditation did not require successful achievement of all 20 elements - there was a “Progressive Scoring System” that required a minimum number of elements to be rated, with some elements being compulsory. For example, to achieve Level 6 (out of 10 levels), 10 of the 20 elements must be rated - 7 of which were compulsory, with percentage scores across the 10 elements averaging at least 40%. When an organisation considered that it had developed its H&S system to the point where it met the requirements of the various elements, a DNV audit was requested and an external auditor appointed to carry out the audit. So, the port company commenced its development of a health and safety management system that was intended to meet the requirements of ISRS. It wasn’t long before the management team was advised by the Training and Security Manager that an external audit should be arranged, and shortly afterwards we went into our first external audit. The outcome was a resounding failure as we did not achieve even a Level 1 accreditation - the absolute minimum level. From a personal perspective, the elements that I had a vested interest in e.g. hiring and placement, and knowledge and skill training were the highest performing elements. Not to worry, said the auditor, most companies don’t do that well at their first attempt, you’ll do better next time. Further development work occurred with direction from the Training and Security Manager, and within 6 months the management team was again advised that we were ready for an external audit. In comes the auditor again, and hey presto, we successfully achieved the same result - no accreditation. Now the questions are starting to be asked, but worse, suddenly within the company ISRS had become a 4-letter word. To remedy the two auditing failures, the Training and Security Manager devised a plan that involved “element champions”. This meant that one of the elements that I had previously been responsible for - “Hiring and Placement” was now allocated to the Management Accountant as the element champion. All other elements were redistributed to managers who mostly had little or
81 no experience in these elements, with the expectation that their lack of background and knowledge would somehow constitute an advantage - not. It’s fair to say that a certain 4-letter word was increasingly used as progress literally ground to a halt and frustration mounted, but we still went ahead with a 3rd audit - again on the recommendation of the Training and Security Manager. The result was inevitable, and suddenly we had achieved a 3rd failure. What needs to be highlighted at this point (rather negatively from a senior management perspective) was our unquestioning acceptance of the Training and Security Manager’s expertise and knowledge in all matters relating to health and safety, which included organisational compliance against health and safety legislation - with ISRS being an international protocol capable of supporting compliance via external audits. I vividly recall one senior management meeting when the General Manager - Operations asked the Training and Security Manager whether we had completed a process of critically analysing all hazards to ensure completion of our hazard identification programme. The response was “yes, all complete”. That senior management meeting accepted this confirmation on face value - we should not have done this, and it is a management lesson that I will never forget, but more on this shortly. I recall discussions with GDM following our 3rd audit failure, and agreement that the Training and Security Manager’s performance was well below par. We agreed that remedial action (performance management) was required with urgency, with eventual termination a distinct possibility, but before any steps could be taken, his resignation was received - talk about seeing the writing on the wall! There was an ironic twist associated with his resignation - his new employer was the Department of Labour (DOL), the agency then responsible for ensuring organisational compliance against the requirements of the Health and Safety in Employment Act. Strangely enough, his employment with DOL had no longevity! Whilst an immediate HR problem had been averted, the pressing issue of health and safety compliance against legislative requirements, unable to be supported by ISRS accreditation at an acceptably high level remained a serious exposure for the company. Immediately following acceptance of the Training and Security Manager’s resignation, GDM called me into his office. As was GDM’s way, the discussion was straight to the point, and I was appointed as the Company’s loss control coordinator, these responsibilities (which would be complementary to my existing responsibilities) including health and safety management and compliance. Another “fix-it” role. My appointment as loss control coordinator specifically stated that I was “responsible to ensure that the ISRS programme becomes fully implemented as soon as possible and is maintained to an acceptable level”. This appointment was formalised on 21 May 1996. I referred earlier to statements by the Training and Security Manager in a management meeting that the company’s hazard identification programme had been completed, with these statements accepted by the management team completely on face value. Shortly after my appointment as loss control coordinator I received a telephone call from the senior occupational health and safety inspector from DOL, who advised me that he had been made aware of my recent appointment and wanted to come to the port and meet me. I was pretty chuffed about this, he’d heard about me and my appointment, and was obviously looking to create a strong working relationship. A meeting was arranged, and a couple of days later I met him at the reception desk and happily escorted him up to my office. My joy was short-lived, it became rapidly apparent as to why the senior inspector was eyeballing me in my office - his prime reason was to advise me that the DOL had extreme concerns about the port’s total lack - yes, TOTAL LACK of hazard identification activity and that in their opinion, we were in fundamental non-compliance with the requirements of the Act. F#*K! Considering that we had been advised that our hazard identification programme had been completed, this revelation from the DOL was totally unexpected and immediately triggered a number of thunderous alarm bells throughout the organisation. But with the benefit of hindsight, we didn’t need DOL to tell us of this failing - there was actually very clear evidence in front of us that our hazard identification programme was not working. Our corporate performance against Element 4 of ISRS - Critical task analysis and procedures, as evidenced by 3 failed audits revealed negligible to zero progress against this element which had a primary purpose of “identifying all loss exposures (hazards) present while the task is being done”. The reality was that as formally reported via 3 external audits, no critical task analysis activity had been carried out, and yet as a management group we
82 inability to understand that ISRS was in fact a quality system in its’ own right and therefore capable of providing quantifiable and impartial evidence of organisational and individual performance and compliance. While the rather disturbing view of our hazard identification processes as expressed by DOL required some immediate attention, I was rapidly learning that there is generally a solution to any problem - providing you can identify the problem(s), recognise potential solution(s) including their various iterations, have the balls and determination to implement the preferred solutions, and have support for what you are trying to achieve. In my view, one of those factors is absolutely critical - the support of other people and their commitment to and belief in what you are trying to achieve. I was supported by a superbly committed Chief Executive, with GDM providing me with every organisational resource that I needed, including people as follows. With the concerns of DOL having been clearly stated, I immediately sought solutions from the ISRS requirements of Element 4 - Critical task analysis and procedures, which provided us with many clues as to how we could address hazard identification requirements. While there were lots of words to read and digest, it turned out to be a reasonably straight-forward process - and with external assistance from a gentleman named Jim (Jimmy to all of us who worked with him) Fordyce. Jimmy (captured on the right) was the owner of a Feilding-based company called Loss Control Management Systems Ltd, specializing in training and auditing against the requirements of ISRS and other DNV-related management systems. Jimmy had audited Port of Wellington in all 3 failed audits, and therefore knew a reasonable amount about our shortcomings. As I was now responsible for ISRS implementation, I recommended to GDM that we approach Jimmy and contract his services to assist us in properly implementing ISRS. A downstream effect of this approach would be that Jimmy could not carry out any further auditing of our ISRS performance. GDM agreed, and once approached, Jimmy confirmed that he would happily provide advice and guidance to myself and other managers, which definitely included the required identification and analysis of our critical tasks. In addition to Jimmy, GDM also provided me with direct access to his Executive Assistant, Clare Murphy to cover situations when he was not immediately available. Clare and I had enjoyed an excellent working relationship during our time together in the Executive Staff Unit, and regularly took time out - often over a glass of red or two at the completion of the working day, to contemplate what had been achieved and what future actions were required. One other appointment was vital. Now working with me in HR as a trainer was Claire Hinton who had shown a pretty good understanding of what ISRS was about. Claire, who had replaced Beth Simpson who had not returned from maternity leave, took on responsibility for system development of a number of the required elements, including drafting a big chunk of the necessary management manual. One of the bonuses of working with Claire was that our writing styles were remarkably similar, which, considering that we were both developing sections of the same management manual, meant that our individual outputs read like each other’s, thereby eliminating serious editing requirements. The photo of Claire and I on the left is taken from the July/August 2003 edition of Safeguard magazine where we were both interviewed in an article about life as OHS practitioners entitled “Steering safely to port”. Two other staff members were seconded into the ISRS team, namely Brian Williamson and Kevin Jackson. Both were tasked with remedying the gaping hole that had been identified i.e. lack of hazard identification and associated controls, through the urgent development of critical task analyses for all operational activities, using an ISRS template that we customized for use by ourselves and with the full involvement of the front-line staff who actually performed the work. We believed that the successful completion of this programme would satisfy our legal requirement for hazard identification, the shortcomings of which had been made abundantly clear by the senior DOL inspector. Brian was an interesting character. By far and away his major attribute was his in-depth knowledge of legislative and regulatory requirements, particularly relating to health and safety, which he put to great use when working with Kevin on critical task analyses. Unfortunately this quality was seriously hindered by Brian’s physical appearance - he was noticeably hunchbacked, he
83 tended to froth at the mouth when speaking to people (Claire Hinton often surreptitiously passed him a tissue during meetings), and he regularly appeared around the port with his shirt hanging out and the top of his underpants clearly visible above his trousers. While the majority of watersiders worked very well with Brian, there were others who preferred to mock his personal shortcomings and making his life as difficult as possible, also anointing him with the nickname of “Igor”. His dedication couldn’t be faulted, even though his commitment to work extended to phoning me with updates just about every evening - often coinciding with dinner either on, or about to hit the table! A quick reflection on Kevin Jackson (pictured right). Because of his previous involvement as union secretary, Kevin was well thought of and trusted by cargo handlers and other members of the RMTU. He also had a vast amount of knowledge gained over nearly 40 years (at that time) around the Wellington waterfront. That made him an ideal person for running the critical task interviews - people trusted him and he knew inherently whether the information being given to him was accurate or whether games were being played by the participating employees. One other bit of background probably drove Kevin to ensure the proper completion of critical task analyses - his father, William Jackson, who worked at Pipitea Wharf, was killed after lifting equipment dropped a log on him in 1944. Kevin’s hands-on experience coupled with Brian Williamson’s regulatory knowledge made them an ideal pairing for the critical task project. The one resource that GDM didn’t directly provide was my extraordinarily lovely and talented wife, Sarah who stood by me at all times and provided calm and collected advice and guidance whenever required. There was also one memorable occasion when Sarah literally picked up after me when my cool had disintegrated and I resorted to an extraordinarily flamboyant, but totally unnecessary arm-sweeping assault against an ever-growing stack of papers on my desk. The photos definitely tell the story! Sarah was to play an important part in our system development. ISRS element 7 was Emergency Preparedness, and I would discover that no coherent emergency plan existed, rather there were a number of ad hoc documents located in various locations that addressed some emergency responses, with the majority of these documents being out-of-date or in many instances, incomplete. We knew that a comprehensive emergency management plan (EMP) would be required as part of future audits, in fact, as a responsible employer we needed an effective EMP full stop. So, all ad hoc documents were gathered up and passed to Sarah whom I had contracted to develop the Company’s EMP. It was an unenviable task, as many documents that Sarah inherited were simply not fit for purpose, and once an initial scoping had been completed, it was very obvious that there were a number of emergency situations that the port could conceivably face that had never been addressed. The EMP took several months to complete with the final document set out in two parts i.e. Emergencies - General Information, and Emergency Procedures, with 25 situations identified, all with fully documented response procedures. These procedures included two that I have never seen in any other emergency plan i.e. “Responding to a Picket”, and “Obtaining an Interim Injunction or an Assurance to the Court”, both being port-specific but also relevant to other organisations that have been, or could be subjected to industrial action. The December 1997 ISRS audit found that the Company’s performance against the requirements of element 7 - Emergency Preparedness was “significant”. The EMP was an outstanding document that also stood the test of time. In 2017, some 14 years after my departure, a colleague from the Private Training Establishment that I was working with at the time was provided with an electronic copy of CentrePort’s EMP (as part of the Defence Force training that the PTE had inherited from the purchase of Start Training Ltd). He forwarded me a copy, and it was satisfying to see that the EMP was almost identical to the one developed by Sarah, with evidence that it had even been reviewed and updated on several occasions.
84 One of the great lessons from my working career that will always remain with me is that if you are supported by and surrounded by focused, competent, dedicated, and positive people who have industry credibility, you will almost certainly find yourself in an excellent position to achieve success. While this was definitely not the case many years later when working in HR / Quality / H&S roles with a Waikato-based New Zealand educational organisation, it certainly applied during my time with ISRS at Port Wellington. However, it all starts from the top - GDM could not have provided me with any more support than he did. Nothing that I asked for was refused (all reasonable requests of course), and his commitment to the processes that I put in front of him was absolute, so much so that I have no doubt that the high levels of health and safety compliance achieved during GDM’s time (and during his immediate successor’s time) can be attributed directly to GDM’s foresight and dedication to the role to which he had been appointed. I have subsequently read of GDM being referred to internationally as the “port doctor” - an extraordinarily accurate description, he has an excellent track record of fixing ailing ports like nobody else can. As part of the ISRS implementation, a decision was made that Port of Wellington would be well served by having in-house auditors against not only the ISRS audit protocol but also the protocol supporting the International Environmental Rating System (IERS) which the Company was also in the process of adopting. While DNV would continue to provide external auditing services - remembering that the Company had yet to achieve a successful audit against ISRS, it was considered that internal auditors would provide an additional level of in-house expertise as we sought that elusive first positive audit result. So Claire Hinton and I both attended DNV auditor training programmes, with both of us successfully completing the programmes and both becoming in- house auditors of ISRS and IERS - subject to completing training audits under DNV scrutiny. For the record, I went on to complete the ISRS training audit, with Claire subsequently completing an IERS training audit. The additional knowledge that both of us attained would be a critical component of our future audit successes at the port, and again with the benefit of hindsight, would serve me extremely well in my consulting life post the Port Company. With GDM’s high commitment to health and safety, one of his key initiatives was the forming of a Safety, Quality and Environment (SQE) Committee, which comprised the Chairman of the Board, one other Director, GDM, myself and the manager with general environmental responsibilities. This committee met quarterly, and it was my task to produce quarterly reports which summarised activities that included progress against goals and objectives which included the Quality Strategic Plan, compliance against health and safety and environmental legislation, and implementation of new systems and procedures. The creation of this Committee of the Board was a clear signal to all managers that their health and safety performance was under the spotlight from the very top of the organisation, and I have no doubt at all that the Committee’s presence, albeit a remote presence for the most part, was another tool that was instrumental in the eventual achievement of a successful ISRS audit. When the quarterly reports to the SQE Committee started to report significant ISRS progress, it wasn’t a surprise when the Committee requested a cost-benefit analysis. An approach to DNV for assistance revealed that no organisation had yet devised a method for determining the cost- benefit of implementing ISRS. The request from the Committee clearly wasn’t going to go away, so there was no alternative but for me to develop our own cost-benefit model. So, relevant factors were identified and costed, a formula devised (# full-time equivalents x # years x loss "savings" per employee ($) x variable factor less cost of programme = NET VALUE), the calculation of which revealed a net value to the Company over selected periods. The cost-benefit analysis as illustrated in the above graph is actually a 2003 analysis over the preceding 8 years and shows a net value over that period of $5,019,969. The SQE Committee were satisfied, as was the full Board once they were informed.
85 The graph makes reference to CL MB, an acronym which only came into being during Ken Harris’s time. Its development and intended use will therefore be described in the next chapter. In the late 1990’s, the Company’s Design Engineer, Dick Carter attended an engineering conference in Melbourne, after which he reported back that DNV were present at the conference and had made a presentation that included Port of Wellington’s ISRS cost-benefit analysis, complete with the graphical representation that had been developed. I don’t recall DNV ever requesting permission to use the data, but nevertheless its presentation to an international conference was reasonably high kudos for the work that we had been doing. Knowing that the physical presentation of the port would be scrutinised under a future audit, members of the Safety, Quality and Environmental Committee (SHE) would carry out unannounced work area inspections following its monthly meeting. SHE was an internal committee of the Board that literally oversaw safety, quality and environmental issues. Each work area that the committee visited required the manager of that area to be present so that not only he/she knew first-hand of any identified issues but was also present to personally receive any accolades resulting from the inspections. These monthly visits were an important tool in identifying issues that had the potential for loss, as well as enhancing managers and employees’ understanding of how a professionally presented and safe workplace contributed strongly towards loss prevention in all three areas of safety, environmental, and quality. Importantly, one of the ISRS elements that was included in our level 4 rating was Critical Task Analysis and Procedures, the element that demonstrates how an organisation would, in conjunction with its staff, carry out a step-by-step process of identifying workplace hazards and the controls necessary to manage those hazards, with documented procedures in place and operating. This was an important achievement given the concerns expressed by the DOL’s senior health and safety inspector just over a year previous about the Company’s “total lack of hazard identification activity” - to remedy that serious deficiency in such a short time frame was nothing less than outstanding and is a total credit to the ground work carried out by Brian Williamson and Kevin Jackson. The 1997 ISRS audit was the only successful audit carried out during GDM’s tenure. Several other audits would occur in future years and these will be described in the next chapter entitled 50 Shades of Exasperation. So was it all worth it? For a while it didn’t seem that it would be, particularly whenever too much time was spent analysing and dissecting the three failed audits that I’ve referred to earlier. But those failures were more than offset by the challenges and rewards that the development and implementation of a loss control programme offered, not to mention the personal growth that it provided me as I led a team of highly competent people who wanted nothing more than the achievement of an accredited loss control programme. The cover of the Port Wellington health, safety and loss control manual is on the right. The accreditation of Port Wellington’s health and safety management system against international standards would have one other direct benefit, and that was gaining the highest level of accreditation against a national audit tool, i.e. the Workplace Safety Management Practices (WSMP) audit standards, with auditing carried out by independent Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) approved auditors. WSMP audit standards were designed solely to enable ACC to determine an organisation’s eligibility to receive a levy discount under the WSMP programme. This would be a future benefit occurring during Ken Harris’s tenure and will therefore be described more fully in the next chapter. So while it is now extremely satisfying to look back at the development, implementation and maintenance of a successful ISRS programme for Port Wellington, it definitely wasn’t apparent at that time just how much impact ISRS would continue to have for me in the future, particularly when I had left the port and ventured into the world of health and safety and quality consulting, and auditing. The covers of the following manuals provide a bit of a clue i.e. Cross City Motorway (2006-07), South Freight (2008), and Port Otago (2008-10), all manuals being developed by Sarah and I to meet ISRS requirements, with auditing against system compliance being a requirement of Port Otago only. The development of all three systems will be explored under the chapter entitled Start Training Ltd.
86 Contemplating the successful implementation and maintenance of ISRS wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the input of the Company’s Engineering Manager, Alex McLachlan (pictured right). Alex managed an operating group of tradesmen in electrical, mechanical, repairs and maintenance on straddles, container cranes, forklifts, vehicles and floating plant, and the two major workshops associated with those functions. Pre-ISRS the physical state of workshops left a lot to be desired with tools left on benches or untidily left on floors or against walls, walkways blocked, metal shavings left where they fell, rubbish bins overflowing, oil spills not cleaned up, safety signage obscured and notice boards demonstrably out of date. The less than desirable state of the workshops had been identified during the unannounced work area inspections carried out by SHE members (as described earlier). Alex was astute enough to realise that not remedying this issue would have an adverse effect on future audit results, and he determined that the most effective means of bringing the physical state of the workshops up to the required standard would be best achieved through the direct involvement of his staff. So Alex arranged for all of his people to attend appropriate ISRS training (specifically including physical conditions), and once trained, staff were rotated through monthly cycles to evaluate and report on the physical state of both workshops. The end result didn’t produce pristine facilities, they were after all typical workshop areas, but subsequent inspections revealed that safety hazards had been eliminated, there were designated areas for tools and unless being used, those tools were in their place, all signage was in place and able to be seen, and notice boards provided current and relevant information. Future ISRS audits commented positively on the physical state of both workshops and was directly attributable to Alex’s determination to remedy the shortcomings. While remembering Alex, it’s timely to mention his daughter, Lisa who for a period of time worked as a casual receptionist for the Company. Sadly Lisa was fatally injured in a car accident just south of Levin, a shock that Alex never recovered from. I can’t remember with certainty whether Lisa was actually on her way to, or heading home from the port, but I suspect that she may well have been. DURING HIS TIME AT PORT WELLINGTON I HAVE TWO ABIDING MEMORIES of how GDM demonstrated, in very black and white terms, his absolute commitment to health and safety generally and to ISRS specifically, and this story would definitely not be complete without both of them. • A senior management meeting around mid-afternoon on a Friday (the normal meeting time) and GDM was listening to individual managers try to describe their progress towards ISRS-related objectives. Progress as suggested by managers was stuttering at best if not completely stalled, and from my safe distance it is fair to say that GDM was clearly less than impressed with what he was hearing. To his credit, GDM heard them all out, sat back, panned the room, shook his head, then calmly, but rather emphatically advised the collective group that “You are all responsible for the health and safety of your people - I am not going to go to jail for you because of your inactivity regarding health and safety in this company. Fix it”. Interestingly this message never needed to be repeated at subsequent management meetings!!! • “Lady and gentlemen, the port is a pigsty”. You might well ask why this statement, taken directly from an email from GDM, refers to “gentlemen” but only one “lady”. There is a simple answer - GDM’s Executive Assistant, Clare Murphy was at that time the only female working in the team who had direct management responsibility for ISRS implementation. After its attention-grabbing opening statement, GDM’s email went on to demand each email recipient to report at 9.00 a.m. the
87 following morning at the entrance to the port, and to be available for a complete walk-through of the port and its facilities. Strangely enough, all email recipients turned up on time the following day! We must have looked like the children of Hamelin following the Pied Piper - there were probably 30 of us who trailed after GDM as he pointed out issue after issue that he had identified during his regular port inspections. The disappointment for GDM was that his managers were either not seeing these issues for themselves, or if they were, then appropriate remedial actions were not being implemented. We were left in no doubt at all that future failures to identify and remedy health and safety, and general housekeeping defects would not be tolerated, and I reckon everyone took this as a not so gentle reminder of the FIFO policy! This walk around the port was also the catalyst for the unannounced worksite visits by the SHE Committee as described earlier. Probably not surprisingly, Physical Conditions inspections as subsequently evaluated as part of ISRS audits demonstrated a significant improvement in the condition of facilities and the general appearance of the port. ANOTHER OF GDM’S INITIATIVES WAS THE INTRODUCTION of port open days when Wellingtonians could head to the port and see and experience a range of activities that those of us who worked there on a daily basis probably took very much for granted. These open days were planned for non-shipping days, and staff were asked to volunteer their services to show the public how the port and its equipment and facilities operated. Marine and cargo handling staff demonstrated their specialist equipment, while other staff acted as guides or manned the barbecues that were set up in various locations. Tens of thousands of Wellingtonians passed through the wharf gates, and the day was an outstanding success, aided significantly by beautifully fine weather. Wellington would host another port open day during GDM’s tenure, with these open days continuing into the future. Trips around the harbour on one of the tugs were always popular Being hoisted aloft in one of the personnel carriers provided a totally different experience VOLKER LANKENAU AND HANS WETENDORF, THE GERMAN MANAGERS enticed out of Ports of Auckland both left Port Wellington during the second half of 1996. During a handover meeting in GDM’s office, Volker advised that one of his tasks had been representing the Company at meetings of the Stevedoring and Ports Association of New Zealand (S&PNZ) , and that a replacement representative would be necessary. Volker went on to say that much of the Association’s discussions were currently focused on industry training and accordingly I would be the logical replacement. In his usual manner, GDM immediately agreed, and in early 1997 I was on my way to my first S&PNZ general meeting, hosted by Port of Napier. Although my involvement with the Association continued for several years after my eventual departure from CentrePort, it’s appropriate to relate my S&PNZ experiences here as they commenced under GDM’s watch. It’s also timely to describe the structure and events of my first meeting in Napier as future meetings all followed an identical format. The delegates mostly arrived early Thursday morning in time for the formal meeting, starting around 9.00am and concluding just after 3.00pm. Because of the geographical location of some ports e.g. Whangarei or Bluff, arrivals on the Wednesday evening was sometimes necessary. One of the interesting meeting agenda items was the “port round-ups” when each port and
88 stevedoring company present would give a summary of operational initiatives / challenges that were going on in their companies. If this was intended to be an information sharing exercise then it failed rather badly - the companies sitting around the table were in competition with each other and the information passed across the table was totally bland with minimal detail provided. After several meetings it became almost humorous to listen to the non-information that was being provided, with some delegates being extraordinarily good at speaking while saying nothing. The Thursday evening was always a highlight of the S&PNZ meetings, a dinner arranged by the host company for all delegates and any partners that were there, with the 1997 Napier dinner being held at the Mission Vineyard in Taradale. Friday morning saw the departure of delegates, although on a couple of occasions the host port arranged an additional social function which were pretty memorable events. However, the Friday function arranged by CentrePort Ltd in 2003 was probably the best of the lot, but more about this shortly. I met some wonderful people at the Napier meeting such as Ron McPherson, Neil Calvert, Ray Welsom and Stephen Poole (all from Leonard and Dingley Ltd), Peter Sims (New Zealand Stevedores), Bob Aitken (Auckland Stevedores), Hans Axt (Independent Stevedores), Bruce Trainor (Port Otago), Stuart Hughes (Port of Nelson), Chris Shand (Tasman Bay Stevedoring), Keith Handley (Ports of Auckland), Robin Aitken (Port Taranaki), Grant Whitfield and Lynn Harrison (Port of Napier), Keith Michel (Prime Port Timaru), and Grant McVie and Terry James (Port of Tauranga). Many of these folk would continue to be involved with S&PNZ over the next few years, and contacts made with them and future delegates became valuable when Sarah and I operated Start Training Ltd in a full-time capacity from November 2003. A special mention to Ron McPherson who, after leaving Leonard and Dingley reinvented himself as a stevedoring and crane trainer and became an important member of Start Training’s contracted training group. I would go on to attend 16 or 17 S&PNZ general meetings and AGM’s, visiting all port companies except for Port of Lyttelton Ltd who for some reason never hosted an S&PNZ meeting during the time that I was involved. Because of my training and development responsibilities at Port Wellington, at my second S&PNZ meeting I was appointed to the Management Board of the Stevedoring Industry Training Organisation (SITO), one of the many ITO’s that had been created to manage industry training throughout New Zealand. A confession is necessary here - at that time I had no knowledge about industry training organisations, nor the bureaucratic structure within which they operated i.e. governance by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), and funding streams via the Tertiary Education Commission. I was to learn very quickly as it was apparent that not only did other SITO Board Members have little, if any working knowledge about, or experience with the ITO world, but more alarmingly, the ports and stevedoring qualifications that had been created were simply not fit for purpose and ports and stevedoring employers were showing absolutely no interest in taking them up. After a couple of SITO meetings, I was appointed Chairman with my primary task being to merge SITO into a bigger and better performing ITO, as required by NZQA. This led directly to my involvement with the New Zealand Road Transport and Logistics ITO (NZRT&LITO) , later rebranded in 2007 as the Tranzqual ITO, but more about that later. Because of my role with SITO, I was also elected to the Executive of S&PNZ and responsible for the training sub-committee, a role which I held for several years and which required a reasonable amount of travel, mostly half-day meetings held in an Auckland Airport meeting room. My involvement with S&PNZ was both enjoyable and personally productive, but when I look back at those days I have to say that both the annual and general meetings, which always required a couple of days away from work, were not much more than very well organised junkets. Yes, it was great to meet people from within the industry and the social events were most enjoyable. Unfortunately I still hold the view that the organisational benefits for member companies were few and far between, information sharing did not really exist and when attempted, information was either not provided or was presented in a format that wasn’t fit for the intended purpose. But I certainly enjoyed my involvement, with some of the social highlights as follows: • As mentioned earlier the 1997 general meeting in Napier is memorable for the dinner at the Mission Vineyard. In 1998 a general meeting was hosted by Port of Nelson with a dinner at a shoreside restaurant where the guest speaker was one of the port’s Tally Handlers, a guy called Jock Edwards, a former New Zealand cricketer. Jock was actually 3rd choic
89 • A general meeting in 2000 saw us in Tauranga where a Friday luncheon was arranged at a venue with a golf driving range attached and available for our exclusive use. The 2002 annual general meeting was hosted by Southport in Bluff, and certainly memorable not only for morning tea where we were provided with huge platters of fresh Bluff oysters, but also the organised tour of the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter. An annual general meeting in 2008 hosted by Port Otago (Start Training Ltd was an associate member of S&PNZ at that time) had Dick Tayler, the 1976 Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres winner as guest speaker at the Thursday night dinner, following which several of us continued on to the Dunedin Casino. The photo to the right was taken about 2.00am at the Casino with (from left to right) yours truly, Dick Tayler, Ron Horner (standing), John Scott, Matt Ballard and Bruce Trainor. A great night. • With some modesty and although it happened in Ken Harris’s time, I’ll now highlight the 2003 annual general meeting that was held in Wellington. This event took place not that long before I exited the port, and while nothing had yet been discussed about my departure it was certainly in the forefront of mine and Sarah’s minds. So probably not surprisingly I decided that the one S&PNZ meeting that I was organising should be well and truly memorable - for both Sarah and I. Not much I could do about the meeting itself, but dinner was arranged at Te Papa, Wellington’s internationally recognised museum with Michael Quigg, one of New Zealand’s most eminent industrial lawyers and possessing a wickedly dry of humour, as guest speaker. Delegates had been encouraged to arrange later flights on the Friday as we were booked for lunch and entertainment at Boom Rock, situated on the top of cliffs overlooking the southern coastline. Only two ways to get to Boom Rock, helicopter or bus - sadly I had to settle for the bus option. The weather played its part, a beautifully sunny and calm day which allowed us outside to enjoy archery, clay bird target shooting, and cliffside golf, before heading indoors to enjoy a rather sumptuous meal. The following two photos, while not taken on the day, certainly illustrate Boom Rock’s location and the challenges provided by the cliffside’s extreme golf holes. I can confess now that the cost of entertaining S&PNZ delegates at Boom Rock was just over $5,000, and as there were only about 25 of us there, the cost per head was around $200. My HR budget took a bit of a hit, but no questions were asked. And yes, feedback from several of the delegates attending Boom Rock confirmed that it had been the most enjoyable function associated with S&PNZ meetings. Speaking of budgets, my personal account took a bit of an unexpected hit as I couldn’t resist purchasing my own memento of a brilliant afternoon i.e. one of Boom Rock’s leather caps which was a tad more expensive than I was expecting. Actually, I bought two, one for Sarah and one for
90 me. Possibly the sunshine, amazing food, quality wine and excellent company influenced my purchasing decision! One of the Boom Rock caps resides permanently in my office. Looking back, there was only one real disappointment from my time with S&PNZ. In 2004 as the Association was approaching its 50th year, discussions in several Executive meetings revolved around the recording of the Association’s history, particularly the major challenges that the Association faced, the people involved with the Association and their organisations. Eventually in early 2007 a decision was made for a history project to be undertaken, with a suitable person to be identified to research and write the Association’s history. As I had left CentrePort by this time, I put my name forward for consideration as the researcher / writer, received significant support from several Association members, and was advised by the Secretary that my proposal had been positively received and I would be invited to submit a Request for Proposal (RFP). Finally in July 2009 association members were advised that an external historian had been selected. There had been no discussions with me leading up to this, I was never invited to submit an RFP, and I was to find out later that the historian selected was a close acquaintance of the Association’s Secretary. Whilst disappointed at not being even considered to write the Association’s history, it was considerably more disappointing to eventually receive a copy of the final publication and to discover that it was not a history of the Association, its people and supporting organisations, rather it was simply a history of New Zealand ports, not at all what had been discussed and agreed by firstly the S&PNZ Executive and then by the wider membership. Key S&PNZ people had not been interviewed and there were a number of instances where interviews were recorded with individuals who had never been involved with the Association. My disappointment was shared by others, notably Stephen Poole, with Stephen being a huge supporter of S&PNZ over many, many years not only as an individual but also through the on-going contributions of his family company, Leonard and Dingley. I confess that my overall disappointment as expressed above meant that my complimentary copy of the book was unceremoniously dispatched to the local landfill. MY INVOLVEMENT WITH THE STEVEDORING ITO was short-lived as NZQA had decided that the New Zealand Road Transport and Logistics ITO (NZRT&LITO) would be the organisation that SITO would be merged into. Graeme Talbot was the NZRT&LITO General Manager and had lead responsibility for the merging of the two organisations. I first met Graeme at a S&PNZ annual general meeting in Timaru which Graeme attended and explained to the gathered delegates how the merger would occur, and how his organisation would encourage industry take-up of the 5 stevedoring and ports qualifications i.e. cargo handling, cargo operations, tug operations, launch operations, and pilot operations. He and I would both quickly realise that all 5 qualifications were simply not fit for purpose and required a major review if there was to be any prospect of genuine industry buy-in. The merger required ports and stevedoring representation on the NZRT&LITO Management Board, and because of my chairmanship of SITO, I was appointed by S&PNZ onto the NZRT&LITO Board where I served for several years. Coincidentally NZRT&LITO was Wellington-based, so for my first Board meeting I walked from the port over to Boulcott Street and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Board Member representing the Taxi Federation was Tim Reddish, a classmate at Rongotai College and a teammate at Oriental-Rongotai Rugby Club. The photo above is of the 2005 NZRT&LITO Board with Graeme Talbot standing front centre, slightly behind the Chairman, Peter Sheppard. Tim Reddish was absent for this photo. DURING MY NINE YEARS BEING RESPONSIBLE for the company’s industrial relations programmes, there were several occasions when our position was challenged by the union involved, two of which were personal grievances, both based on the selection of employees in redundancy situations. The first occurred during GDM’s time and related to a decision made by the Inter-Island Line who decided that they no longer wanted port company employees (classified as Boatmen) to carry out lines handling for the interisland ferries, this work being taken over by their staff. The effect of this decision was that the dedicated positions of Boatmen were no required by the port company, but nine new positions as Deckhands for the pilot launch were created, a
91 redundancy situation was declared with no objection raised by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union - the Boatmen were members of that union. Several Boatmen stepped forward for voluntary redundancy, resulting in one position being surplus to future requirements. A formal redundancy process was commenced which included the selection of Deckhands for the new positions against skills, knowledge and experience criteria. One Boatmen, Geoff Longwith didn’t apply for a position as Deckhand, and consequently he was selected as the redundant employee, with all remaining Boatmen being appointed as Deckhands. A personal grievance contesting the redundancy of Mr Longwith was received from the RMTU, and the matter was heard in the Employment Tribunal. To the company’s complete surprise, the Judge found in favour of Mr Longwith and ordered that he be reinstated into his original position. This presented a problem because all positions of Boatmen had totally disappeared and there was literally no fulltime role for him to be reinstated to. The Company decided to appeal the decision, but in the meantime there was the issue of what to do with Mr Longwith who was still employed by the Company and therefore on full Boatman’s salary. I’m not sure whose idea it was - I suspect it was GDM’s, but the only task available for allocation to Mr Longwith was the cleaning and repainting of the bollards along Aotea Quay which were well overdue for repair and redecoration. This job took the best part of nine months which coincided pretty much with the appeal hearing in the Employment Court. The decision this time was in our favour, the selection of Mr Longwith for redundancy was upheld, and costs were awarded against the union. As part of Board reporting, I calculated the cost to the Company of maintaining Mr Longwith in employment following the initial decision of the Employment Tribunal to be slightly in excess of $80,000. This calculation considered salary, superannuation subsidy, accrued holiday leave, legal fees, and management time. Some of this cost would have been recouped from costs awarded against the union, but nevertheless a very expensive exercise to be proven right! Two major factors stand out for me from this case. • Firstly, at the Employment Court hearing Mr Longwith was represented by Ross Wilson, who at the time was not only the President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, but also a director of Port of Wellington. I remain perplexed as to how he could have justified his representation of Mr Longwith against a company that he was a director of, there is no way that it would not have constituted a serious conflict of interest. Mr Wilson was also a qualified lawyer, and I recall being concerned as to how I would cope with his cross-examination. Even though I was in the witness box for close on a day I had nothing to be concerned about, Mr Wilson was not well prepared, his knowledge of the circumstances of the redundancy situation was considerably less than complete and in my opinion his representation of Mr Longwith’s position was sub-standard. • The second factor came to light several years later when the RMTU Secretary at that time, Eddie Dickson left the RMTU to take up an overseas union posting. At an informal farewell function for Eddie put on by the Company, he confided to me that the RMTU had not wanted to raise a personal grievance for Mr Longwith but Geoff had insisted as “it was his right as a union member”. Given that costs were awarded against the union, Mr Longwith’s “right” turned out to be somewhat expensive. It’s worth noting that Eddie Dickson was the only union official to be recognized with such a farewell function, which highlights the respect that we had for the way he approached his industrial responsibilities. The second personal grievance that I referred to earlier also related to the same group, by then classified as Deckhands, and I’ll relate those circumstances under Ken Harris’s chapter as it occurred during his tenure as Managing Director. THE COMPETITIVE JUICES OF A FEW OF US were aroused in early 1997 when it was suggested that we again enter a team into the annual dragon boat festival in Wellington, this time competing in the “social corporate” event. So we hunted down some eager paddlers, including 4 or 5 survivors from the races back in the late 80’s, early 90’s. This time around I’m promoted to the front seat portside - one of the two strokes alongside Robyn Ramsay. We won our first race rather easily (as in the photo opposite with no other crew in sight), but ¾’s of the way down the course my shoulder seized up and I spent the rest of the race bent forward with my paddle out of the water – as the photo shows.
92 Unfortunately the shoulder issue meant that I couldn’t paddle in the final (there were only heats and a final in the “social corporate” event due to the minimal number of entries), so my dragon boat racing days had come to an end. For the record, Port Wellington easily won the final and at last we had a dragon boat championship to celebrate, not quite the big one we wanted a few years back, but a victory nevertheless. The photo to the left shows me after the first race with no obvious sign of the shoulder injury. The guy behind me is the late Chris Kenny who at that time was a cargo handler and a senior union official with the Waterfront Workers Union. It’s interesting that Chris actually managed to paddle in the dragon boat given that he had a longstanding back injury that had him on ACC for several years, with all offers of alternative light duties to assist in his rehabilitation being rejected due to the stress the work would place on his back. But dragon boating wasn’t a problem, and he continued to train boxers at a local Porirua gym. GRAHAM MULLIGAN’S THREE AND A HALF YEARS at the port saw a multitude of changes. A total re-structuring of the management team, the acquisition of CTL, major changes to collective employment contracts and huge labour flexibility arrangements implemented, the development and successful auditing of an internationally recognised health and safety system, and opening the port to the general public have all been highlighted over the preceding pages. But they weren’t the sum total of successes achieved during GDM’s time. In the full 12-month period following the acquisition of CTL, there was a full implementation of a new container system within the terminal i.e. the SPARC’s operating system and Express database, and a major pulp export handling contract for Winstone Pulp was won with a specifically designed 4,000 sq m warehouse built at Aotea Quay and adorned with customer- related murals (as pictured to the right). Total revenue and total tonnage throughput both increased over the next couple of years, log exports through the port continued to increase, and fast ferries - operating between Wellington and Picton and in direct competition with NZ Rail became a common sight during GDM’s time. I also asked GDM for his thoughts about what had been achievements / milestones over the 3 ½ years that I might have missed. He recalled the following: We started stevedoring for the first time, by doing the JNL timber packs. The Winstones work added another 66 ship calls per year, and had the first direct SE Asia service which attracted much cargo from the region (Nelson, Marlborough). Negotiated with WCC, Tranz Rail for space to build the new stadium. Had the QEII visit for the first time. Changed the cruise terminal from the Overseas Passenger Terminal to Aotea Quay. Installed new navigation light on Cobham Drive to enable the oil tankers to navigate Evans Bay to Burnham wharf at night time. Established computer technical support for all three JNL mills, as a service to a major customer. Replaced the Clark straddles for second hand Pienar straddles from Hong Kong. Threatened to arrest the Cook Strait ferries, and Pacifica Shipping because of non-payment of harbour dues - they paid up. Support for upgrade of the Rimutaka Hill Road. Many negotiations with Tranz Rail for new ferry terminal at Kings Wharf, but didn’t eventuate. Had the Seamen’s Union and Dave Morgan arrested for their picket line on the America Star which was breaking the Trans Tasman Accord. Clarified the legal responsibilities of the Harbour Master versus the port company. Had remote controlled rail locomotives in the port for the first time. Broken down new pilot boat, had to borrow the Rawhinia from Port Taranaki, which was an embarrassment. Did the joint venture with the WLG Coastguard for the Spirit of Wellington - being also the back-up Pilot boat. I certainly recall being on the wharf when Dave Morgan was arrested, and also the Court case that followed in Auckland as I was called as a witness, with the judgement going in our favour. I know that Dave Morgan well remembered his arrest - several years
93 later I sat next to him on a train from the Wairarapa into Wellington, and we reminisced about his arrest and the subsequent court case, very amicably I should add. I also remember the port company’s entry into stevedoring, particularly one night when the then Port Services Manager (Paul Wright) and I confronted a large group of Waterfront Workers Union members who were intent on picketing the vessel that port company employees were stevedoring. There must have been 50 or so watersiders wanting to get to the vessel, and only the two of us from prevented them. That is, until I looked behind me and was pretty amazed to see 20 or so members of the Team Policing Unit, complete with dogs standing as back-up for us. To this day I have no idea who called the Team Policing Unit, but I remember that their commander expressed real delight in being able to put his team into a real-life situation. John Whiting was leading the watersiders and took photos of Paul and I with the Team Policing Unit behind us - I have seen one of the photos, but sadly was never able to procure a copy for myself. Once we had ordered the watersiders off the wharf, they advised us that they would picket outside the wharf gates, and that the picket would be “in flesh or cardboard”. What they meant was that as it was nearing midnight, they were all going home to sleep but their cardboard placards would be left at the wharf gates, thereby constituting a picket line. Really? A last thought about the photo with the Team Policing Unit behind us, I did ask John Whiting for a copy but suspect that the main reason for never giving me a copy was that Paul Wright returned to Port Otago after being made redundant (as described earlier) where he became a fully paid-up member of the Waterfront Workers Union. All of these successes (and probably others that have been overlooked or forgotten about) required an energetic, focused and determined Chief Executive, and GDM had energy, focus and determination in bucket loads. His management style was very black and white, there was very little grey about GDM (unlike his successor, but more about that shortly), you knew exactly where you stood with him. This didn’t sit comfortably with all employees, particularly some managers who never understood that GDM only required two things - loyalty and honesty. Those managers who failed to recognise these two rather fundamental requirements (remember the Training and Security Manager?) either had no longevity of employment, or in couple of instances where their specific knowledge and experience remained useful, were faced with their career progressions stalling and grinding to a halt. So it was that GDM was viewed by some as having little empathy with people, a view that I totally disagreed with at the time and still do, working closely enough with GDM to see that his outwardly tough and focused management style was matched by an innate sense of fairness and understanding where people issues were concerned. Six examples jump immediately to mind: • Earlier under Frank Baldwin’s time I referred to the introduction of a Death and Total Disability Insurance policy that was implemented as a staff benefit, and one of the Harbour Pilots who would retire during GDM’s tenure due to a permanent disability. That Pilot was Ian Webb, and he was diagnosed with a serious spinal problem that would cripple him if he was to suffer even a minor injury to the affected area. As a Harbour Pilot and expected to board vessels from the pilot launch in all weathers and in high seas, the risk to Ian’s health of continuing his employment was far too great, and a decision was reached with Ian that he would retire medically unfit. Part of his departure would be a payment under the Company’s death and disability insurance cover, and accordingly I made application to Colonial Mutual for that payment, supported by full medical evidence. Surprisingly they declined the application, stating that while Ian was unable to carry out piloting duties in the future, he would be able to perform other roles for which he was trained. I advised GDM of Colonial Mutual’s response, and also advised him that Ian’s training, which was very specialised, did not match any other role in the Company. GDM agreed with me, he expressed his determination to have Ian depart with the most favourable financial outcome possible and immediately instructed Stephen Kos (who had assisted us during the CTL takeover) to present Colonial Mutual with a strongly worded letter, including the threat of legal action if they continued to deny our application. That letter was sent and within three days we had received a reply from Colonial Mutual authorising a full permanent disability payment for Ian. • Jack Greening was one of the Company’s Port Security Officers and as such was part of the team that vetted entry into and departures from the port. On this particular occasion Jack stopped a person that he didn’t recognise and asked what his busin
94 of the situation and that his manager was banned from re-entering the port until such time that he apologized personally to Jack Greening. That apology was made. • For several months during GDM’s time, fast ferries plied the waters between Wellington and Picton. NZ Rail introduced the Condor, and around the same time the Albayzan appeared, owned by Brook McKenzie. Operationally the Albayzan had a problem as none of its Masters held pilotage exemptions for either Wellington or PIcton (NZ Rail had no such issues for the Condor). Accordingly, for the Albayzan to operate, Pilots from Port Wellington had to be contracted. On one voyage Paul Drake was the contracted Pilot, and nearing Picton he slowed down to allow the Condor to pass and proceed ahead of Albayzan to the berth. Brook McKenzie was on board and seeing Condor passing his vessel, headed up to the bridge where he verbally abused Paul Drake. On hearing about this, GDM called Brook McKenzie into his office and advised him that until an apology was given personally to Paul Drake, the Company was withdrawing all pilotage services for the Albayzan. That apology was also made. • Dave Barton was a Foreman who decided that he would resign from the RMTU and sign an individual employment agreement with the Company. This didn’t sit well with that Union, and subsequently Dave was abused by union officials and threatened with personal injury. GDM was having none of this, Dave’s decision was quite legal and he was fully entitled to work under an individual employment agreement. John Murfitt was called into GDM’s office and advised in no uncertain terms that all harassment of Dave was to cease immediately, and if it did not or should Dave be physically assaulted, then GDM would contact the Police and name John Murfitt personally as the instigator. The harassment of Dave ceased immediately. • GDM called me into his office one morning and showed me a letter he had received from the wife of one of our stevedores, Trevor Manning. She was complaining bitterly about the long hours that her husband had been working and was demanding that GDM put restrictions on the hours that could be worked by employees. GDM then went on to explain that Trevor had found out about the letter and had rushed to GDM’s office pleading with GDM to ignore his wife’s request stating that he much preferred being at work, including overtime hours, rather than staying at home! GDM sent an excellent response to Mrs Manning outlining the Company’s absolute need to provide specialised and professional services to customers, and that Trevor was considered one of the employees who could best provide the required level of service. Nothing more was heard from Mrs Manning and Trevor continued to have his hand up for any overtime that was going. As an aside, Trevor Manning was almost certainly the highest achieving sportsman employed by either the WHB or the port company during my time on the waterfront. Trevor had been the goalkeeper for the New Zealand hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. That’s Trevor circled in the photo above. • The sixth example is actually mine. In November 1995 I separated from my then wife, Lynne and it wasn’t an amicable separation. In her anger, Lynne on one occasion informed me rather vociferously that “You’ll suffer at work because Graham Mulligan won’t be happy with this, I know his wife from nursing”. Well, Lynne may well have known Felicity and it may have been through nursing at Wellington Hospital, but GDM couldn’t have more understanding when I advised him that I was going through a separation. He offered me any assistance that I might need and continued to support me over the next few months, eventually meeting Sarah after she arrived in New Zealand and making her very welcome. GDM certainly didn’t take sides or attempt to apportion blame, all he was interested in was ensuring that I safely made my way through a difficult separation.
95 There’s one more story about GDM’s concern for his employees and it follows below in GDM’s exact words when he related the story to me: After Port Wellington got into stevedoring through the Winstones Pulp contract and the Juken Nissho timber packs, and of course, we owned CTL, I liked to visit our crew when working the ships on my way home after work. One memorable instance was a Tasman Orient ship unloading containers in the Container Terminal. It was dark, and I drove down to "wave the flag." As I approached the terminal, floodlit where work was happening, something caught my eye in a pitch-black area at the back of the terminal. I stopped and looked again at the splash of colour. It was bright pink and of someone in an area where no one should have been. I drove closer and then realized it was a woman dressed in a short dress. I stopped, she was pretty ugly, and I asked what she was doing there - she said she was waiting for the ship to move down the quay. I said it could be a couple more hours, but she couldn't stay there as it was a dangerous area. I then realised she was a "ship girl" - the prostitutes that follow ships around the country selling their wares, and not a particularly attractive one. I now had a dilemma - what to do with a ship girl in a dangerous working area. I could not leave her there. So the decent thing was - "jump in, and I shall take you to the ship, and you go aboard." With such a short dress, it was a challenge for her to climb into the passenger seat of my 1988 Range Rover. I duly drove her to the gangway - she got out - with a cheer from our guys on deck - "you beauty Boss - looking after the workers!!!”" I remember seeing her at the front gate leaving as I arrived at work the next morning. That bright pink dress certainly caught the eye! GDM’s departure to head up Port of Brisbane meant that senior management meetings would no longer commence with GDM’s profound utterings of “we’re not here to shag spiders”, one of his favourite expressions and particularly used when he needed to move things along - I could think of no better words for the naming of this chapter. His departure also gave Bob Field an opportunity to hone his poetry skills again and produce the following verses as a fitting tribute to a Managing Director who was responsible for so many positive and long-lasting changes. 1. Mulligan, Mulligan, Mulligan who? The guy who arrived with a lot to do From Oil and Gas, and industry bold He spoke the truth - we had to be told. 2. The port’s asunder - you’ll all go under Unless you heed my view The customer’s right, be it day or night We are here to serve - all of you!! 3. And true it is, only fair to say By example you’ve led and shown the way With positive thought and strong direction Let us review - a small reflection. 4. April I think, the year ninety-four You joined the port, through the manager’s door Settled in and took control To achieve ownership of CTL. 5. A task not easy to achieve A ‘battle royale’ - I do believe But when all the shouting had died down Port of Wellington owned the ‘Jewel in the Crown’. 6. Winstone’s product was quite a coup A strong approach, led by you Enabled to port to hold market share Increased profit every year. 7. Good housekeeping, the place is a mess Introduction of ISRS Smarten the place, all spick and span Murals on sheds, was the plan. 8. Process for staff, managers also Allow for Plan B, known as FIFO!! Paint the tugs, get rid of the rust Keep things tidy, always your thrust. 9. Port Open Days, a new innovation Steam train arrived, we looked like a station With container crane rides, tug boats too The public were given a different view. 10. Now I could go on about other events But really this poem is very well meant To wish you well, and every success Knowing you Graham - it will not be less. Bob Field November 1997
96 Several years later when working with the AMS Group (more about that follows later under the chapter entitled “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”), I approached GDM for a reference summarising my time at CentrePort under GDM’s management. GDM responded with a fabulous reference which is replicated below. INTERNATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE VENTURES PTY LTD PO BOX 531 HAMILTON QUEENSLAND 4007 AUSTRALIA 27 February 2015 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Reference: Mr Graeme Cowan I have known Graeme Cowan since 1994 when I became Managing Director of Port Wellington Ltd (now named CentrePort Ltd). Graeme was the Human Resources Manager of Port Wellington during my tenure, and responsible for the full range of human resources activities including recruitment, training and development, industrial relations, quality, and health and safety. When I was appointed as CEO of Port of Brisbane Corporation in 1997 I immediately selected Graeme to assist me to institute cultural and business changes to that business. Continuing to be based in New Zealand, Graeme was retained as a special advisor and consultant to assist in the development of the integrated management programme which achieved international acclaim for the Corporation. In 2004 I again called on Graeme’s skills as part of my team which was engaged by the independent Public Business Corporation of Papua New Guinea to rehabilitate and prepare for privatisation of 16 ports of PNG Harbours Ltd. During 2006/07 I was engaged as Chief Executive Officer of CrossCity Motorway in Sydney. One of my fundamental regulatory objectives was to ensure the implementation of an operating quality system that was capable of full compliance against the stringent requirements of the NSW Road Transport Authority (RTA). I had no hesitation in contracting Graeme as Quality Manager to achieve this task. Graeme continued to be based in New Zealand, and with a combination of off-site and on-site activities as required, achieved not only the required Schedule 9 Certificate as issued by an RTA-appointed Independent Verifier, but also implemented an Integrated Management System covering all quality aspects undertaken by CrossCity Motorway. Throughout these assignments Graeme Cowan has exercised very high standards of professionalism, a deep understanding of the nature of quality systems (stand-alone and integrated), project management and the careful management of people resources to best effect. I have no hesitation in either vouching for or recommending Graeme Cowan in the professional services that he provides. Graham D. Mulligan Managing Director
97 “50 SHADES OF EXASPERATION” - THE HARRIS ERA I have debated with myself as to whether this period of my working life should have been entitled “50 shades of grey” or “50 shades of ambiguity” or “50 shades of confusion”, but from my observations from that time “exasperation” better fits Mr. Harris’s tenure, although others may well argue whether it’s a more accurate description than “grey”, “ambiguity”, or “confusion”. So, with the departure of GDM at the end of 1997, in came a new Managing Director, Ken Harris who had arrived from a similar position at Port Nelson Ltd. Several years earlier Ken had applied for the position of Tanker Terminals Superintendent, this being the first time I came across Ken as I was part of the interviewing team for the Tanker Terminals role. Although selected for that position, Ken declined our offer, instead taking up a position with Coastal Tankers Ltd. The news of Ken’s Port Wellington appointment was initially well received as he was believed to be a rising star within the port industry, and his engagement as Managing Director was considered a bit of an industry coup for Wellington. “50 SHADES OF EXASPERATION” - it’s probably an appropriate time to explain why I’ve chosen these words as the title of this chapter. The easiest way to do this is by relating several events where Ken either displayed a willingness to exasperate, or where he elected to encourage confusion - at both the management level and the rank and file, and in our dealings with external parties such as the maritime unions, or where he looked to inflame situations - either deliberately or simply due to a lack of thought. The first example has its groundings in the 1998 Annual Report and a statement made by Ken in his Managing Director’s report - his first as MD. He stated: The Company’s safety and loss control programmes continue to be a high priority. This was borne out by the results of the thorough loss control audit of the Port carried out by international management systems inspectors Det Norske Veritas (DNV). Using its international rating system, DNV scored Port Wellington highly, in both progressive and optional elements. Port Wellington is the first New Zealand port to receive accreditation from DNV at this level. There is no doubt that Ken’s words accurately reflected what had been achieved, but (i) the audit success was achieved just prior to Graham Mulligan’s departure and had no input from Ken, and (ii) his own lack of visible health and safety leadership in persisting in riding his bicycle around the port without hi-viz clothing and without a safety helmet demonstrably belied his statement that the Company’s safety and loss control programmes continue to be a high priority. Ken was constantly requested to comply with the Company’s safety rules when cycling around the port, but equally constantly he chose not to. His lack of compliance was noted and remarked on by both staff and union representatives. The second example was during a round of negotiations with the Rail and Maritime Transport Union and the Waterfront Workers Union - I suspect the Foremen’s Union may have also been involved. I can’t recall the exact detail, but I was addressing the union representatives and explaining the Company’s position on a particular claim. While speaking, I noticed that a couple of the union reps were smiling at me, which was an unusual occurrence during union negotiations. I finished outlining the Company’s position and sat back expecting a response from the unions, which they did but nowhere close to what I was expecting. John Murfitt replied on behalf of the unions and told me that “well, that’s very interesting Graeme, but that’s not what your Chief Executive told us yesterday”. There’s not a great deal you can do when faced with that sort of response except call a break and hunt down the Chief Executive. Yes, Ken had provided the unions with a contrary view to what his negotiating team was attempting to achieve, no, he had not advised his negotiating team, and unfortunately it was not the only occasion on which he spoke directly with the unions and failed to inform his managers of those discussions. Without speaking for other managers, I can say categorically that those behind-the-bike-shed approaches by Ken totally undermined my position as Human Resources Manager and resulted in my continued skepticism and suspicion about Ken’s motives whenever he mooted a new idea for presentation to the unions. One other senior manager had an amusing take on this - on hearing Ken propose a new idea, generally during senior management meetings, he reckoned that “not again, he’s been watching the water gurgling down the plughole in the shower”. Then there was a scheduled mediation hearing relating to a dispute over the setting up of an independent stevedoring company. The unions (RMTU and WWU) were totally opposed to an independent stevedoring company (Central Stevedores Ltd) operating in Wellington, particularly a
98 arrival by Ken, I called his phone, spoke with him, and then advised the mediator and the union representatives that Ken wouldn’t be arriving and that he had instructed me to present the Company’s position and respond as required by the Mediator. Not surprisingly, the unions were incensed and the mediation was an absolute disaster. I had not been involved in the detail behind the establishment of Central Stevedores, this had been handled directly by Ken and Roger, and as neither were present, I was unable to provide coherent reasons and/or answers as put to me by the mediator or union representatives. My reputation with the unions was severely affected, and Ken’s inexcusable non-appearance seriously worsened relationships between the union and the Company at that time. On another occasion during mediation - this time he did turn up, the union officials arrived and Ken shook their hands as they came in. The last guy in was new, so Ken turned to him and said, “you must be the note taker”. Clearly annoyed, this new guy snapped back stating that he was the new union secretary, not the note taker. His name was Todd Valster, he never developed any sort of positive relationship with the Company - in fact it was a totally negative relationship, and he told me on one occasion that he had never forgotten how Ken had greeted him at that first meeting. The final example relates to an incident that occurred during a night shift on a conventional vessel where two casuals were discovered by their Foreman away from their designated workplace and drinking bottles of beer. Probably because of a perceived difficulty in obtaining replacement labour at that time of night, the Foreman decided to confiscate the beer and ordered both men back to work. At this point it should be mentioned that the unauthorized consumption of alcohol at work was, and hopefully still is, a sackable offence. A couple of hours later both men were again absent from their workplace, and once again they were discovered consuming beer. This time the Foremen ordered them off the job, and the matter was reported to the Shift Supervisor, and from there a report outlining the incident reached my desk the next morning. In conjunction with the Operations Manager, I carried out an investigation, interviewed the two casuals concerned, and advised them both that their behaviour constituted serious misconduct and that their services were terminated. The reality of this decision was that as casuals, their phones would never ring again offering them work. Now in comes Ken Harris who has been advised of the situation and the final decision. From his office, Ken telephones both casuals and advises them that after a period of three months they should contact him again and he would arrange for their casual relationship with the Company to be reinstated. I simply could not believe that this had happened and told Ken that this was the wrong approach and was totally undermining the Company’s business standards, and seriously compromised on-job safety, not to mention customer perceptions. This made no difference to Ken, and three months later one of the two casuals contacted him and was reinstated. Ken had set a terrible precedent and lost even more credibility and respect - certainly from myself. There’s one other example that I’ll describe later when recalling the dreadful incident on 23 May 2003 where Willie Paurini lost his life. On his arrival at the port, organisationally Ken made very few obvious changes other than to increase the size of the senior management team by including a number of middle managers. My view of that reconstituted senior management team was, and still is, a group of generally competent people who were put under no pressure to perform, were not encouraged to display innovation, and in a couple of instances, allowed to operate as if their working environment continued to be that of a non- commercial local authority. This was totally contrary to management life under Graham Mulligan and very disappointing to watch GDM’s highly performing management group being reduced to mediocrity under Ken’s leadership. During Ken’s time there were three management retreats that were held, one in Blenheim (and there’s a story from Blenheim involving a couple of managers which I’ll relate shortly), one at the Martinborough Hotel, and the third at a farmstay outside Masterton. Sadly the only positive memory that lingers from these retreats is from the Martinborough Hotel where the consultant (yes, we were back to using consultants as facilitators at these retreats) introduced us to DWYSYWD - an acronym for “Do What You Say You Will Do”. I’m not sure that this message ever got through to Ken, the exasperation experienced by myself and others certainly suggests otherwise. At that same retreat I actually headed home to Lower Hutt after dinner to join Sarah, returning early the next morning without anyone realising I had gone. Probably says a bit about the unity of th
99 Wellington’s successful ISRS audit, had decided that ISRS should be introduced into Port of Brisbane, and wanted me to assist him in achieving that. This wasn’t a job offer, rather GDM wanted to sub-contract me though Port of Wellington and requested that I seek approval from Ken. This proved to be no problem, Ken readily agreed to a contracting role with Brisbane and arrangements were set up with GDM, who had also arranged for Jim Fordyce to be part of Brisbane’s ISRS implementation. So it was that in late January 1998 Jim and I headed to Brisbane for what was the first of several trips. There were two things that I didn’t realise at the time - firstly that Ken Harris would agree to just about any proposal that I put to him, and secondly that this would not be the only time I would work with GDM, with future opportunities occurring in Papua New Guinea (PNG Harbours Boards), Sydney (CrossCity Motorway), and Melbourne (Chalmers Transport). Jim and I spent a week at Port of Brisbane, touring the port and viewing the facilities it operated and the services it provided, interviewing staff, reading health and safety documentation, and generally analysing the state of play against our knowledge of ISRS requirements. At the end of the week we both agreed that Brisbane was in far worse shape than Wellington had been at project commencement, and seriously compounded by layers of bureaucracy that reminded me of the local authority environment in which the Wellington Harbour Board had operated except that the layers in Brisbane were much deeper. A couple of examples: Late on the Friday afternoon Jim and I were discussing our findings with a couple of managers when the Human Resources Manager literally burst into the room and said, “You’ll never guess what he’s just done”! Jim and I looked at each other knowing full well that GDM was the “he” being referred to. Without waiting for a reply, the HR Manager blurted out “He’s taken the toll bars off all the telephones”! It turned out that GDM had attempted to call an IT colleague in New Zealand only to find out that his phone was toll barred and he couldn’t dial an international number, a situation that was immediately remedied by GDM. The second example came from GDM himself who had discovered that purchase ordering at Port of Brisbane, a standard requirement in any company, required no less than 6 signatures to be obtained before the purchase could be approved. This also changed very quickly! The good news at the end of our week was that GDM accepted our recommendations and required us to return on an ongoing basis to provide guidance and advice for the ISRS implementation, and that he guaranteed that full internal resources would be applied and available to us on six more occasions that we were back on site. On a couple of those occasions I was accompanied by Claire Hinton (pictured opposite in one of Port of Brisbane’s offices) which was an excellent and well- deserved recognition of the work that she had put into Port Wellington’s successful loss control programme. There’s two other memories from that initial trip to Brisbane. The first occurred within a couple of hours of us being on site, with GDM asking me to join him in his office. It turned out that GDM was on a conference call with Chris Corrigan, Chief Executive of Patrick Stevedores, a major Australian stevedoring company who were leading a major charge of industrial reform of the Australian waterfront, with GDM deciding that because of my experiences with port reform in New Zealand, I could comment on what Patrick and others were looking to achieve. The conference call was fascinating and pitched at the level of Government and just below. Mr Corrigan and others acknowledged my presence and were happy to have me included in their conference call, but fortunately there were no difficult questions put to me regarding any potential application of New Zealand experiences to what they were wanting to achieve. Not that long afterwards, actually on the On 8 April 1998, Patrick management dismissed all of its employees; liquidated its assets, becoming technically insolvent; and imposed a lockout at most ports in which it operated, including Brisbane. Australia’s Minister for Workplace Relations, Peter Reith stated that the government fully supported Patrick in their action. By the following morning the docks were fully operational with new non- union staff in place. Industrial action and pickets continued at Patrick Docks around Australia. The unions took a case to the Federal Court which they won, the Judge finding that Patrick’s had deliberately restructured their corporate structure with the sole intent of dismissing their unionised workers. The MUA and Patrick negotiated a new work agreement, which was adopted by the company and workers in June 1998. The agreement specified a near-halving of the permanent workforce through voluntary redundancies, the casualisation and contracting out of some jobs, smaller work
100 workers, the company achieved significant changes to work practices as it desired. Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith stated at the time "There appears to be a number of reforms which will satisfy the seven benchmark objectives which are very important." Being party to that particular conference call and then seeing how the eventual outcomes of the attempted reform of the Australian waterfront reform remains a very clear memory, and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The second memory occurred one evening at the Sheraton hotel where Jim and I were staying. I had remembered that Ray Conder now lived in Brisbane, and both Jim and I thought it would be pleasant if we invited Ray to join us for dinner, we did so and he accepted. As a memory jog, Ray was the guy who had led the Company through 3 failed audits of ISRS - Port of Wellington’s loss control programme. Ray arrived at the hotel, a shake of the hands, a welcoming drink at the bar, and a convivial catch-up. But unfortunately by the time we had settled down for our main course, Ray was well into bitching about the lack of management support that he received during the time he was responsible for ISRS implementation, notably from GDM and by direct association, me. Ray maintained that he was fully on top of ISRS implementation and that the 3 failed audits were directly attributable to everybody else, Jim included. Jim and I let him rant, but eventually I couldn’t not respond, his personal attack on GDM in particular but also Jim and myself was totally unwarranted and left me with no choice but to give him both barrels - about his inadequate performance, his lying to the senior management team, the lack of a documented system supporting ISRS, and probably a few other home truths as well. I recall that Jim sunk lower and lower into his seat as I gave Ray the facts of life - Jim is a lovely man but direct and personal confrontation never sat comfortably with him. I think we managed to get through dessert before Ray departed never to be seen or heard of again, and certainly with a clear understanding of what we thought of his performance during his time at the port. But knowing the guy, I suspect he would have continued to blame others (particularly GDM and myself) for his failures, taking no personal responsibility. My last trip to Port of Brisbane coincided with their initial ISRS audit. As part of that audit, Jim and I spent a week there and were fortunate to be invited to the closing audit meeting, led by the DNV auditor whose name now eludes me. For some reason towards the end of that meeting I was asked to provide my reflections on how the week had gone, the request taking me a little bit by surprise. But having been through a few audits by then, it wasn’t too difficult to conjure up some appropriate thoughts about my observations. What I do recall is finishing up by saying that I wanted to give a prediction - at this point the DNV auditor’s radar went onto high alert, it was an absolute no-no to try to predict an audit outcome (which I was well aware of). Under intense scrutiny by the auditor, I stated that in my view: Tomorrow night the Hurricanes will beat the Queensland Reds by 27-12. Hearing that prediction, the DNV auditor noticeably relaxed and my on-going relationship with DNV was untarnished! Unfortunately the Queensland Reds dealt to the Hurricanes, my prediction was well out. For the record, Port of Brisbane Corporation’s ISRS loss control programme achieved a level 7 audit outcome at their very first audit - an outstanding achievement, and in my opinion, there is no doubt that Port Wellington’s experiences and the direct input of Jim Fordyce and I played an integral part in their success. GDM himself has confirmed that view. As always, positive leadership is vital and Brisbane enjoyed an enormous advantage through GDM’s leadership, if there is a management lesson here it is simply that corporate success is inextricably linked to the vision, vitality and tenaciousness of the Chief Executive - attributes that GDM had in volumes and continues to demonstrate though his international consulting ventures. As an aside, Jim Fordyce’s knowledge and experience were at a level that GDM simply could not ignore, and shortly after Brisbane’s initial ISRS success, Jim was directly employed by GDM as Port of Brisbane Corporation’s Quality Manager, a role that he held for several years where many more loss control / quality successes were achieved. Personally, I continued on at the Wellington Port Company for another four years and eventually worked again with GDM up in Papua New Guinea, and then in Sydney and Melbourne - more of this to follow. Shortly after my Brisbane experiences there was two more opportunities for international consulting, but unfortunately neither of them eventuated. The first was with Port of Hobart who had learnt about Wellington’s successful audit and the assistance we provided to Port of Brisbane. Hobart management
101 The second opportunity related to a parent organisation - “New Zealand Ports International Limited” which “owned” two organisations i.e. New Zealand Post International Ltd, and CentrePort Ltd. The consulting opportunity as described in the Executive Summary of a rather impressive submission document stated: • New Zealand Ports International Limited (‘NZ Ports’) is proud to submit this expression of interest in providing consultancy services to the Presidential Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (‘PSRC’) of the United Republic of Tanzania. We would welcome the opportunity of contributing to the privatisation and liberalisation of the maritime sector in Tanzania. Members of the consulting team were identified in the submission document, and included several members of CentrePort’s senior management team, including Ken Harris and myself. My profile page from the submission document is reproduced on the right. One interesting statement made in the submission document suggested that “CPL had applied the lessons of its transformation to a vibrant, profitable business in offering advisory and consultancy services to a number of ports in Asia, and an Australian port”. I would stand corrected but looking at the other CentrePort members of the consulting team, I am totally unaware of any advisory and consultancy services that would have been offered to Asian ports. The Australian port referred to could only have been Port of Brisbane Corporation and the consultancy services that I provided to them. I don’t actually know whether or not a formal proposal was actually submitted, but this consulting opportunity literally disappeared without any feedback received by CentrePort members of the consulting team. Probably another example of exasperation. FROM A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE, THERE WERE BENEFITS of Ken’s appointment, one of which was his preference for a Wellington- based industrial lawyer, remembering that during GDM’s time we used Jane Latimer out of Auckland. Ken also preferred a particular individual, Michael Quigg who at that time was working for Kensington Swan. I was well acquainted with Michael as we had been teammates for several years at the Midland St Pats Cricket Club and played senior cricket together on a number of occasions. We had also been teammates on a cricket tour to Australia back in 1975. Michael was well on the way to earning a reputation as one of New Zealand’s leading industrial lawyers, and in conjunction with his brother David, established Quigg Partners during the time that he was assisting the port company with our industrial issues. Sarah and I were fortunate enough to be invited to several Kensington Swan and / or Quigg Partners functions, including a corporate event on Wellington Cup Day at the Trentham race course, the Edinburgh Tattoo when it was held at the Wellington Stadium, and several dinner functions. Additionally Michael invited me to the first ever New Zealand 7’s rugby tournament at the stadium in 2000, that time in the Kensington Swan corporate box. These invitations were much appreciated, as was the quality of the professional advice and guidance that Michael provided. It’s also appropriate to state that Jane Latimer had been really good value, and provided excellent legal advice on several occasions, one of which had been the “Longwith case”. I really enjoyed working with her. One other unforgettable, and mostly enjoyable experience occurred following a visit to my office by Ken late in the afternoon of Friday 25 June 1999 - you’ll see why I remember the date shortly. He advised me that the next day he had arranged to host a group of the Company’s major Wellington-based clients at a corporate function, but that he actually didn’t want to personally attend - would I take his place? It seemed pretty unusual for a Managing Director to bail out on a planned corporate function at the last minute, but when he explained that the event was the All Blacks versus France international at Athletic Park (which also happened to be the final international ever at the Park) and that corporate hospitality had been arranged, I had no hesitation in
102 stepping in for him, even though I felt that his decision not to attend reflected badly on him. So on a dull and overcast Saturday morning I headed to the Duxton Hotel where a dozen or so major clients were gathering. My first task was to explain Ken’s absence without revealing the real reason for his non-attendance, and then entertain the clients over brunch, before we boarded a bus and headed to the Park. Ken’s assurance that we were in corporate hospitality was somewhat inaccurate as we found ourselves on the top deck of the Millard Stand (in the vicinity as indicated by the circle). By the time we were seated the rain had started and we were all definitely ill-prepared for wet weather - not to mention the “non-corporate” and rather rowdy spectators in the row immediately behind us who decided that their personal urinals were one litre coke bottles that could be filled at any time and ongoing during the game, and also emptied when re-use was required! One of our group was particularly unhappy because of the drenched state (not rain) of his leather jacket. The game itself was very one-sided, the All Blacks winning 54-7, the half-time fly past by a 747 (it cruised between the two stands seemingly at eye level) was outstandingly impressive, but my abiding memory was walking up the stairs of a very weather-beaten and rusty Millard Stand to Celine Dion’s theme song from The Titanic! Because of the crowd heading away from the ground, the bus trip back to the Duxton seemed to take forever, and on arrival most of the clients and myself were only too happy to enjoy a stiff drink, compliments of Port Wellington, before heading to our respective homes. Whilst I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to be at the last international rugby game at Athletic Park, I’ve always considered it strange that Ken chose not to attend this event - he had arranged it, he probably invited the clients personally, he would have believed that their business was pretty important to the port, and while he allocated hosting responsibilities to a member of his senior management team, marketing and client relations were not part of my brief. Perhaps another example of the exasperation and / or confusion generated under Ken’s leadership. LATE 1999 AND AN UNEXPECTED BLAST FROM THE PAST occurred when Ken Harris wandered into my office and stated that Peter Snow, the ex-Managing Director of CTL was claiming redundancy compensation from his departure when we acquired CTL back in May 1995, and was pursuing this claim through the Employment Court. The answer was pretty simple, Peter hadn’t been made redundant, he was offered, and accepted a similar position overseas with P&O Ports, thereby negating the need for any redundancy payment. There was a provision in his individual employment agreement to this effect. Ken wasn’t convinced by this and was concerned that as Peter was pursuing the matter in the Employment Court there must have been some substance to his claim. So under direct instruction from Ken, I flew (quite happily) to Brisbane to meet with GDM and seek his recollections of Peter Snow’s departure from CTL. GDM’s memory was exactly the same as mine, there was no redundancy required to be paid as Peter was remaining in the P&O Group and had been offered and accepted a similar role at an equivalent level of management and remuneration. A short trip to Brisbane, confirmation by GDM of my understanding of the circumstances of Peter’s departure, with the benefit of an unexpected but very much appreciated opportunity to spend time in GDM’s company and to be reminded of what a focused and achieving Chief Executive looked like. Back in Wellington and I did have to attend the Employment Court for the compensation hearing, accompanied by Michael Quigg. The hearing was very much a non-event, my evidence was not seriously questioned, Peter Snow had no contrary evidence to suggest that he hadn’t been offered a substantially similar role with the P&O Group, and it was no surprise that the Judge found in our favour. Ken, who had expressed serious concerns as to the Company’s handling of this matter back in 1995, was noticeably absent from the hearing and never acknowledged that our processes from that time were right and proper. I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT KEN WAS AGREEABLE TO just about any proposal that I put to him, and there’s no better example than a request I made in early 2000 for approval to attend a World Congress on Personnel Management, to be held in May 2000 in Paris. Now it took Ken nearly two months to approve this request, but approve it he did including conference registration, meals, accommodation, and return business class flights. It seemed a long way to go on my own, so I further suggested to Ken that I trade in my business class travel for two economy tickets, again agreed to and Sarah was coming with me. My first
103 trip to Europe so it seemed obvious to combine the conference attendance with a holiday, travelling initially to New York, then on to London where we spent several days in Windsor before heading over to Wales, mostly spent in a little village called Llangorse. From Wales we went to Paris for the conference, and after a week or so there we flew to Singapore for 3 days (which included a tour of the Singapore Port Authority - totally amazing), onto Perth to stay with Sarah’s mum for a week, then back home. The highlight of the flight to New York (via Sydney and Los Angeles) was an unexpected upgrade to business class, which made that leg of our travels memorable and totally relaxing. Three or four days in the ”Big Apple” was fabulous, and many memories of wandering through Chinatown, gazing down at New York from the top of the Empire State Building, being on stage at Carnegie Hall (and singing happy birthday), walking through Times Square - just to name a few highlights, but even in New York I couldn’t escape an industrial relations issue. Outside our hotel stood a single protester, accompanied by an enormous blow-up rat, the protest aimed at non-union contractors, clearly considered to be rats, being used by the hotel for renovations. The guy actually looked really lonely, and after handing me a copy of his protest notice he was only too happy to pose with me, assuming, rather mistakenly, that I was a supporter of his cause. Windsor was fabulous, Sarah was able to show me the house she grew up in, we toured Windsor Castle, saw the changing the Guards, stayed in the Castle Hotel (built in 1784), caught up with friends of Sarah from when she lived in England, and tried to get to the Black Forest but got hopelessly lost, ending up in Reading! After Windsor we headed to Wales via Cardiff, but we got lost again and ended up in Newport for an afternoon before heading to a little village called Llangorse (which was our planned destination) and a couple of nights in an old 17th century hotel. Our time in England and Wales was over all too soon, and the serious part of the trip, the HR Conference in Paris was just around the corner, so, we were off to France. The 8th World Congress on Human Resources Management was held on 29, 30 and 31 May 2000 at the Palais des Congress, Paris, and was attended by over 1,700 human resources professionals representing 72 countries, certainly the biggest conference that I ever attended. There was one other New Zealand representative present (Richard Rudman, a highly respected hr practitioner and very instrumental in the establishment of the NZ Institute of Personnel Management), and as this was the first time that New Zealand had been organizationally represented at this Congress, I was definitely in good company. Writing these memoires some 23 years later, my recollections of the Congress itself have diminished somewhat, but fortunately I presented Ken Harris with a comprehensive report of the Congress (which I have retained), and it’s interesting when refreshing myself on the contents of that report to be reminded that we were doing a lot of things right at CentrePort back then, as evidenced by the following extracts from that report: • A consistent theme of the conference focused on the involvement of human resources at the highest strategic level of an organisation. My main impression, not only from the presentations but also from other discussions with other conference attendees, is that internationally, human resources tend not to be involved with corporate strategy issues, and certainly not to the extent that is increasingly prevalent in New Zealand generally, and certainly within CentrePort specifically.
104 • By way of general observation, CentrePort’s management performance during the acquisition of CTL in 1995 stacks up very well against the European experiences as presented at the conference, and reflects the management expertise that was available at the time. • This conference has confirmed very clearly that CentrePort’s human resources programmes, policies and practices are generally well in excess of current world best practice. • It may be recalled that the RMTU levelled criticism at CentrePort for setting a required standard of previous work experience for the position of Port Security Officer. The findings of the international study on HR Practices in the Business World provide clear international support for the position taken by the Company during that process. I don’t recall receiving any feedback from Ken concerning my report, exasperating at the time and that view hasn’t changed. A couple of final thoughts on the conference before some non-conference photos from our trip. The formal (and quite amazing) dinner was held in the L’Orangery at the magnificent Palais de Versailles, an absolutely outstanding venue which we were able to wander through without crowds of tourists, and capped off by a superb fireworks display in the Palace grounds with a light drizzle falling. Outstanding! And on the final day, the closing conference address was given by the then French President, Jacques Chirac, which definitely encapsulated the relevance and importance of this international conference. Left to right: Yours truly on the viewing platform of the Empire State Building; Sarah outside her old stamping ground, Windsor Castle; the frontage of one of the oldest pubs in Newport dating back to the 17th century (Ye Olde Murenger House) where we enjoyed a very pleasant ale; the village shop in Llangorse just along from our hotel; and what else do you do in Paris except enjoy a coffee at a pavement café? Left to right: Our brilliantly unforgettable hotel in Paris; yours truly paying homage to Jim Morrison (of the Doors fame) at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery; Sarah in front of the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, us enjoying cocktails (plural) at the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel in Singapore; and the recipe for one of those cocktails - yes, we got a taxi back to our hotel! SOMEWHERE DURING THE SECOND HALF OF 2000 I booked the Company’s first external audit against the health and safety standards contained in the ACC WSMP audit protocol. By way of explanation, all organisations were required to pay an annual ACC levy based on the organisation’s level of risk, Port Wellington falling into the highest risk category. Accordingly, the Company’s annual ACC levy was in the hundreds of thousands. The WSMP audit standards provided three measurable levels of performance i.e. Primary (entry level), Secondary (consolidation of good practice), and Tertiary (continuous improvement,
105 best practice framework). Achieving Primary level would have no impact on current ACC levy payments, achieving Secondary level would result in a reduction, while achieving Tertiary level would result in the maximum possible reduction i.e. 20%. Our first WSMP audit was highly successful with Tertiary level accreditation achieved. Financially, the Company’s ACC levy was reduced by just over $80,000 per annum, with the next audit scheduled for two years’ time. When audited again in 2002, Tertiary level accreditation was maintained meaning that over a four-year audit cycle, somewhere around $320,000 savings had been achieved. There is no doubt in my mind that the work done in implementing ISRS together with the 1997 successful audit were critical factors in enabling the Company to achieve the highest possible level of ACC WSMP programme accreditation and the associated financial savings. 2000 ALSO SAW FURTHER STAFF REDUCTIONS, this time in the Mechanics Section, specifically straddle mechanics. This was actually a hangover from the CTL acquisition which had seen the CTL engineering staff integrated with the port companies straddle mechanics, with an upskilling programme taking place. However it would become apparent that there were surplus staff and after consultation with the relevant union i.e. the Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union (EMPU), two positions were declared surplus. By this time I had developed a Job Weighting Tool which was designed to eliminate subjectivity out of redundancy decisions, instead focusing on two job-related factors i.e. Job Content, and Competencies Required. In this particular instance Job Content included: Engine Work, Transmission, Hydraulics, Fault Analysis, Auto Electrics, Fabricating Work, Gas Welding, Electric Welding, and Machining. Competencies Required included: Customer Focus, Teamwork, Initiative, Decision Making, Communication - Oral, Communication - Written, and Computer Literacy. The Job Weighting Tool was provided to the EPMU and their approval for the use of the tool was forthcoming. The outcome of the redundancy process was robust, it was certainly well examined by the EMPU representative, no challenges were forthcoming, and the employment of two straddle mechanics were declared surplus to future requirements. Normally the departure of redundant employees signals the end of the process but there was one more unexpected twist to come. Earlier in 1999 Sarah had competed in a team mini triathlon with some ladies she’d met at a series of business breakfast meetings. Yes, that’s Sarah on the right setting off on the running leg of the triathlon. Moving on several months (which was also after the mechanics redundancies described above), Sarah and I were invited to a dinner party in Kelburn thrown by one of the other triathlon team members. Sitting around the dinner table and enjoying the conversation, one of the guys asked me where I worked. On hearing CentrePort, this guy immediately related the story about how his brother-in-law, who used to be a mechanic at CentrePort, was picked out for redundancy and it was totally unfair, his brother-in-law didn’t want to lose his job and shouldn’t have been selected. Not wanting to spoil a very nice evening and certainly not wanting to destroy friendships that Sarah had made, discretion was definitely the better part of valour and my responses were limited to wise nods and a change of subject as soon as was diplomatically possible! THERE WERE SERIOUS STAFF ISSUES to deal with during Ken’s time and several stay in my mind. The first memory occurred in the stevedore’s messroom during the evening smoko, one of the casual straddle drivers, Chris Newell was relaxing at a table with several other employees when a container crane driver (Dave Tobin) entered the room, looked around, spotted Chris and literally flew over the table, punching Chris several times in the head. I found out about this the next day when Chris lodged a complaint. Something had happened to him, his face was badly bruised, and from his version of events an investigation was clearly required. I found out the names of all staff working that shift and who would have been in the messroom and therefore witnesses, and with assistance from the Operations Manager, Kevin O’Sullivan, interviewed as many as we could. Strangely, not one of the men that we interviewed saw any altercation take place between Chris and Dave, including a couple who by their own admission were sitting alongside Chris. Now there were a couple of relevant bits of information - Dave was a delegate for the Waterfront Workers Union, while Chris was one of the first casuals to break ranks from the Waterfront Workers Union and take up an individual employment agreement with the Company. So it really wasn’t a surprise that with a room full of union members, “ranks were closed” with none of the “witnesses” seeing anything happen. Without being able to substantiate Chris’s claim that he had been
106 find a witness confirming the assault. Kevin and I both believed, no, we knew that an assault had occurred, so we decided on a rather unorthodox method of finding that witness. We knew that one of the younger cargo workers had been sitting next to Chris, in fact they were friends, so we arranged for him to work on an evening shift in one of the sheds. When we knew that he was on his own, we went to the shed and confronted him, telling him that we knew the assault had occurred, who carried out the assault, and that as a witness he was withholding evidence from the Company and therefore placing his own employment at risk. As a rather impressionable young man confronted by two senior managers both playing “bad cops” he was now pretty worried, but with a commitment to him that his name would not be disclosed to the Union, he admitted to witnessing the attack and confirmed that it was Dave who carried out the assault. This was enough for us to proceed with a formal disciplinary interview, at the conclusion of which Dave was provided with a final written warning, much to the anger of the Union who insisted that we withdraw the warning. We refused to do so, and the only factor that saved Dave from instant dismissal was our commitment not to name our informant. The Union blustered that they would challenge the final written warning based on the lack of an identified witness, but it was no surprise that a challenge didn’t eventuate, the Union were as aware as we were that Dave had committed the assault and that he was extremely fortunate to remain employed. The second personal grievance that occurred during my time (the first concerned Mr Longwith as described earlier) related to a restructure of marine, particularly reducing the numbers of launch deck hands - from 9 down to 6. As part of this process a couple of guys volunteered for early redundancy, which led to one forced redundancy. We went through a rigorous selection process looking at experience, qualifications etc, and John Murfitt (pictured below) was the guy who didn’t make the cut (amongst other factors he was the only one of the group who didn’t hold the required qualification - a Commercial Launch Master’s ticket), and as there were no other positions available, John was formally advised that his position was redundant. I strongly suspect that he knew that this would be the outcome as within half an hour of John being formally advised, I received an injunction notice from the RMTU lawyers. The injunction hearing found in favour of John and he was reinstated into his position, requiring us to redo the entire process. The outcome was exactly the same, was again tested by the union by way of a personal grievance, making its way eventually to the employment court, with the decision this time in our favour and costs against the union. This whole process took several months - shades of Geoffrey Longwith! I recall being in the witness stand at the employment court and being asked by the union lawyer whether I was aware that John was a union icon - I couldn’t help myself from answering that John actually wasn’t the icon, his green lada was. The judge did reprimand me, but with a smile on his face. During that time I also remember one of John’s colleagues from the deck hand’s group coming to my office and expressing his concern that John’s reluctance to accept the redundancy situation could seriously affect the ongoing employment of the rest of the group, and what could the Company do to solve the problem? It was very unusual for a union member to approach the Company in such a manner, particularly when it involved a senior union official, but what it did tell me was that John’s colleagues understood what was happening and were not supportive of John’s stance, nor that of the RMTU who were supporting John and prepared to risk the employment of other members of that Union. A bit of background about John. He was employed in the marine division and held positions of lines handler, then deck hand on the company’s launch. However, he’s probably more remembered for his active membership of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union where over a number of years he held local and national positions within that organisation. As stated in the RMTU’s magazine The Transport Worker in June 2020, John’s war cry during challenging times for his members was “All bosses are bastards”. My first real encounter with John was in Griff Page’s time when I went down to the RMTU office for a discussion with the then union secretary, Kevin Jackson. When I walked in the door, Kevin immediately introduced me to John who happened to be in the office at the time. I had never met John before, and I well remember his deliberate attempt at intimidation, using his rather large bulk and a loud and belligerent tone of voice. Now this may have worked if I hadn’t already been warned that this was something that John was known for and that it was generally pretty harmless, and if Kevin Jackson, standi
107 One other memory of John, and it’s probably my favourite memory, is from one of the front pages of the port company’s staff magazine, which Ross Wilson took offence to and complained to the Chief Executive at that time, Griff Page, about me as editor of said magazine. Ross had been interviewed as a Director - no problems, but what he didn’t like was (i) his photo on the front page of the staff magazine alongside what he considered to be an anti-union cartoon (which I have replicated as the cover page of these memories), and (ii) a photo of John Murfitt (on the same front page of the staff magazine) in what appeared to be an inebriated state while on a company social club tour of the Marlborough vineyards, as mentioned earlier. The complaint got no traction from Griff, and interestingly John himself saw the funny side of it all, probably because both he and Cath had thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were great company to be with on that trip. One manager once described John as being the only person he knew who could catch a mooring line with his hands in his pockets. I never witnessed John during a lines-handling assignment, however on one occasion I was out on the pilot launch where John was the deckhand and responsible for keeping a lockout for other water-based activity and/or hazards in the vicinity of the launch. On the way back from the Wellington heads, John managed to sleep most of the way! Maybe those 12-hour shifts really were too much! Most of the staff issues that I dealt with didn’t just involve me, I was assisted in most of them by other managers. There was one instance during his early days as a Stevedoring Manager when Parke Pittar was with me as we carried out a disciplinary process for 12 watersiders who had refused to go back to work following a smoko break. The RMTU and WWU were represented by Ross Wilson and Trevor Hanson respectively, a couple of high-powered union officials - Ross of course was a Director of the Company. During the interview, Trevor became most unhappy, stood up and pointing directly at Parke, screamed at him that “he would see him in court, his property would be sequestered, and he wouldn’t work in the industry ever again”. Parke was visibly shaken so we called an adjournment during which I assured Parke that Trevor was full of bluster and wind (or words to that effect) and there was nothing to worry about. All 12 watersiders were issued with a formal warning, and we never heard another word about it. That instance, and probably others, led Parke, when resigning from the Company at the end of 2000, to present me with a letter (opposite), which I have retained as a valuable reminder that my efforts actually didn’t go unnoticed. Parke went on to forge a highly successful career, including several years as CEO of a major New Zealand stevedoring company. We have remained friends and also worked together in 2019 at Chalmers Transport in Melbourne, reuniting with Graham Mulligan who was Executive Chairman of that company. Several months before my eventual departure from the port, I arrived at work a bit earlier than usual as I had to open the Training Room for a course starting that morning. I was somewhat surprised to see that the door to the training room was ajar, and even more surprised to see evidence of forced entry. Entering the room, the first thing I noticed was the absence of the dvd player so with my amateur observations of a forced entry, there was little doubt of a break-in and theft. Now this had happened once before, on a previous instance the break-in had resulted in the removal of a tv screen, so the Port Security Manager, Karen Funnell had installed a pin-hole camera in the wall of the Training Room. Recognising a break-in, I contacted Karen immediately and arranged for the film from the pin-hole camera to be accessed, particularly from the previous day’s evening and night shifts. This is how the events of the night transpired. • The night shift ended at 0300 hours. Not surprisingly there was a general exodus of the nightshift gang, heading home as evidenced by security footage at the main entrance / exit gates of the port.
108 • At approximately 0340 hours, an internal security camera (situated in the hallway and pointing at the stevedores changing room - directly opposite the Training Room) identified one person exiting the stevedores changing room and walking towards main entrance to the Training Room. • The pin-hole camera then picked up the same person inside the Training Room and heading directly to where the dvd player was located. The intruder disconnected all plugs, bound them up, lifted the dvd player and went directly to an external facing window. He then dragged the curtains back and forth, seemingly signaling to someone outside. He then exited the Training Room with the equipment. • At approximately 0348 hours, an external security camera caught a white Toyota stopping at the side entrance of the building, and the intruder coming out of the building and placing the dvd player and plugs into the boot, then getting into the front passenger seat. The vehicle’s registration was fully visible. • At approximately 0350 hours, the same vehicle exited the port as evidenced by security footage at the main entrance / exit gates of the port. A check of vehicles registered to employees to allow them access to the port revealed that the car captured by security cameras was owned by a casual employee - his name now eludes me. A further check revealed that he was rostered to work that night, his vehicle had entered the port just prior to the start of the shift (1500 hours) and then exited the port almost immediately before returning at 0254 hours, just before shift completion. With the available evidence it was patently obvious that the casual had been driven to work, dropped off, with the vehicle departing then returning later to pick him up following a pre-arranged signal from the Training Room. A disciplinary interview was held with Karen Funnell present as my witness, the casual had his union official, Todd Valster present with him. The facts were stated, the video evidence from all cameras played, and an explanation was requested. All the casual would say was that he didn’t have anything to do with the theft. After a very short deliberation, I advised the casual that it was our view that he had broken into the Training Room and stolen company property, and accordingly his casual status was terminated with immediate effect. I also advised him that unless the property was returned undamaged within 24 hours, I would notify the police and provide them with the evidence that had been collected. At this point Todd Valster raged and ranted that “we hadn’t heard the last of this, he would see us in court”. Strangely enough, we never heard another word from the union. Mr Valster’s blustering was a standard tactic that he used on several occasions when he was on the receiving end, all to no avail. Early the next morning, I had a telephone call from a Port Security Officer who told me that sometime during the night, a dvd player had been left in the garden outside the Port Security building. It was undamaged so with its return together with the casual’s termination, this episode was well completed. One bizarre management issue that I had to deal with related to a couple of my senior team colleagues, both of them married, who had been having an affair. There were suspicions that something was going on, both of them departing early on Friday afternoons to play golf (at least one of them had never demonstrated any golfing interest), and some extraordinarily intimate cheek-to-cheek dancing (caught on photo, wish I still had it) at a Christmas function - with both their spouses present. All was revealed when the guy concerned confessed to me, indicating that the relationship was deadly serious and that the two of them were about to set up home together. That didn’t happen, either one or both of them got cold feet, the affair ended, and it seemed to be over. So imagine the surprise of the other members of the senior management team when at a subsequent Management Retreat in Blenheim, the guy walked behind the woman involved and proceeded to massage her neck and shoulders in full view of the rest of us. Ken Harris, as surprised as we were, warned him off, and we were left with one rather embarrassed female colleague and a male colleague who appeared oblivious to the effect his actions had on the rest of us. Back in Wellington, I was immediately approached by the female manager concerned who told me that although the relationship had ended, the guy in question was continuing to pester her, would touch her at any opportunity and particularly in her office
109 when no-one else was about, and she wanted actions taken to prevent this recurring. When questioned, the guy denied any of the allegations, so apart from what we had observed at Blenheim it was literally a “he said, she said” situation. There was only one remedy available, and so I prepared a “Management Behaviours Agreement” (copy above) which was presented to both managers. Both signed the Agreement, any proven breach of which could have led to their dismissal under the Company’s business standards. The reaction from the guy concerned was one of shock, but only when he realised that the signed Agreement would be placed on his personal file as a permanent record. With that attitude you’d have to think he was a bit of a Nancy. To my knowledge, no further problem occurred between the two of them. THERE WERE TWO MAJOR ACCIDENTS ON THE PORT that occurred during Ken’s time, the first occurring over in 37 Shed where a group of casual employees were loading soap from pallets into an export container. As the level of soap containers got closer to the ground, it was standard practice for the forklift operator to raise the fork tynes to prevent excessive bending by the soap packers. Nothing wrong with this practice, except that on this occasion one of the packers was standing directly in front of the fork tynes when the forklift suddenly lurched forward and struck the packer behind his knee, causing a major laceration that also severed an artery. Fortunately one of the other packers was a trained first-aider, and his immediate intervention almost certainly saved the injured guy’s life. There were three issues that came out of the investigation. Firstly, the injured person should not have been standing in front of the forklift, secondly, the forklift operator (who had been fully trained) operated the forklift standing outside of the forklift -an absolute no-no under any circumstances, and thirdly, the Supervisor was well aware of the unauthorised forklift operation - his office looked directly down on the packing operation and he admitted seeing that practice being regularly carried out. Because of the seriousness of the injury, the Department of Labour carried out an external investigation, decided that a prosecution was warranted, with an end result of the Company being found guilty and fined $5,000. The judgement stated that the Company had a well-developed health and safety system with appropriate procedures as required by law, but as the Supervisor, who was deemed to be the Company, knew about the unauthorised practice but took no steps to prevent it, the Company was therefore liable. Interestingly, during the hearing there was no reference at all to the casual forklift operator. His phone never rang again. I have two other memories about that accident. As the manager responsible for health and safety, I was advised very quickly and was on-site within 3 or 4 minutes. Apart from myself, the Chief Executive and the Operations Manager, there was no need for any other manager to be present. So it was somewhat surprising to look around while the ambulance service were there and see another 7 or 8 managers, not quite with their hands in their pockets but literally gawking at the injured guy and the accident scene. I confess to several angry words with them as they were dispatched back to their own work areas. The second memory was finding my Health and Safety Advisor, Brian Williamson in his office, and in tears. He had been aggressively cornered by two union officials shortly after the accident occurred who told him that the accident was totally Brian’s fault and would never have happened if Brian had been doing his job properly. Brian was determined not to tell me who the union officials were, his reasoning being that it would make life much more difficult for him if he was to identify them. I knew of a previous instance where Brian had been rung by a union member and advised that there was a serious safety issue around the cab of one of the container cranes, and Brian’s assistance was urgently needed. Brian was a pretty dedicated guy, so off he went to the crane in question. Unfortunately, when he reached the platform of the crane he literally froze, he had a total fear of heights and needed to be assisted back down. It eventuated that there was no issue with the crane, Brian’s fear of heights was known and he was literally set up to be terrified and embarrassed. On that occasion Brian did tell me the name of the person who called him, but I knew straightaway that the name was fictitious - we didn’t employ anyone by the name that Brian told me, he had been well and truly ambushed. With knowledge of that previous occasion, I didn’t push Brian to identify the union officials who had verbally attacked him after the accident in 37 Shed. I was alerted to the second major accident by a telephone call at home around 2.45am. When you’re responsible for health and safety in a high-risk organisation such as an operating
110 foreman and others heard Willie screaming and it was several moments before the container was able to be moved off him. Other cargo handlers would describe seeing the container crane travelling down the wharf which in their view explained the sideways movement of the container. Willie had already been taken to hospital and there was a general consensus of opinion of cargo handlers who had gone to Wilie’s aid that Willie’s injuries were so bad that he would not survive. By now it was around 4.45am and I was about to experience the third most difficult people-related experience that I had to deal with during my HR career -I had to drive to Willie’s home in Newlands, wake his partner up and advise her of what had happened to Willie. One of the Port Security Officers, Brian Singleton offered to accompany me, and to this day I am eternally grateful for the support that Brian gave me. We literally did wake Willie’s partner up, and I still remember her asking whether he was still alive, I didn’t have the answer to that question at that time. The news would come through mid-morning that sadly Willie had died from his injuries. Several days later, Roger Sullivan, Fionnuala Smyth and I would drive up to Tokaanu for Willie’s tangi. The Company was subjected to two external investigations, a shoreside investigation by the Department of Labour (the container crane was land-based), and an investigation by Maritime New Zealand as the accident had occurred shipside. I led the Company’s internal investigation. There were many factors that had to be considered, and now without access to any formal documentation, I’ll summarise my recollections about some of the key factors around this extraordinarily unfortunate event. • Fatigue. The accident occurred around 2.20am which was towards the completion of a 12-hour shift. It was the 3rd consecutive 12-hour shift that Willie had worked, with the majority of workmates having worked a similar pattern. Rest provisions between shifts as contained in relevant employment agreements had been fully complied with, as had rest breaks during the shift. All investigations found that fatigue was not a contributing factor. • Willie’s positioning. Hatchmen were required to be stationed in a safe position when communicating with the crane operator that the container could be lifted. All investigations found that Willie was in the designated safe position, and this was reinforced when I went on board with two union officials (John Whiting and John Murfitt) to view the accident scene and John Whiting stated “that’s exactly where I would have stood” - John had experience as a hatchman on container vessels. • Human error. Training of all employees (including Willie) involved in the fatality was examined, with evidence of full training provided by one of the Company’s skill trainers, Larry White, who in a twist of fate was Willie’s uncle. All rostered staff with radio communications confirmed that Willie’s order to commence the lift was issued clearly, and that the crane operator responded in the affirmative immediately before the lift commenced. There was an interesting, but very controversial side issue regarding the possibility not of human error, but rather human intervention, and I’ll explain that shortly. • Mechanical. The container crane and all ancillary equipment were extensively tested by an independent external agency, and no faults were found. Of particular interest during these tests was the locking system that prevented the crane from long-travelling when a lift was in operation. • Crane long-travelling. It was literally impossible for a crane to long-travel once a lift had commenced, and there was confirmation that the lift had commenced. The locking system once engaged prevents long-travel, and as stated earlier, no fault was found with this ancillary equipment. Yet the stevedores working wharfside were adamant that they saw the crane travelling down the wharf at the time of the accident. • Weather. During the night of the accident, the wind was gusting strongly, but not in excess of wind speeds that would require crane operations to cease. But a few seconds before the accident a wind spike was recorded that was from memory, in excess of 100 kph and well above the range that had been recorded up to the time of the accident. That wind spike was a critical factor in the accident and brought the vessel into consideration as a second critical factor. • The vessel. Towards the end of the investigation period, CentrePort’s Marine Manager, Charles Smith presented information that the vessel in question had a history in other ports of “creeping on its lines” which until then had not been known. Effectively this meant that in windy conditions the vessel would tighten on its mooring lines and in an instance of an unexpectedly high wind gust as occurred in Wellington, the vessel would literally be released from tension and
111 move down the wharf. This information also accounted for wharfside stevedores believing that the crane traveled down the wharf, what they were actually seeing was similar to being inside a vehicle in a car wash - what’s moving, the car or the framework of the car wash? • Company health and safety system. Neither of the two external investigations found any deficiency in the Company’s health and safety system. All three investigations found that the vessel creeping on its lines was the most likely cause of the accident, and more importantly, the two external investigations found that it was the equivalent of “an act of God”, and not foreseeable by the Port Company. No penalty was imposed on the Company. Back to the controversial issue of possible human intervention. During an informal conversation between Ken, myself and a couple of other managers around the cause(s) of the fatality, someone pointed out that the driver of the container crane (Dave Tobin) was the same guy who some months earlier had assaulted a casual straddle driver (Chris) in the Company’s messroom. It was then pointed out that both Chris and Willie had resigned their membership of the Waterfront Workers Union and were both on individual employment agreements with the Company. The idea was floated that perhaps Dave (remember that he was a union delegate) was aggrieved at Willie’s resignation from the union and had taken the opportunity to stop the lift, disengage the crane’s locking system and put the crane into long-travel, thereby deliberately causing the accident. The idea was quickly knocked on the head, and it appeared that no-one was taking it seriously. That is, until a couple of days later and the Dominion-Post ran an article on the accident and suggested that it may have been a deliberate action by the (unnamed) crane driver against a non-union employee. The union response was rapid, they were knocking on Ken’s door and demanding to know how and by whom the story had been released. A lot of denying by Ken (I was in the meeting), the union officials left still disgruntled but seemingly pacified with the promise that the Dominion-Post would be fed a strongly worded denial of any deliberate action by any port company employee. Personally, while I have no proof of who leaked the information to the paper, I believe it represents yet another example of exasperation. On a more positive note, I understand that Ken Harris made a personal financial contribution to Willie’s family, and if my information is correct, this personal contribution continued annually over a number of years. FURTHER AUDITING OF COMPANY PERFORMANCE against the ISRS protocol occurred during Ken’s tenure. The first of these audits occurred in 1999 and was carried out by Karl Herold from DNV. I do recall a heated discussion with Karl at the end of day one where I was confident that he was wrongly interpreting several of the Company’s responses against the stated performance standards which I knew if not addressed and corrected, would have adversely affected the final outcome. Fortunately, Karl eventually agreed with me, and the final audit result saw the Company improving its performance from a Level 4 rating (as achieved in late 1997) to a Level 6 rating, definitely an outstanding result and one which demonstrated that the Company now had a fully functioning health and safety management system. The second audit occurred towards the end of 2001 and was carried out by me as an Auditor (under training), with the DNV supervising Auditor again being Karl Herold. The result of the audit saw the Company maintain its Level 6 rating under the Progressive Scoring System, with highlights of the audit recorded as follows: CentrePort continues to maintain a number of proactive health and safety management systems throughout its workplace. These systems have maturity, are well established, and have been maintained with a wide input from employees at all levels. Senior Management commitment to the principles of loss control is inherent within the organisation. In particular, CentrePort has continued to maintain excellent foundation documentation through its Health, Safety and Los Control manual, and its Emergency Management Plan manual. Both manuals continue to be updated whenever system changes occur. The majority of systems are supported by Standard Operating Procedures. A serious commitment to the Critical Task Analysis process was demonstrated, supported fully by employees. CentrePort’s recruitment and selection processes are at least equal to world best practice, while the Company’s group meetings/team briefings/toolbox meetings are used to excellent effect in conveying loss control information to employees. Training systems are effective and have wide application throughout the workplace.
112 It is to CentrePort’s credit that it can quantify the benefits of its loss control programmes through a cost-benefit analysis, as most organisations find this to be a very difficult exercise. CentrePort’s innovative approach to evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of its loss control programme is also complimented. While the findings as recorded above were written by me as a trainee Auditor, they were scrutinised for their accuracy by Karl Herold, and required his final approval as the supervising Auditor before release. My report was approved, and I would be licenced by DNV as an ISRS Auditor, able to perform audits in my own right for CentrePort Ltd. The successful ISRS audits provided the impetus for developing a second management system that would support DNV’s International Environmental Rating System (IERS). While I maintained overall responsibility for IERS, the majority of work required in the construction of this system fell to Claire Hinton (pictured opposite working with the Company’s Environmental Consultative Committee) who had completed ISRS training and undergone environmental auditor training. Claire’s work was exceptional, and in 2001 we were successfully audited by DNV (actually by Claire as an Auditor under training) achieving a Level 7 rating under the Optional Element Scoring System. An outstanding result. IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2002 THERE HAD BEEN A CHANGE of Director membership on the SQE Committee, and it became quickly apparent that the new Director members were struggling with the acronyms of ISRS and IERS and their loss control connotations, with the Committee requesting me to replace these generic acronyms with a more appropriate name that was not only more Company-specific but also easily identifiable with the safety and environmental systems that had been put in place, and underpinned by the principles of Total Quality Management. After some deliberation and toying around with various possibilities, a new acronym - CL MB was presented to the Committee, standing for CentrePort Limited’s Integrated Management Blueprint – I’ll refer to it as CLIMB from here on. The stylistic “I” was borrowed from CentrePort’s logo, with CLIMB being described as “directional and upward”, which was the overall intent of the Company’s safety, quality and environmental management systems. The Directors didn’t take much convincing, and CLIMB was formally adopted as the Company’s integrated management system encapsulating health and safety, environmental, and total quality management. But the Directors approval of CLIMB was to have even more far-reaching implications. If we were going to have an integrated management system as envisaged by CLIMB, then it seemed to make a lot of sense to part company with the ISRS and IERS audit protocols and develop and customize an integrated management protocol that not only matched CentrePort’s programme elements that we had developed but equally importantly incorporated the principles of Total Quality Management. And so it was that work commenced on the development of a CentrePort-specific integrated management and audit protocol. The critical features of CLIMB saw the cumulative 26 elements of ISRS and IERS protocols reduced down to 19 elements, with those 19 elements placed into five categories intended to better define the purpose of each element within the Company’s management system. All 19 elements would be supported by an audit tool capable of providing quantitative outcomes that rated individual elements and provided an overall audit result. The following table summarised the work that had occurred in the preliminary scoping of the ISRS and IERS protocols and which would result in the merging of those protocols into the Company’s integrated management system - CLIMB. CL MB™ CATEGORIES NO ELEMENT SYSTEM MANAGEMENT 1. Leadership Commitment 2. Environmental Programme and Regulations 3. Risk Management 4. Recruitment and Selection
113 COMMUNICATIONS 5. Induction and Training 6. Team Meetings and Employee Participation 7. Relations with External Parties 8. CLIMB Promotion and Off-the-Job Safety PRIMARY LOSS PREVENTION SYSTEMS 9. Employee Safety, Health and Fitness 10. Product Stewardship 11. Engineering and Change Management 12. Purchasing, and the Management of Contractors and Tenants 13. Planned Inspections 14. Performance Management and Work Assessment SECONDARY LOSS PREVENTION SYSTEMS 15. Reporting, Investigation & Analysis of Unintended Events 16. Emergency Preparedness 17 Personal Protective Equipment MEASUREMENT & EVALUATION 18. Performance Monitoring 19. CLIMB Evaluation Claire Hinton and I worked closely with DNV representatives who were highly supportive of our plans. DNV hosted the two of us in Sydney and introduced us to an integrated system (PROSPER) that they had previously created and we were able to tap into their expertise to ensure that (i) the integrity of the ISRS and IERS protocols were maintained, and (ii) our new port-specific requirements were auditable and quantifiable. One example of this occurred in Primary Loss Prevention System #12 - Purchasing, and the Management of Contractors and Tenants, where the evaluation of tenants did not exist in either the ISRS or IERS protocols. Tenants however were the subject of a recommendation from the 2001 ISRS audit and therefore included in the development of CLIMB, with auditable and quantifiable standards able to be developed. Claire and I were both confident that once implemented, a single CLIMB audit would have had the capacity to produce the following 7 deliverables: • ISRS - progressive scoring system level of accreditation; • ISRS - optional element scoring system level of accreditation; • IERS - progressive scoring system level of accreditation; • IERS - optional element scoring system level of accreditation; • AS/NZS4801 - compliance; • ACC WSMP - tertiary level accreditation; and • CLIMB - progressive scoring system level of accreditation. Unfortunately we would never have the opportunity of proving this belief. CentrePort’s 2002 Annual Report and Financial Statements included a pullout sheet - Reporter: Environment, Health and Safety which was devoted entirely to the development of CLIMB. The opening statement of the Reporter provided an excellent and precise summary of why CLIMB was under development i.e. “CentrePort aspires to be a world-class provider of quality service, operating in a safe, healthy and environmentally friendly environment. A new management-come-audit initiative is about to be introduced at the port, to help ensure that the aspiration becomes reality”. The Reporter indicated that CLIMB was almost ready for implementation, and it was, but two other major events occurred which delayed the final work required for implementation i.e. protracted industrial action, and Willie Paurini’s fatal accident as summarised earlier. My departure at the end of October 2003 also occurred before CLIMB could be fully implemented, and it is a major regret that without my drive and commitment, this excellent initiative would never see the light of day. TOWARDS THE END OF 2002 I WAS REQUESTED to make a human resources presentation to the Board, highlighting achievements and presenting the strategic direction that human resources would take into the future. As my then unknown, but imminent departure from the port wasn’t that far away it’s appropriate to deal with the strategic direction first. HR strategies were
114 presented and approved by the Board but were never fully implemented (e.g. CLIMB accreditation to Level 6 by end-2003) In reality, these corporate strategies probably died a natural death after my departure considering that the Company would demonstrate no interest in the HR strategies that had been developed and approved (as exampled by the certain knowledge that the final implementation of CLIMB never eventuated), and definitely compounded by my replacement having no background or experience in human resources. But the historical achievements that had occurred since 1992 (when I became responsible for human resources) were able to be demonstrated to the Board via the following slides extracted from my presentation that focused on 3 key performance areas i.e. health, safety and environmental, industrial relations, and training and development. The following 5 slides tell the story of a highly performing Human Resources Department / Division. The 3 key performance areas (health, safety and environmental, industrial relations, and training and development) demonstrate achievements that would have been the envy of other port companies at that time. Underpinning these achievements was a lean and highly performing (almost impossibly so) two-person human resources division that not only managed health, safety and environmental, industrial relations, and training and development, but also ensured that the company received national and / or international recognition for its work in those areas. There were no other divisions of the Company that could demonstrate similar levels of achievement nor the per head quantum of savings ($1,714,300) realized through staff rationalization and efficiencies over an 11-year period - as illustrated by the HR Staffing graph on the right. MID 2003 SAW START TRAINING LTD EMERGING INTO THE DAYLIGHT when an opportunity was recognised for the presentation of unit standard-based stevedoring training to the New Zealand Defence Force, specifically 5 Movements Company based out of
115 the Linton Army Camp. But before describing that opportunity and the eventual outcomes, it’s necessary to go back to late 2001 when the initial concept of a training brokerage company, owned and managed by Sarah and I (even though I was still permanently employed by CentrePort) had its beginnings. By 2001 I was well established as the ports and stevedoring representative on the Board of the NZRT&LITO and recognised as the go-to industry training person whom NZRT&LITO staff would seek out when issues around ports and stevedoring qualifications arose. NZRT&LITO’s General Manager, Graeme Talbot was particularly concerned with the almost complete lack of take up of ports and stevedoring qualifications, and he and I both agreed that one fundamental reason was that the qualifications (cargo and marine) were unfit for purpose and required an urgent review. Graeme’s solution was to ask me to review all qualifications and unit standards contained in them, and produce new qualifications that met industry requirements, thereby encouraging port and stevedoring companies to not only register employees against the new qualifications, but more importantly, actually complete the required unit standards that led to the qualifications. I viewed this as an excellent opportunity, however I needed Hen Harris’s approval to take on this additional work. The way forward was quite straight- forward, with full cooperation from Graeme Talbot I put a contract for services in front of Ken whereby NZRT&LITO would contract CentrePort (me) to carry out this review of qualifications, with an appropriate fee paid to CentrePort for my services. The wording in the Contract for Service (as below) relating to the work to be performed was quite wide ranging, and certainly suggested to both Sarah and I that there were other opportunities, clearly within our areas of expertise, that did not necessarily require me to be permanently employed by CentrePort in the future. CentrePort agrees to provide specialist industry advice, guidance, facilitation and administrative services applicable to cargo-related and marine-related unit standards and national qualifications by way of one-off projects that are agreed between NZRT&LITO and CentrePort. Such one-off projects include, but are not limited to (i) reviews of unit standards and national qualifications; (ii) development of additional unit standards for inclusion within national qualifications; (iii) development and review and assessment resources; (iv) provision of assistance to industry participants relating to the establishment of training administration systems; and (v) other administrative tasks relating to NZRT&LITO’s coverage of the Stevedoring and Ports Industry Unit Standards as may be required. The review of cargo qualifications was completed by the end of the first quarter of 2002, new qualifications were registered with NZQA, and suddenly there was a clear industry take-up of those qualifications e.g. from a standing start of zero registered training agreements at the beginning of 2002, by April 2004 157 training agreements had been registered with NZRT&LITO, in June 2005 that number had increased to 232, and by August 2008 registered training agreements totaled 523. Equally importantly, the seeds for the potential of our own business had been well and truly sown. There was one other major project that came out of the review of cargo qualifications and that was the development of Learner Guides supporting the various unit standards contained within the qualifications. Up to this time there was a total lack of industry training resources that supported the cargo-related qualifications, with each port and stevedoring company left to develop their own material (assuming that they had the resources to do so), with no guarantee that any in-house developed material would address the specific requirements of unit standards contained within the qualifications. NZRT&LITO had Learner Guides supporting other industries that they represented and were keen to develop a suite of resources for ports and stevedoring, so it wasn’t surprising that Graeme Talbot agreed to our proposal to develop Learner Guides for the ITO. This project in its totality was researched and completed by Sarah over several months, with the following Learner Guides presented to, and approved by NZRT&LITO. • Plan & coordinate cargo operations • Supervise vessel cargo handling • Carry out cargo handling on & off vessel • Safe slinging of loads • Carry out signalman duties • Accident and emergency response • Accident investigation and follow u • Operate a straddle carrier • Apply safe work practices • Drive a motor vehicle in a port • Hazard management procedures in a port • Write a report Over the next few years we (Sarah in particular) would develop additional Learner Guides as well as Assessment Material, further cementing our relationship with the NZRT&LITO. Back to the Defence Force opportunity which had arisen, firstly throug
116 bound for Singapore over the Wellington wharves, and secondly because of my strong association with NZRT&LITO, the organisation responsible for training and assessment activities within the ports and stevedoring industry. In order for this opportunity to become a reality, a number of actions needed to be achieved, with the most significant actions including Start Training Ltd (STL) being registered as a company, specialised stevedoring trainers/assessors being contracted to STL, arranging access to ITO subsidies, CentrePort agreeing to host the training and making facilities available (such as trainers and training facilities), shipping companies allowing practical training on board their vessels, Ken Harris approving my STL role while remaining as HR Manager for the port, and most importantly, the NZ Defence Force accepting a proposal from STL to present a basic stevedoring training and assessment programme to their personnel. All were achieved relatively easily, for instance Ron McPherson was contracted as the principal trainer for practical, on-board training, with other trainers / assessors being contracted from CentrePort. More about Ron under the chapter that deals with STL. The only problem area was the accessing of subsidies, but that issue was overcome by entering into an arrangement with Vertical Horizonz, a private training establishment with ports and stevedoring accreditations. It would be the only time we would work with Vertical Horizonz, their contact point was very difficult to work with, and their 25% take was far too high for the minimal amount of work that they contributed. Before any training could take place, one other action was necessary and that was to advise the relevant unions that Defence Force personnel would be on port premises, and also on-board vessels for practical training and assessment. Accordingly I called John Murfitt, John Whiting, and Kevin Torbett from the Foreman’s Union (I seem to recall that there were a couple of others in attendance) to a meeting that was also attended by Captain “Mac” McColl who was the officer in charge of 5 Movements Company. The situation was explained to the union officials whose immediate and very loud reaction was “we’re not having 1951 all over again”! They were of course referring to the 1951 Waterfront Strike which lasted 151 days, during which time the army and navy were brought in to work the wharves, and the Waterside Workers Union was deregistered. Talk about long memories, and it took a bit of smooth talking, including a commitment to have Defence Force trainees kitted out in typical stevedoring gear with no sign of army fatigues, and that when on-board vessels, the trainees would be attached to the permanent workforce with usual ship’s gang numbers maintained at all times. Mac and I came away from that meeting with an agreement from the unions that they would not interrupt the training which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. The first Defence Force stevedoring programme took place in mid-2003, and was presented as a 3-module programme, each module being two weeks duration. The photo opposite shows two Defence Force personnel engaged in container lashing. The programme, which was a complete success, included mooring and unmooring vessels, packing containers, slinging loads, signalling, dangerous goods, and loading / unloading cargo on vessels. Several “soft” subjects (writing reports, number calculations, safe work practices) were also presented. This would not be the only Defence Force programme, STL would enjoy a long association with 5 Movements Company, but more of this in the next chapter. TO THE RIGHT IS PROBABLY THE LAST PHOTO taken of me during my time around the Wellington port. I’m sitting behind Charles Smith’s desk overlooking the container terminal with Charles definitely the photographer. This is the office in which I spent many pleasurable hours with Charles and Bob Field (and the occasional pilot who turned up) enjoying a bottle of red and solving the problems of the day when just about everyone else had headed home. The shirt that I’m wearing was a bit of positive rebellion (from my point of view) against normal management attire (shirt and tie), it was hi viz and enabled me to head out into the operational areas at short notice and without any delay. Not my idea, the Logistics Manager (Olaf Numssen) kindly gave me a couple of shirts from his department, but sadly my other management colleagues struggled to see any advantage in being so easily able to interact with our people at the coalface.
117 THE 2ND HALF OF 2003 AND THE ANNOUNCEMENT’S MADE that Ken has resigned. I actually can’t remember too much about his departure nor where he was heading to, but I do recall that there wasn’t too much dismay at the announcement and that for a period of time the Board’s Chairman, Nigel Gould stepped in as Executive Chairman pending the appointment of a new Chief Executive (who would start on 3 November 2003). It was about this time that Sarah and I started to have serious conversations about my future at the port and whether either of us wanted to go through yet another change of Chief Executive - mostly based on our most recent experiences of the confusing, frustrating and ambiguous idiosyncrasies of the outgoing Chief Executive. Additionally, the Willie Paurini fatality and the flow-on effects were taking their toll, not to mention an ongoing industrial dispute (including a less than memorable instance when the RMTU official, Todd Valster danced all over the hood of my car screaming abuse at me as I tried to drive through the picket line), plus other CentrePort employees abusing me as I drove through the main entrance, several of whom I had assisted in solving some personal issues that they were having and in a couple of instances, actually saved their jobs. On the morning of the second day of the picket, Karen Funnell, the Port Security Manager called me at home and said that she would remotely open the Aotea Quay gates when I was getting close, thereby avoiding the picket line, and hopefully irritating Valster and his mates who would have taken real pleasure in a repeat performance. This industrial dispute concerned the setting up of Central Stevedoring Ltd, an independent stevedoring company whose employees would transfer from CentrePort and be engaged on individual employment contracts, and without traditional union representation - a total anathema for the waterfront unions. My best mate, Sarah was seeing all of this when perhaps I couldn’t see the wood for the trees. It didn’t take too long however for Sarah to convince me that investing our time and effort into developing our own Company would be far more beneficial all round and certainly reducing my levels of stress, and so it was that we started the planning processes to enable my exit from the port. Knowing that I had a decent redundancy package and that it would be advantageous to depart with a solid financial head start into the new era, I packaged a proposal to Nigel Gould suggesting that two of my colleagues (Claire Hinton and Ray Kearns) could step up into senior management positions (as illustrated opposite) while absorbing the responsibilities that I had been performing. Both positions would report to the Operations Manager. To assist in the transition, I also suggested that for a period of 12 months I could provide advice and guidance to both of them from within Start Training Ltd. Acceptance of this proposal would see the position of Human Resources Manager being declared redundant, an eminently desirable outcome for all concerned.Claire Hinton Systems Executive CLIMB Management Systems Ray Kearns Employee Relations Manager Employee / Industrial Relations Start Training Ltd Advice & guidance from It’s probably fair to say that Nigel Gould was somewhat taken aback when I presented my thoughts to him, but he didn’t reject my approach, rather he suggested a follow-up meeting, probably to give him time to consider. We met again about a week later, with Nigel responding in a relatively positive manner although he was clearly concerned about dollars if a redundancy was to be declared. However his compromise was ok - he was proposing settlement of a personal grievance that I had “raised” which would result in a tax-free payment of $50,000, and a taxable amount of $100,000. In addition, I would be paid a bonus of $10,000 recognising my contribution to the business between 1 October 2002 and 30 September 2003, with the icing on the cake being a 12-month contract for service following my “retirement” with a monthly payment of $6,000 (taxable) for providing personnel development and management support services. It’s probably worth noting that during the 12-month retainer period, the new CentrePort management utilised my services for an actual 15 hours, meaning that my effective hourly rate over that 12- month period was $4,800! Nigel also confirmed a previously approved trip for me to DNV offices in Brisbane along with Ray Kearns. This trip actually took place at the beginning of December 2003 and was intended to provide Ray with his first exposure to management system
118 auditing in general and CLIMB in particular. Unfortunately Ray’s training would prove to be rather pointless as my recommendations for Claire and Ray to be promoted didn’t happen, rather the incoming Chief Executive brought in a number of people that she had previously worked with. This included the appointment of one lady as Human Resources Manager who, while having absolutely no experience within the port industry, also had zero experience in Human Resources. Not for me to say whether that worked out or not, but colleagues that I stayed in touch with were considerably less than complimentary about her performance, or lack of, with her time at the port being best remembered by bringing in home-baked scones before union meetings. Ray himself was moved back into operations and away from the employee / industrial role that I still believe he was particularly well suited for. On 24 October 2003 Nigel Gould released a memorandum to staff entitled Management Changes, which included the following: Graeme has indicated a wish to retire from CentrePort in order to pursue personal opportunities which he has identified. In his many years initially with the Wellington Harbour Board and more recently at CentrePort, Graeme has performed a key role within the company and he has made a significant contribution to many of the changes which have been affected on Wellington’s waterfront. Although he is leaving the company formally as of 31 October, it has been agreed that he will continue to provide a contribution to personnel development and management activities over the next 12 months, and so will continue to be a familiar face around the Port. The CentrePort directors and management wish him all the best with his new initiatives. During my last week a trip to Moore Wilson’s with Claire Hinton was arranged, with Claire holding the Company purse strings from which a farewell gift would be purchased. I cheekily suggested a cappuccino machine, Claire thought it was a good idea, so we wandered out with said item and headed back to the port. Riding my luck, I spoke again to Nigel and wondered whether I could take with me a framed photograph of the port that had been in my office for a few years - it had previously held pride of place in the Board Room. To my surprise, Nigel agreed, and that photograph (pictured right) now hangs proudly in my home office as a pretty impressive reminder of my time on the Wellington waterfront. Friday 31 October 2003, there was a farewell function in the Boardroom for both Roger Sullivan and myself - Roger also departing on the same day. Dinner followed afterwards at the Genghis Khan restaurant with a number of colleagues plus Sarah, her mum Pam who had come over from Perth, my sons Bevan and Elliot, and after 35 years, 165 days after first wandering into the Wellington Harbour Board’s Head Office at Queens Wharf on 20 May 1968, my career at the port had come to an end, and a new beginning with Start Training Ltd about to commence. Although the Company’s recognised bard, Bob Field had sadly passed away earlier in 2003, Claire Hinton was determined to mark my departure with a commemorative piece of poetry. Her epic words are reproduced below. ODE TO GCC 1. T’was 20 May ’68 on this very day, that Graeme C Cowan found his own way, into the Harbour Board (as it was then), to work in the office for a year, maybe ten. 2. He stayed a bit longer (I don’t quite know why), But he says himself that the time it did fly! One year ’til the next he hung on in there, The final count being into the 36th year. 3. I’m sure there are many good stories to tell, but to do so may actually not serve me too well!!! So suffice to say that bored he was not, And what he went after, he usually got!! 4. He looked after people things here at the port, He wrote them some letters and sometimes he taught. He sat at his desk, surrounded by paper, Often working at night, getting later and later.
119 5. Quite seriously folks, he had to work hard, And sometimes he had to be right on his guard, To be one step ahead of the rules and the regs, And on ISRS - boy - did he find his legs!! 6. That four letter word that all of us hated. Audit was looming, we waited and waited. And lo and behold, it happened at last, We did it! We got it! We finally passed! 7. Not to be happy with simply a four, He wanted to go on and get a bit more. We made it to six, yahoo we all said, But even at THAT he didn’t put it to bed. 8. He wanted to see something more for the port, Than simply a system that was “off-the-shelf” bought, CLIMB was the outcome of this little stint, And it’s just about ready to burst into print. 9. But alas he’s now going - he’s leaving us all To cope on our own, he’s tossed back the ball. To Featherston, over the hill he’s off to Leaving us here feeling so sad and blue!! 10. Cheerio to my colleague, my friend and my boss How will I manage to catch up with the goss? So leave us your phone numbers - all of them please! To help us get through the next months (years) with ease! Claire Hinton October 2003 THERE’S A COUPLE OF POSTSCRIPTS TO THE END OF MY TIME on the Wellington waterfront, the first one having particular reference to my days at the Wellington Harbour Board (WHB) which had been disestablished on 1 November 1989. On the first Saturday of every November since then, a reunion of ex-WHB staff took place at the Pines Cabaret in Houghton Bay, one of my favourite venues and owned and operated by Tony and Shirley O’Brien. Tony and I had played rugby together for Oriental Rongotai for a number of years in the mid to late 70’s. The 2026 reunion will be the 36th and final reunion of ex-employees of the WHB, father time has taken its inevitable toll, and the numbers have reduced to a point where it is no longer viable to hold this event. As far as my involvement was concerned, I had not attended any of the reunions until November 2022 when I happened to be in Wellington for a Midland St Pats cricket reunion that coincided with the WHB reunion. My reasons for earlier non-attendance related entirely to the days when I was responsible for managing the redundancies associated with the wind-up of the WHB, I knew that a number of employees that I had made redundant would be present at the Pines reunion function, and I had no wish of exposing myself to ill feelings or worse, personal abuse from any ex-staff member who continued to hold a grudge against me. I had certainly experienced that when the redundancy processes were happening in the late 1980’s. As it turned out I had no reason to be concerned. Apart from the fact that there weren’t that many in attendance, those who were there greeted me warmly, and it was great to catch up with a number of colleagues that I hadn’t seen for quite a few years. I spend a pleasurable few hours catching up with the likes of Tommy Malcolmson, Byron Barnett, Dick Carter, Pat Dixon, Tony Law, Ivor Pusey, Barry Kooistra, Neville Hyde, John Harris, Grace Gilfillan, Robyn Ramsay, Mike Pryce, Graham McEnirney and Jim Coutts, although it was sad to recognise that Jim was showing signs of early onset dementia. Best of all it was amazing to spend time with Clare Murphy (pictured above), my Executive Staff Unit colleague from way back in Graham Mulligan’s time, and my very good friend, Roger Sullivan. That’s Roger Sullivan standing (left) at the food counter. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the final reunion in November 2026, and from my experiences at the 2022 reunion I certainly wish that I had attended some earlier events. The second postscript relates to our initial venture into the property market when I was still employed at the port company. During the late 90’s Sarah had run a gardening business in Wellington and the Hutt Valley, with one of her jobs being caring for the gardens around a block of flats (Whakatiki Flats) located in Argyle Grove, Upper Hutt. While working there, Sarah would
120 discover that 3 of the flats (a block of 6 in total and pictured right) were listed for sale, and as she had recently attended a Robert Kiyosaki seminar in Sydney, Sarah saw an opportunity for us to secure our long-term financial security. Long story short, we made offers for all 3 flats - our offers were in excess of the asking prices, and all 3 were accepted, and Start Training now had a property portfolio. We would eventually register a new Company - Start Investments Ltd (SIL), with all properties transferred to SIL. None of our newly acquired flats were tenanted at the time, all of them required some work, with one of them needing to be emptied of the previous owner’s furniture and belongings, we had been told that he’s passed away. So you can imagine our surprise when cleaning out that flat, the front door opened, an elderly lady walked in, looked around and asked us, not that politely, what we thought we were doing? It turned out that her husband (they were separated) hadn’t died, rather he was living in the rest home literally across the road. Fractionally embarrassing as the flat had nearly been emptied, but there were no repercussions and we continued to refresh that flat and the other two and ensure that all were fully tenanted. It wasn’t too long before a 4th flat became available, which we quickly purchased and tenanted. This meant that we now owned all four end units, with the upstairs middle unit owned by Ty and Ella (pictured left during a visit to our home in Rockingham) and rented to a family member. The downstairs middle unit was the only one occupied by an owner - Pat (pictured right) who had lived in the property ever since they were built in the 1960’s. Because of the Body Corporate share structure that Whakatiki Flats operated under, Ty and Ella, Pat, and ourselves were directors of the company, with Sarah and I obviously holding the majority shareholding. While this was comforting if ever difficult or unpopular decisions were required, there was never a need to utilise our shareholding advantage. We had always intended that our shares in Whakatiki Flats would be our “superannuation” when retirement arrived - we prefer to consider retirement as “otherwise occupied”. That plan worked well until early 2024 when we were advised by the Upper Hutt City Council that in accordance with new legislation, Whakatiki Flats had been classified as “earthquake prone”. Definitely not good news, to remove that classification the entire building needed to be upgraded and at least meet increased minimum standards as required under New Zealand earthquake legislation. We looked seriously at this, seriously enough to have plans developed that would meet the new minimum requirements. Everything comes with a price of course, and we were advised that upgrading the building would cost between $900k and $1m. Not surprisingly, none of the directors were in a financial position to fund the upgrade and a decision was made to sell the property via tender on an “as is, where is” basis. Four tenders were received, the highest of which was close to 50% below the government valuation for the building. Although it meant that we would not realise the financial return that we would have otherwise expected on the sale of the building, we had no choice but to accept that tender, and on 1 April 2025 (not an April Fools prank) our interest in Whakatiki Flats terminated.
121 MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2003 AND SARAH AND I were now living in Featherston having relocated from Lower Hutt a month or so earlier. On the surface a strange location to establish a new business that intended to broker training and assessment activity within the ports and stevedoring industry, and possibly even more strange considering that on 3 November 2003 the only port that we had a direct connection to was CentrePort, courtesy of the 12-month contract that Nigel Gould had agreed to as part of my departure. As part of this contract CentrePort had agreed that Start Training (STL from here on) would manage assessment results achieved at the port, but no results were ever forwarded to us. Of course we had also created a strong relationship with the Defence Force as a result of the first basic stevedoring course that we presented to them. In addition, we were well regarded by the NZRT&LITO where we believed there were potential opportunities, so with some optimism we reckoned that at least for the next year we wouldn’t starve. WEDNESDAY 5 NOVEMBER AND I’M ON A FLIGHT to Dunedin and a marketing visit to Port Otago Ltd (POL). Actually this trip had been pre-arranged while I was still employed by CentrePort, with POL’s Operations Manager, Bruce Trainor (pictured right) indicating that POL were very interested in hooking a number of their employees onto the recently reviewed cargo handling qualification, and also interested in STL managing all of the required processes, including registering Training Agreements and results with NZRT&LITO. Well, Bruce wasn’t exaggerating, by the end of the day I’m on a flight back to Wellington with 30 Training Agreements tucked away securely in my briefcase, and a commitment from Bruce for the required training to commence in early 2004, with more trainees to follow. This was the start of an excellent relationship with POL that lasted until late 2017, not only resulting in 133 employees successfully completing National Certificates in Cargo Handling and/or Cargo Operations, but also providing STL with several other consulting opportunities - which will be elaborated on in future pages. Leaping ahead a few years from 5 November 2003, the photo below was taken in July 2007 with around 40 cargo handlers (including many of the initial 30 trainees) being presented with their National Certificates in Cargo Handling by POL’s Chief Executive, Geoff Plunket. The first of several such presentations. But before we even got close to a presentation ceremony STL had to ensure that appropriately qualified and experienced trainers / assessors were in place and available, not just for POL of course, but any other company who would contract STL’s services. Fortunately, because of the first basic stevedoring programme that we had presented for the Defence Force in mid-2003, STL had contracts in place with Pete Roche (left) for dangerous goods training, and Ron McPherson (right) for practical cargo handling training. Pete had spent seven years working as the Dangerous Goods Freight Manager for Tranz Rail Ltd, and prior to that he’d spent twenty years in the NZ Army Logistics Corp as an Ammunition Technician (Bomb Disposal). With considerable knowledge in both writing and presenting DG programmes, Pete became STL’s go-to person for any dangerous goods training requirements. Ron’s training in the practical aspects of cargo handling was very well received by the Defence Force but being domiciled in Auckland and with a client base predominantly around the top half of the North Island meant that his availability for STL, often at short notice, was extremely limited.
122 So a plan B was required, and it came in the form of one of my colleagues from CentrePort, Roger Sullivan who had departed on the same day that I did. Roger had set himself up as an independent trainer, specializing in practical cargo handling and crane work. With over 30 years’ experience on a wide range of equipment including container cranes and ships gear, Roger was a registered assessor with NZRT&LITO and had been an Advisory Group member when cargo handling qualifications were reviewed in late 2002, early 2003. Contracting Roger was pretty straight-forward, at that time his client base wasn’t extensive so his availability at short notice was reasonably certain. AS COMMITTED TO BY BRUCE TRAINOR, EARLY 2004 saw the commencement of training and assessment programmes for the 30 POL trainees who had been registered for the National Certificate in Cargo Handling. Before the first programme started, STL had received a significant fillip from NZRT&LITO’s General Manager, Graeme Talbot who had agreed that although not a Private Training Establishment (PTE), STL could receive training subsidies for unit standards completed by POL trainees, a totally unexpected bonus as the subsidy at that time was $18.00 per credit. To put this in perspective, a programme with 10 trainees in attendance that covered the non-practical but compulsory unit standards (safe work practices, calculations with whole numbers, writing a report, class 2 drivers’ licence, and driving a motor vehicle in a port) totaled 14 credits which meant a subsidy of $2,520. Normally only a registered PTE would be eligible to receive these subsidies, but Graeme Talbot was prepared to bend the rules as he recognised that STL was the only training provider within the ports and stevedoring industry interested in industry-based training, and therefore a source of increased credit achievement for the NZRT&LITO. Having the ability to pass subsidies back to POL significantly offset the cost of training to POL and certainly earned kudos for us. Trainee feedback from the initial programmes was also positive, and an excellent working arrangement with POL had been forged. The first POL programmes were presented by Pete Roche (dangerous goods), Claire Hinton (taking annual leave from CentrePort) for the non-practical, compulsory units, and Roger Sullivan (a mix of practical units - dependent on which trainees were available). Subsidies were approved, results were registered and all went well. Unfortunately a subsequent programme against practical unit standards threw a huge spanner into the works. Sarah and I received a phone call from Roger who advised us that POL management had just banned him from the port following a complaint received from the Waterside Workers Union. Apparently, the Union had discovered Roger’s previous involvement in the setting up of a non-unionised stevedoring company (Central Stevedores Ltd) in Wellington and objected strongly to his presence at POL. This caused two problems for STL: firstly, I had also been involved in establishing Central Stevedores through the development of individual employment contracts and therefore could have been tarred with the same brush as Roger, and secondly STL didn’t have another readily available cargo handling trainer with the appropriate accreditations. Fortunately, the local branch of the Waterside Workers Union never connected me with the Central Stevedores issue from Wellington, so STL’s management of POL’s training programmes was untarnished, which was just as well as I was now presenting the non-practical, compulsory units. Not being able to have Roger training at POL did present a challenge, but I think the words of Bryce Courtenay from his book Power of One i.e. “it’s not a matter of knowing the system, it’s knowing how to make the system work for you” probably best sums up the following solution that we identified and put in place. • POL employed three trainers (Alan Middleditch, Ben George and Colin Watterston - all pictured below), who were registered as practical cargo handling assessors with the NZRT&LITO. A proposal was put to POL that these three trainers would be sub-contracted to STL on a cost-neutral basis and perform practical assessments for POL trainees, with all results managed by STL through to the ITO. ITO subsidies would not be sought for assessments completed by the in- house assessors but would be applied for any assessment performed by external assessors supplied by STL. Alan Middleditch (left) demonstrating a twistlock function Ben George explaining the yard layout to a straddle driving trainee Colin Watterston supervising a theory assessment
123 POL management quickly agreed to this proposal (as did NZRT&LITO with whom STL was building a strong working relationship). For POL it meant a more efficient and focused utilization of their trainers, the onerous task (as far as their trainers were concerned) of administering assessment programmes was removed and taken over by a specialist organisation (STL), and ITO subsidies were still available when externally provided assessment activity occurred. As part of the arrangement, STL set up a moderation programme which required POL trainers to submit assessment samples to me on a six-monthly basis, these were moderated and written feedback provided to Alan, Ben and Colin. These moderation reports would be a valuable part of STL’s application to NZQA to become a private training establishment, but I’m jumping ahead of myself, a couple of years would elapse before we went down that path. So the potentially negative implications of Roger’s banning from the port had been successfully averted, and STL would continue to manage POL’s training and assessment activity not only against cargo handling qualifications, but also the higher level cargo operations qualification plus a distribution qualification until early 2012, when STL was sold to another private training establishment, AMS Group. More about the sale and on-going work with AMS under the final chapter of these memoires entitled THE LAST CHAPTER…..MAYBE. POL was definitely one of STL’s “Big 5” clients, probably #1, and not just because of the training and assessment activity that we were involved with - more will follow in future pages. POL’s commitment to industry training can be well demonstrated by photos of three future presentations that took place at the port.
124 In the immediately preceding photo, Ben George, one of POL’s trainers, is seated on the extreme left. This presentation was significant for Ben as he had recently achieved the level 4 Certificate in Cargo Operations, making him the first person in New Zealand to achieve all 3 cargo-related qualifications i.e. level 2 Cargo Handling, level 3 Cargo Handling, and level 4 Cargo Operations. There’s many stories that came out of the training and assessment programmes that we presented, but one in particular stays in my mind. It was a Monday morning and I was scheduled to take a group of 12 trainees through the non-practical, compulsory units, a two-day programme. I arrived at the port, registered as a visitor, and headed down to the Promotions Room where I set everything up and waited for my 12 trainees to arrive. They eventually filed in, and I started to get slightly concerned as the numbers grew and more chairs were pulled up to the tables, 12 more chairs in fact, I had 24 trainees in front of me. It seemed that a ship had been delayed leaving the previous port, which meant that the ordered labour had no work. One of the Shift Managers had seen the obvious solution - “Graeme’s taking a training programme, we have to pay the guys anyway so we’ll put extra bodies on the course”. Fortunately I had back up, Sarah had accompanied me on this trip so a quick phone call to her in the motel to get herself ready, be prepared to do some training, and I’ll pick her up in 20 minutes. I then tasked a couple of the trainees to arrange photocopying of extra material, headed off to collect Sarah and 40 odd minutes later we’re back in front of the class and set to go. One of the compulsory unit standards was Write an incident report, a reasonably straight-forward unit normally but one of the guys, Ryan Henry (known as Rope Head due to his impressive set of dreadlocks) was struggling not only to put words together, but also having spelling difficulties. Sarah and were circulating the room checking to see how everyone was going, and on several occasions Sarah worked with Ryan, giving him guidance as required. When his hand went up again and Sarah headed back in his direction, Ryan shook his head and plaintively asked ‘can I have Graeme to help, he’s not as tough as you”. It has to be recorded that Ryan was assessed as competent against the unit standard, almost certainly because of the encouragement that Sarah had provided, even though Ryan may not have seen it that way at the time! There was a sequel to this story. Alan Middleditch, POL’s senior trainer was approached by a couple of guys before the next training course that I was presenting, and asked whether my next programme could be another “short skirt Monday”, Sarah’s appearance and choice of outfit at the previous training had obviously left a lasting impression! We worked with a lot of excellent people at POL. Bruce Trainor certainly merits specific mention as he was our primary contact for the first 3 or 4 years, and he was totally supportive of industry training in general, and STL in particular. Bruce knew of my human resources background from CentrePort, and it wasn’t unusual for him to seek my views on HR issues that he was facing at POL. Bruce was well thought of by the cargo handling workforce, and I know that they respected him not only as an effective manager but also as an approachable one, even though he was somewhat adverse to lunching in the watersider’s messroom, which was not always the most welcoming of places for a manager to frequent. As well as the already mentioned Alan Middleditch, Ben George and Colin Watterston, other names jump to mind such as Wayne Muir, Deanna Matsopoulos, Ron Horner, Andy Pullar, Nicolle Timney, Lincoln Coe, Craig Bramley, Sean Bolt, Dean McBride, Paul Wright, John Scott, Brent Osborne, Graeme Pont, Jayne Hughan, Rob Pomare, Geoff Plunket, Lynn and Bob Smillie, Dan Currier, Kamilla Cooper and Geoff Robinson, and several of these good people would feature in the next phase of our involvement with POL that would continue until 2018, as related below. The announcement of Bruce’s pending retirement towards the end of 2005, whilst not totally unexpected, was a little unsettling for Sarah and I as we were unsure as to how our relationship with POL might continue. There was actually no need to be concerned, as on my next visit following Bruce’s retirement announcement I was introduced to his replacement, Ron Horner, who had previously been in an Operations Management role at Fonterra. Ron and I hit it off immediately, and the same happened when Sarah and Ron met for the first time. The three of us had a mutual understanding and knowledge of systems management and an appreciation of the work that POL needed to do, not only to improve their systems, but in many instances, to actually implement systems that weren’t in existence. Better still, we have remained good friends with Ron, the photo opposite taken at our home in Perth when Ro
125 A serious accident in early 2008 was the catalyst for on-going work with POL other than training and assessment. A rail shunt had left POL’s South Freight premises in the city, carrying flat rack containers. Unfortunately, one flat rack had not been properly secured, and during the shunt it jolted itself upright to over 450 and struck a pedestrian overbridge opposite Dunedin station. Luckily there were no pedestrians on the bridge at the time, had there been, serious injuries would have occurred, and possibly fatalities. Sarah and I were contacted by Ron with a request to head to Dunedin with urgency and develop a management system that specifically addressed South Freight’s operational activities, and highly focused on health and safety. Sarah and I were on site within two days, and we would discover that policies and procedures relating to South Freight were minimal at best, and non-existent at worst. POL was highly exposed, and our job was literally to implement a management system that would stand scrutiny by Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) as they investigated the accident. No doubt at all that this was an after-the-event request and totally reactive, and certainly not the way that Sarah and I would normally operate. However, we worked with South Freight personnel and developed a Management Operating System (cover page opposite) that was based on the principles of ISRS and which POL would eventually put in front of OSH, and would be accepted as a current and legitimate management system. POL was not prosecuted, and it’s fair to say that the work that Sarah and I completed played a substantial role in that non- prosecution. Because of our work with South Freight, Ron was now aware of the CLIMB management system that I had implemented at CentrePort, and he saw advantages in developing a similar system at POL. He knew that the required expertise did not exist within the port, and his solution was to contract STL to develop and implement a POL-specific management system that would eventually be known as the POL DNA Management System. This was a highly lucrative contract for STL, initially in place for two years, then extended for a further two years. The contract required both Sarah and I to be on-site at POL for one week each month, then working off-site at our Featherston office to continue development of the DNA system. When the contract was signed, and as a permanent reminder of what would be an extraordinarily rewarding assignment, Sarah and I treated ourselves to a bronze statue of the Southern Man, most appropriate considering the geographical location of the work. The South Freight project plus the contract to develop the DNA system encouraged me to compose the following ditty (which I never told Ron about): Mister Ron Horner Sat in a corner Making plans on a board with a dart. He said “let’s start with South Freight” Geoff Plunket said “that’s great” Which meant thousands of dollars for Start. Again applying ISRS principles, the POL DNA Management System was customized to POL requirements using, wherever possible, existing systems and procedures. These didn’t always exist, so it was often necessary to work with relevant staff to develop new systems. Fortunately, Ron was familiar with process software - ProMapp which made development work a lot easier as ProMapp enabled the consistent presentation of the very necessary operating procedures - in both written and graphical format. Over a two-year period and working with a number of key players (in particular Lynn Smillie, Kamilla Cooper and Dan Currier), the DNA Management System was completed, approved by management, presented to staff, and confirmed as POL’s primary health, safety and quality management tool. The next two years of our contract saw further system enhancement, and initial auditing of POL performance against DNA standards.
126 Jumping forward in time, the relationship that we had developed with Port Otago generally, then particularly with Ron Horner meant that even though STL was sold in early 2012, we would continue to be contracted for another six years, specifically for auditing POL performance against the requirements of their DNA Management System, their Maritime Transport Operator Plan, ACC’s Workplace Safety Management System, Worksafe NZ SafePlus, and AS / NZS 4801. In addition, I also received a request from the Board’s Chairman to provide him with an independent audit of Port Otago’s health and safety management plan against the requirements of AS / NZS 4804, and produce an audit report (including recommendations) for the Board of Directors of Port Otago Ltd. I was also contracted to moderate the assessment activity of POL’s in-house assessors. To say that POL took the findings of my audits and moderations seriously would be an understatement, literally every recommendation that I made was acted upon, even though eyebrows were sometimes raised during my debriefing sessions. I recall one instance when Geoff Plunket was present during an ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices (WSMP) debriefing, and he strongly challenged me about a non- conformance that I had identified. I listened to his views, then gave my explanation as to why remedial actions needed to be implemented if POL wished to retain their level of WSMP accreditation. Geoff quickly realised the shortfall in their system, and it was remedied by next audit. The photo to the left identifies issues from one WSMP audit, with the letters in red font identifying the accreditation level (T = tertiary, S = secondary, P = primary) that would be jeopardised if remedial actions weren’t implemented. The benefit of Sarah and I both being involved with the DNA development work was well demonstrated in late 2012 when I was scheduled to audit POL’s DNA compliance, but as CEO of OTTO the winding up of that organisation needed to take precedence. No major problem, we advised POL that Sarah would take my place and complete the audit. That happened, with Sarah presenting POL management, with Geoff Plunket present, with a full debriefing including recommendations for improvement. These recommendations were fully accepted, and the valuable interchangeability of Sarah and I was well demonstrated to, and accepted by POL. Memories of our time working with POL wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the propensity of their staff for concocting extraordinarily accurate nicknames for management staff e.g. Mr Bean, the Mortician, Bubbles, and Jack to mention four. But their best efforts were targeted at POL’s Health and Safety Managers that were there during our time. The first H&S Manager was always known as Doctor Death, reasonably harmless and nothing to do with any history of fatalities. The second was known as the Witchdoctor, pushing the envelope a little bit as the position holder was Maori. The third was known as Doctor Dolittle, and based on the stevedores’ often expressed view that the position holder seemed to be regularly unavailable, and never seen in operational areas, even though requested to do so on numerous occasions. There were more nicknames anointed on other managers, but these were the ones that I remembered best. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE FORCE continued to flourish and between 2003 and sale of the business in 2012, STL would present 10 basic stevedoring programmes (against the requirements of the Level 3 National Certificate in Cargo Handling), and 8 advanced stevedoring programmes (against the requirements of the Level 4 National Certificate in Cargo Operations). A total of 94 trainees from 5 Movements Company out of the Linton Military Camp would successfully complete the basic Level 3 stevedoring programme, and a further 38 trainees would go on to successfully complete the advanced programme Both programmes were included as part of Defence Force career progression planning.
127 STL held the status of an approved provider for the Defence Force and was the only provider nationally that did not have to tender for Defence Force work. Our earlier programmes with the Defence Force were presented in Wellington, with a local stevedoring company, The Loading Company hosting the trainees. Roger Sullivan was our practical trainer (taking over from Ron McPherson who had presented the first couple of programmes), while I took the “soft” subjects e.g. writing reports, safe work practices, hazard management etc. The training room provided by The Loading Company was pretty basic, a small prefab with no heating and which wobbled around in Wellington’s strong winds. This didn’t worry Defence Force management, Major Mac McColl being quite happy with the spartan conditions as his personnel were expected to deal with any situation that they faced. It's worth recalling one memorable event that occurred during one of my training sessions at The Loading Company. There was a knock on the door of the prefab and in burst Mac McColl, accompanied by a Staff Sergeant. Mac asked me to leave while he addressed the students, so I did and waited outside with Roger Sullivan who was due to take over for practical training. There wasn’t any Wellington wind that morning, but I swear the prefab swayed as Mac read a very loud riot act for at least 5 minutes. On his way out he winked and smiled at Roger and I and thanked us for the opportunity of “addressing his troops”. Apparently, something had happened at the Trentham Army Camp the night before, and Mac and his Staff Sergeant had driven down from Linton to remedy the situation. We never found out what had occurred at Trentham, but the demeanour of the students after Mac’s”address” was definitely subdued! After a couple of years hosted by The Loading Company, Roger advised that he believed that the practical training required by the basic stevedoring programme was becoming too difficult for only one trainer and further advised that he wouldn’t be available for future courses. With no other Wellington-based trainers, it was not only necessary to find other trainer options, but also another suitable venue, i.e. a port or stevedoring company. My past industry contacts were to prove absolutely vital, and a discussion with Kevin McCreanor from the Lyttelton Port Company led to future programmes being hosted at the Lyttelton port. Kevin was one of four trainers / assessors who would assist with the programme, the others being Gary Horan, John Rush and George Findlay. The photo above from September 2008 shows Defence Force trainees at the first programme held in Lyttelton. The “soft” subjects that I trained were carried out at two different venues, the first being the Lyttelton Fire Station (later destroyed in the Christchurch earthquake), and the second being the Burnham Military Camp where the trainees were accommodated during the programme. All in all, a very satisfactory arrangement, with a further two basic stevedoring programmes being completed at Lyttelton before the sale of STL. The advanced stevedoring programme continued to be hosted by The Loading Company, with Roger continuing as the practical trainer / assessor. I was also involved with this programme as there were two or three “soft” subjects for which I was a registered assessor e.g. Write a report and Apply sustainable environmental management practices as a workplace supervisor. The environmental unit drew excellent evidence from Defence Force trainees who had a wide range of knowledge of environmental issues, including visits to Antarctica where the protection of the environment is of high importance. The photo opposite shows Defence Force trainees outside The Loading Company offices during an advanced stevedoring course held in November and December 2010.
128 In amongst many great memories of working with the Defence Force, it was totally pleasurable for STL to act as a sponsor for the Army’s 2009 Movement Operator of the Year competition. This annual competition was for selected Movement Operator trade personnel from around New Zealand who compete in trade specific events to determine the Army’s top Movements Operator for the year in question. The photo opposite captures the 2009 Movement Operator of the Year, Lance Corporal Benno Schumacher being congratulated by yours truly. That Lance Corporal Schumacher was a graduate of STL’s basic, and advanced stevedoring programmes made this presentation even more special. That the Defence Force trainees enjoyed the stevedoring programmes is well demonstrated by an article (opposite) that appeared in the February 2005 issue of NZ Army News. Written by one of the trainees on the basic stevedoring programme, Private Damon Amos, it detailed the structure of the course “we did everything over the next two weeks from mooring and unmooring ships, driving cars off a car carrier where our sergeant “tactically” claimed the X5 BMW, packing container freight, and operating cranes on large container ships. We also brushed up on our forklift and general driving skills with practical tests set up around the wharf, and completed an International Maritime Dangerous Goods qualification that allows us to move dangerous goods by sea”. This course is extremely valuable for movement operators, who deploy annually for a ship offload in Antarctica”. Our Defence Force work was extended in early 2007 when the Devonport Naval Base contracted us to train sailors on overhead cranes, using the shore crane on the Calliope Doc as the training facility. Ron McPherson carried out the practical training for us. As the results needed to be registered with Opportunity - The Training Organisation (OTTO), this meant it was our first (of many) future interactions with OTTO. It also provided Sarah with the opportunity of operating a crane for the first (and only) time as she climbed and operated the Calliope crane under Ron’s supervision. A TELEPHONE CALL IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2004 would provide a most unexpected consulting opportunity and the chance to work again with GDM (Graham Mulligan). This opportunity was in Papua New Guinea - we would be based primarily in Port Moresby with GDM setting up a six-person management team to restructure 16 PNG ports. The Terms of Reference for this project stated the intention to develop the PNG Harbours Ltd into a strong commercial and corporate force operating to modern management practices and governance in preparation for privatisation. A couple of lines underneath this statement provided some clarity on the challenges that the management team would face i.e. The PNG Harbours Ltd was formed from the PNG Harbours Board. Both organizations have suffered the ravages of years of corruption, fraud, theft, dis-organisation, and lack of asset maintenance, with no commercial business focus. I reckon I chose to overlook these warnings, the opportunity was clearly an exciting one and the contract was pretty lucrative and so it was that on Sunday 23 May 2004 I was on a flight to Brisbane for an overnight stay before meeting up with GDM and other members of the management team the next morning and flying to Port Moresby.
129 As it turned out, there were only four of the management team who travelled to Port Moresby for an initial scheduled visit of one month, GDM obviously being one, Roger O’Brien from Upper Hutt (whose responsibilities would include project management, procurement, quality standards and auditing, contracting, negotiations, cathodic protection, asset maintenance, and electrical supply), Vic Morrissey from Brisbane (whose responsibilities would include all security precautions and systems, including the implementation of International Ship and Port Facility Security Codes and associated training), and myself - responsible for human resources and industrial issues, culture surveys, culture change, loss control and health & safety systems, position descriptions and employment contracts, and multi-level skills training. The two guys who didn’t travel were Tony Boyle, a qualified master mariner and a specialist in strategy and optimisation management for container terminals, ports, international shipping and transport, and Alan Dewsnap who would cover all IT issues. All in all, a pretty all-rounded team! The photo above is from day 1 at my hotel room at the Crowne Plaza and looking out at the Coral Sea at top left. It's sad to record that the four of us who travelled to PNG didn’t have any shot at commencing our restructuring responsibilities. For the single week that we were there, we were literally office bound as GDM negotiated potential project start times with PNG Harbours management plus a politician or two, but all to no avail. At the end of the week we were instructed to change our flights back to Australia to the Sunday and we would be advised when and if we would be required to return. That advice was never received. The photo on the left shows GDM at the Port Moresby Yacht Club in an unsurprisingly pensive mood shortly after changing our return flights. The massive amount of time and dollars that GDM invested in this project deserved a seriously better outcome, his commitment over many, many months was absolute and PNG Harbours were considerably worse off for not only ignoring, but more abysmally, rejecting his specialised international ports expertise and advice. STL ended up out of pocket (PNG never paid our consulting invoices - our only bad debt), but pretty inconsequential when compared to the losses that GDM would have incurred. Although our week in Port Moresby was non-productive, there were many memories and a few of them follow. We visited the Port Moresby Yacht Club on a couple of occasions, driven by taxi as it was far too dangerous to walk. Just before we arrived in PNG, a couple of JAG (Judge Advocate General’s Corps) Officers were assaulted immediately outside the gates of the Crowne Plaza, allegedly by a group of raskols, so there was no way we were walking anywhere. Once safely inside, the Yacht Club was a really good venue, food was great and there was an amazing view looking down the harbour - made even more remarkable by a photograph above the windows of the same view with Japanese zero fighters strafing the harbour during the 2nd World War. The other memory from the Yacht Club was the “clip-ons”, the local prostitutes who quite literally attached themselves onto the arms of male guests, generally those who had been playing the pokies. None of our group was clipped onto!!
130 On the Saturday before leaving, Roger, Vic and I were part of a Rotary Club trip into the interior, travelling in convoy and delivering desks and chairs to St John’s Community School in a little village called Kuriva. It was an interesting ride out there, our driver had a loaded pistol in his glove box which he proudly showed us, as well as informing us that the purpose of the bull bars on the front of his 4-wheel drive was to smash his way through any road block he encountered that had been put in place by raskols. He was also adamant that if he drove into a raskol, he wouldn’t be stopping and wouldn’t bother reporting it. The village itself was quite basic, but after getting used to the sight of the male population all carrying machetes, it was a really rewarding experience, we were made very welcome, and the presentation of desks and chairs for the school room was clearly appreciated. Vic Morrissey surveying one of the classrooms Some pretty happy children contemplating their new desks Staying at the Crowne Plaza and a lack of desire to venture outside of the hotel meant that the 5.00pm Happy Hour on the top floor of the hotel was a welcome venue. Actually, it was a “Happy Two Hours”, and heading to the bar for a glass of wine meant that you returned with a bottle of wine - every time. There were no nibbles, instead there were plates of food that never seemed to run out, and by the time two hours had passed, there actually wasn’t a raging desire to head down to the main restaurant. However we did, and while our time up in PNG may not have been productive from a restructuring perspective, we were definitely very well fed and watered. Pondering about a return to Port Moresby continued for a few weeks once I was back in Featherston, Sarah wasn’t that happy about the prospect but I had given GDM a commitment. During those weeks I followed PNG news on-line, which was where I read about a guy coming out of Port Moresby’s international airport and being accosted by two or three raskols (the generic term used in PNG to describe gang members or criminals) who demanded the guy’s wrist watch and rings. He refused to comply, with the result that the raskols macheted his hand off just above the wrist! I didn’t immediately tell Sarah about that one, nor about another story where several stevedores become angry about lack of payment for overtime and marched into the Foreman’s office where they assaulted the Foreman with rocks. Given that our management team would have been involved with port workers at all levels, it was with some relief that I eventually realised that a return trip to PNG was not going to happen! 2004 also saw the NZRT&LITO providing STL with another revenue source as they approached me to act as their National Moderator for the ports and stevedoring sector. Moderation was (and still is) effectively a quality check on registered assessors to ensure that they were carrying out assessments in a fair and unbiased manner, ensuring that all elements of unit standards were able to be fully demonstrated by candidates, and that all assessment records (and any associated evidence) were properly documented. Two of my colleagues (Roger Sullivan and Ron McPherson) were also contracted as ports and stevedoring moderators. As a registered assessor with the NZRT&LITO I was also (theoretically) subject to moderation by either Roger or Ron, but this never happened. I have often wondered whether either of those two good gentlemen were actually offered any NZRT&LITO- related moderation work.
131 Moderation activity was generally reactive i.e. reviewing assessor documentation, but there were occasions when on- site moderation (my preferred method) was required and the photo above recalls one of those instances at the Lyttelton Port Company where I moderated one of their marine assessors, Paul Lawson while he assessed a candidate against the requirements of a Pilot launch unit standard. My moderation work, which terminated with NZRT&LITO around the time of the Tranzqual rebranding, would prove not only useful as part of STL’s future PTE status, but in mid-2007 would lead to another moderation opportunity with the ITO having standard setting responsibilities for cranes and elevating work platforms i.e. Opportunity - the Training Organisation (OTTO). We didn’t know it then, but my future moderation role with OTTO would lead to major changes for STL and provide the catalyst for our eventual move to Western Australia. NZRT&LITO did hold annual assessor meetings for ports and stevedoring assessors, and because they were industry specific these meetings were very useful for highlighting assessment problem areas, different ways of obtaining evidence, issues with unit standards and/or assessment resources and probably most importantly, as a networking forum. The photo on the left is from a Wellington assessor meeting, and I’m in a deep and meaningful discussion with Gary Horan and Kevin McCreanor, both of them from the Lyttelton Port Company. When the NZRT&LITO later rebranded to become Tranzqual and new management were in place, the ports and stevedoring assessor meetings were dispensed with and its industry assessors were included in a very cumbersome, all industries assessor forum, which not only focused almost entirely on driving and licencing assessment issues but which was also extraordinarily poorly presented. Changing industry-specific assessor meetings to one all-inclusive meeting was definitely not one of Tranzqual’s finest decisions! 2005 SAW A DRAMATIC CHANGE IN THE WAY THAT STL would present itself in the future. As a “training brokerage” company, STL was reliant on the goodwill of the NZRT&LITO for the payment of training subsidies, normally reserved for registered PTE’s. Graeme Talbot had encouraged us to become a PTE, and even went so far as providing a couple of application examples to help us. Unfortunately these examples were poorly written, and in February 2005 when we decided that becoming a PTE would be advantageous for us, it was an easy decision to write our own quality system, with Sarah carrying out the bulk of the development work against NZQA’s Quality Assurance Standard for PTE’s. As part of submitting our application, NZQA required evidence that we had the support of industry. Probably not surprisingly, the NZRT&LITO and the Stevedoring and Ports Association (who generously provided a financial contribution towards our application) happily provided letters of support. In addition to these two organisations, I think it’s fair to say that we were overwhelmed by the confidence shown by the following organisations: Toll Owens; NZL Group; New Zealand Army; Winstone Aggregates; The Warehouse; Ports of Auckland; Eastland Port; Port of Tauranga; Westgate Port Taranaki; Port of Napier; CentrePort; Port Nelson; Lyttelton Port Company; Prime Port Timaru; Port Otago Ltd; South Port; Southern Cross Stevedores; Auckland Stevedoring; Independent Stevedoring; and Omniport Napier. We hadn’t worked with some of these companies, but most would become clients in the future. There’s a huge lesson here around the importance of industry contacts as I personally knew all of the signatories to the letters of support through my HR days at CentrePort, and through my involvement with the Stevedoring and Ports Association. If I had conducted myself in a less than professional manner at any time, I am confident that my industry credibility would have suffered and the letters of support that STL clearly needed would not have been so willingly provided.
132 Late November 2005, our application for registration as a Private Training Establishment was submitted to NZQA. Sarah would later compare our application (on the left) to a full-term pregnancy - it took 9 months to prepare and was a hefty beast when it eventually saw the light of day! It took NZQA several months to consider and finally approve our application, and we received formal advice that we had been granted registration by letter dated 28 July 2006 together with a registration certificate (right). We were also advised that STL could use the following statement on certificates, publications and in publicity material: “Registered as a private training establishment by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority under the provisions of the Education Act 1989 and its subsequent amendments”. With registered PTE status we were now able to work with a number of other Industry Training Organisations, such as Competenz, NZITO, FITEC, and Opportunity - The Training Organisation (OTTO). Of these, OTTO was the most significant as it was the standard setting body for cranes, therefore having a strong relationship with ports and stevedoring. During 2006 STL worked with OTTO on a few occasions when presenting crane training and assessment programmes, with our relationship with OTTO hitting new levels in 2007. Becoming a PTE meant that our quality system was subject to regular auditing by NZQA, and our first audit was scheduled for February 2007. The purpose of these audits was to “obtain reasonable assurance that STL is a sound and stable provider, has effective quality management systems in place, and is substantially achieving its goals and objectives as required by the Quality Assurance Standard for PTE’s.” The Audit Report stated that: “STL met all requirements of QA Standard One” - an excellent result with our next audit scheduled for February 2008. That audit took place, with the Audit Report stating that: At the 2008 audit, STL again met all requirements of QA Standard One.” The success of this audit meant that we were placed on a two- year audit cycle (next audit in February 2010), but before this occurred, NZQA dropped their auditing requirements and introduced a new process - External Evaluation and Review (EER). EER assessed a PTE’s performance against two factors i.e. Educational Performance, and Capability in Self-Assessment, with these two factors receiving one of the following four ratings: Not Confident; Not Yet Confident; Confident; Highly Confident. STL’s EER evaluation took place on 4 May 2010, and a “Highly Confident” result was achieved for both Educational Performance, and Capability in Self-Assessment. This was the highest level that could be achieved, and we would have been one of the first PTE’s to achieve this outcome, which was accompanied by attaining a Category 1 status and moving onto a four-year EER cycle. A totally satisfactory result, and one that would seriously enhance the future salability of STL, but that would be a couple of years away. There’s one great memory from our EER just as it was starting, and that was when one of the two evaluators asked our Distribution trainer, Chris Campbell what he thought made the Crusaders rugby team so successful (Chris was from Christchurch). Sarah was having none of this and advised the evaluator “We’re paying for this, you don’t ask those questions on our time!” The evaluator certainly didn’t get a response from Chris and didn’t ask again, the tone in Sarah’s voice was certainly recognised! Mid-2005 and a request from Graeme Talbot for STL to present a proposal to complete a Careers Pathway Project within the Bus and Coach industry sector, an ITO initiative under their industry leadership obligations. The primary requirement was to identify the various roles within the Bus and Coach sector and produce job descriptions for each identified role. This sat comfortably with my previous HR role at CentrePort (I suspect this is why Graeme approached me), and so a proposal was submitted and approved. A couple of days were required to be spent with the Red Bus Company in Christchurch where sufficient information was collected to enable the development of (i) an organisational chart for a typical bus and coach company, (ii) 33 position titles and the generic tasks/responsibilities performed by people holding those positions, and (iii) Entry
133 Pathway (experience or types of employment) and Qualifications Pathway typically sought by employers when seeking new entrants into the bus and coach industry. In early September 2005 Sarah and I attended an industry forum at the Port of Napier where Graeme Talbot from the NZRT&LITO outlined the ITO’s requirement, as part of its funding obligations to the Tertiary Education Commission, to undertake an Industry Leadership Project. His suggestion for this Leadership Project was a ports and stevedoring industry-specific survey that focused on manpower and skill / training needs over the next 5 - 10 years, including industry views on the possible development of a lower-level cargo handling qualification that could be offered to potential industry entrants. While his suggestion was well received and approved by the group, I well remember one of the forum attendees asking Graeme who he would get to carry out this project, to which Graeme looked directly at Sarah and I and with a smile on his face replied I think I know just the people”. Following the meeting’s conclusion Graeme confirmed his intention to offer us the work, with the bronze eagle on the right being a purchase that we made after leaving the meeting as a celebration of Graeme’s offer. It wouldn’t be the last time that we made a celebratory purchase. The time frame for this project was tight, we had until the end of 2005 to produce a final report. Our research necessitated visits to all ports and the stevedoring companies located at those ports. The final report identified 30 participating companies and profiled the industry by (i) numbers currently employed; (ii) current age profile by employment category (stevedoring, marine, and engineering); (iii) planned recruitment (12 months, 12 months to 5 years, 5 years to 10 years) by employment category; and (iv) numbers of new recruits requiring full training over the same timeframes. The report also identified five strategic issues i.e. a land-based ship’s crane training facility; apprenticeships; promotion of the industry; engineering personnel; and a lower-level qualification. Recommendations relating to all five strategic issues were made. The report was presented to the Tranzqual ITO (having rebranded from the NZRT&LITO) who in turn presented the findings to a meeting of the Stevedoring and Ports Association in March 2006. That meeting decided to survey industry members as to the interest in, and potential uptake of a land-based ship’s crane training facility. Probably not surprisingly Tranzqual also contracted that work to STL, with a survey being completed in May 2006 and a report produced that summarised replies that had been received from 25 of the 30 companies surveyed. There was reasonable interest shown with 16 companies responding positively and indicating that over a five period, 663 employees would require training and assessment in ship’s crane operations. The results of that survey were presented to the Stevedoring and Ports Association, and from that meeting a decision was made for an Industry-based Strategic Training Plan to be developed by Tranzqual, and again not surprisingly STL was engaged to develop that plan. At a meeting in Lyttelton during September 2006, a Strategic Training Plan for the ports and stevedoring industry was formally adopted. This was the 1st plan produced by the Tranzqual ITO and was understood to be the 1st plan produced by any ITO as part of their leadership role in industry training, as required under Government policy at the time. An excellent result for all parties involved, but sadly only one of the four strategies (reconfigure cargo handling qualifications) would been seen through to completion. EARLY 2006 SAW SARAH AND I UNDERTAKE the first of several marketing trips around the country. The positive reaction from port and stevedoring companies that we received following our visits in late 2005 regarding the skill / training needs project left us with little doubt that there were major benefits to be achieved from regular client visits. The purpose of our initial marketing trip was fourfold: (i) to advise industry participants of the progress of our PTE application; (ii) to touch base with existing clients to make sure that our services were meeting, and preferably exceeding their expectations; (iii) to introduce ourselves to potential clients; and (iv) as we were driving around the country, to enjoy New Zealand and see parts of it that perhaps we
134 would otherwise not visit. Our first trip took in the North Island, leaving our base in Featherston and heading to Napier where we visited the port and other stevedoring companies based there. After an overnight stay we headed to Gisborne, visiting the port and one stevedoring company that was part of the Southern Cross Group. Our accommodation in a Gisborne motel was delightful, a 50-metre stroll to the beach with the port visible in the distance. Another overnight stay with Tauranga being the next target, again with the port and several stevedoring companies visited before heading on to Auckland and the head office of Southern Cross Stevedores. We didn’t visit Ports of Auckland as they had consistently stated that they weren’t interested in industry-based training, literally preferring to do their own thing. From Auckland it was up to Whangarei for a meeting with Northland Stevedoring, another member of the Southern Cross Group, and then the longest part of our journey as we headed down to New Plymouth and meetings with the port company (Westgate) and another Southern Cross affiliate - New Plymouth Stevedoring Services. The last part of our North Island marketing trip had us driving to the Linton Military Camp where we caught up with members of 5 Movements Company, particularly Major Mac McColl who was a superb supporter of STL. Our South Island marketing trips required us to fly into Christchurch for meetings with the port company and one stevedoring company - Lyttelton Stevedoring Services. Picking up a rental car we headed to Timaru, again meeting with the port and yet another Southern Cross affiliate, Timaru Cargo Services. Then a leisurely drive to Dunedin for important meetings with Port Otago - important not only because of their commitment to STL in managing their training and assessment activities, but also because of our suspicion that there were further opportunities to work with the port, and that suspicion would become reality in the not-too-distant future. Another leisurely drive took us to Invercargill and a couple of nights spent in an excellent B&B at Bushy Point, Otatara out near the coast. A visit to Southport at Bluff was our final call. There’s a couple of outstanding memories from our first South Island trip, the first one taking place in Christchurch shortly after arriving on the Sunday night when we found a Chinese restaurant which was just opening for the evening. We were the first two customers, and when the waiter came to take our drinks order we asked for two beers. He replied, “one beer”. We said that’s fine and asked what type of beer, to which he again replied, “one beer”. We finally understood that he was telling us that the restaurant literally only had one bottle of beer, which we ended up sharing. Not quite sure how later-arriving customers would have got on if they had also requested an ale or two, but perhaps Sarah and I can now state that we have actually drunk a restaurant dry of its beer stocks! The second memory is a stress level comparison between the Operations Manager of Lyttelton Stevedoring Services and the Port Manager from Southport Ltd in Bluff. We met the Lyttelton Stevedoring Services Manager around 9.00am on a Monday morning, and Sarah and I both agree that we have never met any other person showing such high levels of pressure and anxiety that this particular manager displayed. Given it was the start of the first day of the working week we were both seriously concerned as to where his stress levels would have risen by the end of that working week. I can’t recall the particular manager’s name, but I have a strong suspicion that he was replaced in the position not long afterwards. And it was around mid-afternoon on the Friday of that same week when we met with the Port Manager (Nigel Gear) at Southport in Bluff) and the contrast between the two managers couldn’t be greater. Nigel’s feet weren’t actually on the desk but they might as well have been given how laid back and relaxed he was. I was fortunate enough to meet Nigel on several future occasions and his attitude and disposition was totally unchanged. In the early days of STL our focus was quite industry-specific, we were well-known within that industry (ports and stevedoring), and as a member of the Stevedoring and Ports Association our profile was consistently high. Our marketing visits became an invaluable tool in further reinforcing our profile, meeting face-to-face with existing clients and being able to further cement our relationships with them, while also putting ourselves in front of other companies who at that time were not STL clients, but in many instances would become clients in the future. Yes, there were probably less expensive ways of introducing ourselves and the services we offered e.g. telephone calls, emails etc., but the value of face-to-face contact with participants in the industry that we operated cannot be overstated, and I strongly believe that our marketing initiatives w
135 relevant qualifications were genuinely equivalent. The major recommendation from the project was that any overseas applicant holding an overseas qualification relating to the ports and stevedoring industry and who wished to have that qualification recognised against the NZ equivalent, would require their competency to be assessed against the requirements of the relevant NZ qualification by way of Recognition of Current Competency processes. Halfway through September 2006 I received a telephone call from Roger O’Brien (he was one of the management team that travelled to Papua New Guinea in 2004) and advised me that he was again working with GDM, this time in Sydney for the Cross City Motorway (CCM) - actually CCM was primarily an underground tunnel that was intended to remove east-west traffic between Darling Harbour and the eastern end of William Street. It was initially anticipated that a major benefit of the tunnel (which was tolled) would be the reduction of congestion by the taking of up to 90,000 vehicles per day off Sydney streets. Roger explained that CCM was in receivership (probably because actual daily vehicle usage was around 30,000, considerably less than anticipated), GDM had been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Roger was contracted as Chief Operating Officer, and amongst other issues they had problems complying with the NSW Road Transport Authority (RTA) quality requirements - and would I be interested in assisting in the development of an integrated management system that solved their quality issue? The answer was emphatically yes, and I headed to Sydney for an initial evaluation of what I would be expected to achieve. I was initially meant to work alongside an ex DNV auditor, Brian Govindesamy who had been contracted earlier by Roger O’Brien on GDM’s recommendation. I suspect Brian’s brief had been to develop an integrated management system and I would assist him in that process, but there was nothing forthcoming from him and Roger made a reasonably quick decision to terminate that arrangement and engage me for all quality- related work. So my first task was to present GDM and Roger with a Terms of Reference that stated a required output of: An integrated management system (IMS) designed specifically for Cross City Tunnel (including the Operator) that incorporates elements of health, safety, environment, and quality, and that is capable of external audit, as a minimum, against ISO 9001:2000 and AS 4801. Other elements such as Finance may be incorporated into the IMS in the future. The Terms of Reference was very quickly agreed to and I headed to Sydney on 8 October 2006 to commence work on the IMS (my working space is shown in the photo opposite). My first visit was just short of one month, and over the next year I would travel to Sydney on a monthly basis, generally for two weeks at a time followed by off-site work being completed at our Featherston offices. On one occasion (April 2007) I was in Sydney for five weeks during which time the IMS was audited against the RTA quality requirements. That audit was successfully achieved and the RTA’s Independent Verifier issued CCM with the required Schedule 9 Certificate - the outcome that I had been engaged to achieve. While this project provided many highlights there were also controversial moments. The relationship between GDM and the then NSW premier, Morris Iemma was hostile and not helped by CCM suing the State Government over the reopening of several roads which impacted negatively on vehicle volumes through the tunnel. On one occasion Iemma threatened to pull out of a business lunch unless GDM’s invitation was withdrawn, even though GDM had previously attended similar functions with other senior State ministers. GDM never backed down to anyone and certainly gave as good as he got, when asked to compare Morris Iemma and the former premier, Bob Carr, he said: “One’s a leader and one’s not”. That’s GDM and I on the right in his CCM office. During the twelve months I was involved with CCM, I was provided with accommodation at the Holiday Inn hotel right at the entrance to Kings Cross. I didn’t need to wander through Kings Cross to get to and from the CCM offices but strolling through
136 the Cross in the evenings became a regular occurrence as one of GDM’s preferred eating establishments was the Little Penang, a Chinese / Malaysian restaurant situated on a side street running off the centre of Kings Cross. Exotic meals that were enjoyed in an outdoor setting, and excellent service (probably because we turned up regularly with GDM making sure that the Little Penang management were well aware that we would keep coming back) meant that we definitely had a restaurant of choice. The CCM project, coupled with the 2004 PNG project and later a quality project in 2018/19 with Chalmers Industries in Melbourne meant that consulting work generated by GDM definitely placed him in our “big 5” client list, and if we had a “big 5 enjoyment” list, he would certainly be top of that list. The timing of the CCM project couldn’t have been better as just before it commenced in early October 2006, Sarah and I had purchased our first (and only) commercial premises, the Anderson Building (c 1876) on the main street of Featherston. There were a few reasons for acquiring the Anderson Building - we already owned some rental properties and a commercial investment seemed like another step up the property ladder, we needed more office space as our STL office was located at home and we had just taken on a staff member who was working out of a spare bedroom, and the Anderson Building needed a little bit of work, a challenge that Sarah couldn’t resist. The following three photos show the “little bit of work” required including earthquake proofing, and it’s probably fair to say that I don’t look overly enthusiastic at what was in front of us! Our original plan was for the ground floor to be divided into 3 units, one of which was quickly leased as a café, while the other two would be advertised as available for lease. All of the first floor would become STL offices. A total refit of the entire building was required, even to the extent of a relevelling of the car park at the rear of the building, not to mention an extraordinarily unpleasant and rather tricky job of removing rubbish of all descriptions that had been tossed into a rather deep well adjacent to the carpark. Sarah and our newly hired employee, Erin bravely took on the challenge of clearing the well, while a local Greytown company (Pete’s Joinery) was engaged to literally gut the building and renovate it to required building standards. A small world connection came out of Pete’s Joinery - Pete’s wife had previously been married to Paul Wright, the Operations Manager from Port of Wellington who was made redundant in 1995, and who I would later meet up with at POL. There were some interesting challenges e.g. the requirement to earthquake- proof the building (there was a major faultline about a kilometre away), and part of the earthquake-proofing structure that was constructed can be seen on the floor in the photo (to the left above) where I’m not looking too happy.
137 Access to the first floor was also problematic, the existing internal staircase was extremely narrow and made it almost impossible to move large items of furniture from one level to the other, solved by the creation of external stairs that led to double doors on the first floor and the inclusion of a rather pleasant balcony area. Almost all of the planning around the acquisition of, and then the renovation of the Anderson Building can be directly attributed to Sarah. From conception to completion, the project ran for nearly twelve months and during this time Sarah was not only fully involved in the day-to-day running of STL, but she also looked after the home front as I spent months working in Sydney, she completed a major research project commissioned by the NZRT&LITO i.e. a ports and stevedoring qualification equivalency project that compared the structure of New Zealand ports and stevedoring qualifications against those of Australia and Great Britain, identifying similarities and areas where each country’s qualifications differed. Then of course Sarah was liaising regularly with our Greytown-based contractors and resolving renovation issues as they arose, and just because she didn’t have enough to do, Sarah spent many hours, together with Erin decorating the newly renovated rooms on both floors, with the photograph on the right demonstrating what I’ve always thought to be a bizarre level of enjoyment. Once the renovations were fully complete, STL offices were moved from home to the first floor, and a café - The Pantry - opened downstairs. Unfortunately this business didn’t last too long (possibly influenced by a ghost scare) and for a period of time the only tenant of the Anderson Building was STL, not quite what we had in mind. A solution was presented by our employee Erin and her partner Tony, who not only wanted to open their own café (Cornucopia) downstairs, but they also wanted to lease two of the three downstairs units. We agreed to this arrangement, lost Erin as an employee but had the building three quarters tenanted. It wasn’t long before we were approached by Tony and Erin again with a request to also lease the first floor for their living accommodation, again a request that we agreed to. This also meant that STL offices were relocated into the remaining downstairs unit, and the building was finally fully tenanted. The following two photographs show our office spaces once we moved downstairs, Sarah’s office on the left and mine on the right. Unfortunately, business acumen was not a strong suit for Tony and Erin, and it wasn’t long before they advised us that they could no longer afford two downstairs units and needed to change the terms of the lease to operate Cornucopia out of one unit. That arrangement was put in place, and we now contemplated the future use of the middle unit, with no realistic prospects of attracting a viable, long-term tenant. Our solution was to redesign the middle unit, provide access from STL offices, and open an Art Gallery (Sén Sayt - as named by Sarah, meaning “of the senses”). Our focus was to promote local artists from the Wairarapa and over the life of Sén Sayt we displayed the works of a significant number of rather talented artists.
138 Moving into retail did mean that we had to be physically present in the Gallery, including weekends when there was reasonable traffic passing through Featherston. Sarah took most of the responsibility for the extra hours, and whilst we did achieve a number of sales, it’s fair to say that our home was the final destination for several pieces of artwork that we simply couldn’t resist purchasing. The following two photos show one section of the Art Gallery in the middle unit, and the fully renovated Anderson Building with the entrance into Sén Sayt and our office on the left-hand side of the building, adjacent to the “open” flag. The bench in the Art Gallery photo (below left) now resides with us in Perth. Situated in the Wairarapa meant that apart from our regular contractors (e.g. Pete Roche, Chris Campbell, Roger Sullivan and Ron McPherson), walk-in visitors to our new premises were few and far between - driving over the Rimutakas proved to be too much of a challenge for a lot of people. We did have a surprise visit from Neil Calvert (ex-Leonard and Dingley) whom I knew from Stevedoring and Ports Association days, and also from Brisbane-based Vic Morrissey and his wife Christine (pictured right) who were travelling through New Zealand. Vic and Christine owned a Registered Training Organisation (the Australian equivalent of New Zealand’s PTE’s), and Vic was one of my colleagues in the four-person management team that travelled up to Papua New Guinea in May 2005. IN EARLY 2007 I APPROACHED TRANZQUAL ITO AND ADVISED them that there was a serious deficiency in their Level 3 National Certificate in Cargo Handling, specifically that it was possible for someone who had never stepped foot on a vessel to achieve the qualification. I had discovered this flaw by looking at the qualification and half-seriously wondering whether I could achieve it, although my initial thoughts led me to believe that it wouldn’t be possible. However, because of how the qualification was structured, I discovered that it was completely possible to achieve the 5 compulsory unit standards (none of which required cargo handling exposure or access to a port), then select a range of optional non-port specific unit standards (such as forklift operation, a range of driver licencing endorsements, first aid, suppressing fires, reporting and investigating accidents, hazard management, manual handling of goods etc) to make up the balance of the qualification. Tranzqual were initially skeptical but quickly changed their mind when I registered a training agreement to complete the qualification for myself - without going anywhere near a vessel. I would go on to achieve this qualification as captured below on the left, and also arranged for one of our distribution trainers, Chris Campbell (zero experience in the port industry) to
139 complete the same qualification (receiving his certificate below right), before the reviewed qualification was registered by NZQA in mid-2008. Not only did Tranzqual contract Start Training Ltd to facilitate the review of the existing Level 3 cargo handling qualification but also contracted us to review the existing Level 4 cargo operations qualification and develop a new introductory Level 2 cargo handling qualification – as envisaged by the S&PNZ Strategic plan that had been approved back in September 2006. This project was successfully completed by the end of 2007 with the deficiency in the Level 3 qualification solved by the removal of two unit standards (Carry out cargo handling on and off vessels, and Describe care and handling of cargo lifting equipment and safe slinging of loads) out of the elective section of the qualification and making them compulsory unit standards. The work didn’t finish there, new Learner Guides and Assessment Resources were required for all three qualifications, and again Start Training was contracted to develop these resources. Sarah and I shared that load, with all resources developed and approved by the end of January 2009. From a project that started with me merely wondering whether I could achieve a qualification, my musings turning out to be rather lucrative for Start Training with total project income of $75,650 (excluding GST). I’ve just referred to Chris Campbell achieving the National Certificate in Cargo handling so it’s timely to mention how our connection with Chris started in early 2007. Our on-going relationship with Port Otago had resulted in interest being shown by their Warehousing Manager, Deanna Matsopoulos in registering her warehousing staff onto the National Certificate in Distribution. This was an excellent opportunity for us, however at that time we didn’t have a distribution trainer / assessor on our books. I approached Tony Lansdown from Tranzqual and asked him whether he could recommend anyone to us. The only name he came up with was Chris Campbell who at that time was self-employed with his company called Evolve Consulting. Sarah and I met with Chris at an Indian restaurant in Lower Hutt, we immediately hit it off, with Chris as keen as we were to develop a working relationship. Our first project for Chris was with Port Otago, and a number of their staff successfully completed the Level 2 Distribution qualification. There would be further distribution opportunities with Port Otago, and later with South Port. Our relationship continued to grow, and a partnering arrangement was entered into. This arrangement maximised and enhanced the services provided by STL and Chris, with Chris continuing to carry out training and assessing, following which he would pass on the results to STL for processing through to the Tranzqual ITO. Our responsibilities would include the gaining of applicable subsidies which we were able to achieve as a registered PTE, a mutually satisfactory arrangement all round. Clients under this arrangement included Khatmandu Ltd, Sika NZ Ltd, Linfox Logistics Ltd, Toll Logistics Ltd, and Peter Baker Transport Ltd (PBT). The photo above captures a presentation ceremony of trainees from PBT, with Chris 4th from the left.
140 Over the years that this partnering arrangement was in place, STL successfully applied for National Certificates in Distribution (Levels 2 and 3) for 140 trainees from these companies, all trained and assessed by Chris. Working with PBT would be further cemented by the signing of an Enterprise Training Contract. Under this contract, PBT committed to 80 employees entering into training agreements towards Level 2 and Level 3 Distribution qualifications, with STL managing all aspects of PBT’s training and assessment activities. Chris, quite naturally, was the trainer / assessor. A second Enterprise Training Contract was signed with Southern Cross Stevedores Ltd (SXS), the parent company of a number of subsidiary stevedoring companies and represented in 10 ports throughout New Zealand. STL’s role was to manage the day- to-day training and assessment activities of SXS, including in-house trainers / assessors, to assist their trainees in achieving National Certificates in Cargo Handling. Chris O’Driscoll, PBT Group General Manager, signing the Enterprise Training Contract, together with a rather interested onlooker! Peter Sims from Southern Cross Stevedores and myself at the signing of the Enterprise Training Contract At the time of STL sale to the AMS Group, 125 trainees from PBT had achieved either the Level 2 or Level 3 Distribution qualifications, while 51 trainees from SXS had achieved the Level 3 Cargo Handling qualification. While Chris wasn’t involved with the SXS Enterprise Training Contract, his work with PBT was outstanding and contributed enormously to the success that Sarah and I would achieve over the years with STL. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the contribution to industry training within the ports and stevedoring industry by Peter Sims, who I first met through our mutual involvement with the New Zealand Stevedoring and Ports Association. Peter, who had preceded me in representing S&PNZ on the Board of the NZRT&LITO, became a huge supporter of STL, and the Enterprise Training Contract that he signed on behalf of SXS had, at the date of STL’s sale in early 2012, resulted in ??? SXS employees having training agreements registered, with ?? of those employees successfully completing the level 3 National Certificate in Cargo Handling. Peter’s influence didn’t cease at his retirement. His SXS successor responsible for training, Brendan Woodnutt would commit to the development of a training manual that addressed key requirements of the level 3 qualification, and the development of that manual (cover page opposite) was contracted to STL. The result was a comprehensive training document, customised specifically for SXS stevedoring activities, and addressed health and safety, numeracy and literacy, and operational requirements of the qualification.
141 AN UNEXPECTED TELEPHONE CALL IN AUGUST 2007 would have huge implications for STL in the future, but those implications weren’t immediately obvious. The call was from Ian Grooby (pictured left), the Chief Executive of both the Crane Association of New Zealand (CANZ), and Opportunity - the Training Organisation (OTTO), and he asked whether I would be interested in being contracted to the role of National Moderator for Cranes, reporting directly to Ian as CEO of OTTO. This was definitely an offer not to be refused, and within a week I had started moderation activities, although not quite as I had envisaged as Ian rather apologetically advised me that there was an assessor problem at Tai Poutini Polytech (TPP) and he needed me to sort it out as National Moderator, I’m sure he knew about this issue before offering me the national moderation role but didn’t fancy carrying out the investigation himself! The issue at TPP alleged that non-registered assessors were carrying out crane related assessments and then having a registered assessor to sign candidates off as competent, definitely against OTTO rules, and a practice that would be seriously frowned upon by NZQA. My investigation required me to head to the TPP training facility in Auckland where I reviewed in excess of 100 completed assessment documents. The allegations were substantiated, with over 70 assessments considered to be invalid. The remedy was pretty brutal - TPP were required to contact all 70+ candidates and arrange for re-assessments to be carried out by registered assessors. Failure to do so would have resulted in OTTO advising NZQA that the assessments were flawed with the results for all candidates concerned being removed from their individual records of learning. To their credit, TPP raised no objections, and over a period of several months all required re-assessments were properly completed. The follow up to the TPP investigation was my presentation, at TPP’s Auckland campus to all of TPP’s in-house assessors who had crane accreditations. One of the presentation’s key slides is shown to the right and addressed the future i.e. what was contemplated for training providers and assessors associated with the crane industry. Looking at that slide many years later, it covers all of the areas that needed addressing, not just for TPP but for all crane- registered assessors. Even though my contract with OTTO was in its early days, I reckon I must have identified the challenges fairly early on! I have one abiding memory from the TPP assessor meeting. During my presentation I advised their assessors that when marking an assessment, it was not acceptable to use a pencil, assessor marks / comments must be in ink. A hand went up - it was Danny Stevens, and he asked “who says?” I replied “As the national moderator, I do”. Danny’s hand went down, there was no further discussion on this requirement, and from then on, all TPP assessments submitted for moderation, including Danny’s complied with this requirement. That was the first time I had met Danny and since then we have enjoyed a very good working relationship. I would have on-going dealings with TPP over the next few years, mostly through moderating their registered assessors. For some reason, TPP were not well thought of by the crane community generally, there being a school of thought that their training programmes were inadequate and that crane trainees coming out of TPP would not have been properly trained and/or assessed. From my moderation activities with TPP staff, I believe that the crane community’s view of TPP’s training and assessment was generally unfounded, and that at that time TPP employed trainers/assessors who were at least the equal of most other trainers/assessors either working independently or within crane companies. Several years later I would recommend to the AMS Group that one TPP trainer, James Stewart should be approached and offered a training position at AMS. James was approached, he accepted the offer and at the time of my departure from AMS in 2018 he was still employed and considered to be their most experienced crane trainer. As I turned my attention to OTTO moderation activities and getting to grips with the systems that were in place, it was somewhat alarming to discover that there were no systems, moderation had been carried out on a totally ad hoc basis, with two
142 moderators, Roger Sullivan and Ron McPherson occasionally being sent one or two assessments for post-moderation. Records of these post-moderation activities were scant at best, or unrecorded at worst. This is not a criticism of either Roger or Ron, they both had their own companies to run, and while they were both excellent trainers/assessors, their skills in moderation recording and reporting were definitely not to the same level. I would also discover that the majority of assessors had not been post-moderated for a number of years, and there was no indication that any on-site moderation had ever been carried out. All of the above meant that I literally had to start from scratch and is best illustrated by the presentation slide at the TPP assessor mentioned referred to above. My first requirement was to develop a moderation report that captured post-moderation and on-site moderation activity. My second requirement, and the most important, was to obtain agreement from Ian Grooby that for at least the first year and possibly longer, on-site moderation would be the primary method. Ian agreed without any argument, and over the next couple of years I visited every registered crane assessor and physically observed them carrying out candidate assessments. This role took me to the top of the North Island (the Marsden Point Oil Refinery) to the bottom of the South Island (the NZ Aluminium Smelter), and to many places in-between e.g. Devonport Naval Base, NZ Steel Mill (Glenbrook), Tauranga, Kawerau, Taupo, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Levin, Trentham Military Camp, Lower Hutt, Christchurch, Dunedin. Some on-site moderation photos follow. The photo above left was in Auckland and I’m moderating a practical crane assessment outside when the heavens opened - the car was dry, but I wasn’t. On the right I’m moderating an elevating work platform assessment, also in Auckland but under blue skies. About to moderate a crane assessment at the NZ Aluminium Smelter in Bluff. The Smelter’s PPE requirements were definitely intended to provide maximum protection! At the Devonport Naval Base and moderating Ron McPherson as he provided feedback to two candidates who had just completed the theory requirements of a crane assessment. It’s worth pointing out the value of both post and on-site moderation. The new moderation system mostly resulted in positive outcomes i.e. moderation being passed, but on one occasion, moderation revealed a below standard performance of a highly experienced trainer/assessor who initially failed a post moderation, then failed an on-site moderation - had he failed on a 3rd occasion (another on-site moderation) his assessor registration would have been suspended. He didn’t fail the 3rd moderation, with his assessor performance improved and maintained at the required level in future moderations. One other assessor failed a post-moderation, the documentation supporting his assessment being well below the required standard. Interestingly this
143 particular assessor was the current Chairman of the OTTO Board who should have known how to properly and fully complete assessments that he was responsible for. I did expect some comeback from him, but none eventuated. Having said that, his tenure as OTTO Chairman didn’t have a long-life expectancy as changes affecting his role were not far away. Implementing a new moderation system also required the development of an Assessor Manual, another rather useful document that was notably absent. I came across some general information available that had been provided to assessors, but it wasn’t comprehensive and hadn’t been updated for quite some time. Over a couple of months, a new manual (cover page to the left) was developed, signed off, and issued to all crane and elevating work platform (EWP) assessors. The improvements that I had made to crane moderation had been noticed by the EWP representative on the OTTO Board (I attended OTTO Board meetings as an invited observer) and he requested that my national moderation role be expanded to include moderation of EWP assessors against 6 unit standards. There weren’t many EWP assessors, but no moderation activity had been carried out for that sector. EWP’s became an interesting addition to my moderation portfolio as my hands-on experience was limited, but as moderation focuses on a candidate’s performance against knowledge / skills requirements of unit standards, the new tasks were easily absorbed. The organising and presentation of crane and EWP assessor meetings also fell under my moderation portfolio. These were annual events, and there was an expectation that to retain assessor status, assessors would attend one assessor workshop in each two-year registration period. This requirement must have frightened a few assessors into attending the workshops as there was never an instance when it was necessary to review someone’s registration as a consequence of not meeting the workshop attendance requirement. Assessor meetings were held at various places depending on where the majority of assessors were located e.g. alternating between Auckland and Wellington for crane assessors (below left), and normally in Christchurch for EWP assessors (below right). One other assessor meeting was held at the NZ Aluminium Smelter at Tiwai Point, simply because the Smelter had 6 or 7 registered crane assessors and they could not all be released to attend an Auckland meeting. This meeting was totally memorable, not only because of the location, but more because that 4 OTTO representatives (Ian Grooby, Ron McPherson, Roger Sullivan and myself) travelled down to Invercargill the day before and spent the night in the Ascot Park Motor Inn where we were joined by another crane assessor, Danny Stephens who travelled down from Cromwell just for the evening at the Ascot Park. That night was crazy, Ian Grooby had the OTTO credit card with food and drinks being seemingly endless. Fortunately I was alcohol free at that time as I was recovering from knee surgery, therefore able to avoid being part of the serious liquid consumption that was occurring. I have a vivid recollection at the end of the evening of Ian ordering a bottle of port, pouring a
144 glass each for all of us (yes, I confess to a glass of port), then wandering off to his room with the half empty bottle of port under his arm. The bottle of port was never sighted again! How we presented ourselves as a coherent moderation group the next morning almost belies belief, but we did, and the feedback received from the Smelter was more than positive. My National Moderation role also meant that meant that I was invited to OTTO management board meetings as an observer, these meetings always held in Auckland at the Jet Park Hotel. The management board was an interesting group, comprising a couple of crane industry representatives, an elevating work platform representative, and a scaffolding and rigging representative. Ian Grooby attended as CEO, and OTTO’s accountant also attended. My attendance put me in direct contact with key industry personnel, particularly those from the crane industry, and my involvement with these people turned out to be valuable contacts with future work heading in my direction, as explained shortly. I referred to the scaffolding and rigging representative in the preceding paragraph. During my time attending OTTO management board meetings as an observer and later as OTTO CEO, I worked with a couple of scaffolding and rigging representatives, the first of whom I had little contact with. The second representative, Graham Burke, owned a Wellington-based scaffolding business and for his own reasons had an inherent dislike of anyone associated with the crane industry. He wasn’t the most likeable person, who, with a few drinks under his belt became extremely obnoxious. Two examples jump to mind. The first was at the Jet Park Hotel on the night before an OTTO management board meeting when I had the dubious pleasure of being with him after dinner and listening to him trying to convince a waitress that he was worth visiting in his room when she finished her shift. The second instance was at Ian Grooby’s farewell function when suitably tanked up, Graham decided he wanted a punch up with Grant Moffatt - a scaffolding versus crane match-up. What Graham didn’t realise that as he was threatening Grant, another crainee, Malcolm McWhannell was standing directly behind him and fully ready to stop Graham dead in his tracks, which he would have easily done. The photo to the left was taken at Ian’s farewell and has Graham 2nd from right seeming to enjoy a “discussion” between Bill Houlker (back to camera) and Deane Manley who was definitely a bit worse for wear! Brian McDonald (far left) and Ashley Chisholm (far right) give a distinct impression of wanting to be somewhere else. My direct involvement with the Crane Association began somewhere in June 2009 when Ian Grooby threw me a left-field suggestion that I might consider standing for the Crane Council as one of two representatives of the associate members of the Crane Association - STL was an associate member. I took a bit of convincing but eventually allowed my name to be put forward at elections that were held during the July conference held in Surfers Paradise, the first overseas conference that the Crane Association had organised. The photo above shows that I was successfully elected (shirts must have been pre-organised), and I would go on to serve a two-year term on the Council, being re-elected at the 2010 conference in Auckland. The 2009-10 Council was an interesting group - Tim Smith and Tony Gibson (the two guys, extreme left) were crane company owners and they certainly made me feel that I had no right sitting at the same Council table as themselves. Tim Smith (brother of Nick Smith, the politician) was a particularly nasty piece of work, especially with a couple of drinks in him. Malcolm McWhannell (dead centre) initially proved a bit difficult to get to know but was a huge supporter of industry training and I would work closely, and very well with him over several years. Tristan Williams (4th from right) was a senior manager with the Lyttelton
145 Port Company which meant we had quite a bit in common. Dick Parsons (3rd from right) was at that time the Chairman of OTTO - a seriously ineffective Chairman who was deliberately targeted by NZQA when ITO’s were being rationalised and forced into merger arrangements. Dick would be a casualty when I became OTTO’s CEO designate in mid-2011. Standing next to me was Grant Moffatt who was also difficult to get to know, but who ended up being not only a huge supporter of STL, but the principal advocate for Sarah and I in the project management, research, workshop facilitation, and production of the Crane Association’s primary reference publication, the Crane Safety Manual. More about the development of that Manual in the next chapter of these memories. Other than being elected to the Crane Council at the 2009 conference in Surfers Paradise, there were couple of other good memories from that conference, the first being a social event on the night before the conference which was held at Dracula’s, a well- known entertainment venue on the Gold Coast. At the end of the evening’s hilarities a group photo (below) was arranged which Ian Grooby donated to me a couple of years later, I treasure this photo. Ian can be spotted looking comfortably content on the floor and cushioned by a couple of the Dracula’s ladies. The second memory occurred following a meeting of the newly elected Crane Council when I was approached by Bill Houlker, a long-standing associate member of the Crane Association who presented me with a scale model of a tower crane in recognition of my election - this model continues to have pride of place in my office. One other memory was accidentally locking myself out of my room in the early hours of the morning following the evening at Dracula’s, but that’s definitely another story for another time! Shortly after my election as the Associate Member representative on the CANZ Council, circumstances arose that within 18 months would impact significantly on STL, and my individual career. In late 2009, Ian Grooby advised both the CANZ Council and the OTTO management board of his intention to retire in 3½ years’ time, with his employment contract providing for a 12- month notice period. Ian held dual roles as CEO of both CANZ and OTTO and it certainly seemed that time was on CANZ / OTTO’s side to determine actions required in 3½ years’ time. However his advance advice of intending retirement definitely spooked the CANZ Council, with the result that they contracted me to provide a succession planning report that was required to review not only the CEO’s position, but also identify all key positions within CANZ and OTTO, and the potential risks to CANZ / OTTO over the next five years when one or more of the position holders retire or otherwise depart during that period. That report was completed in February 2010 and included a number of recommendations relating to the position of the CANZ / OTTO CEO and accounting and administrative support functions, OTTO Chairman, OTTO national moderator and regional moderators. The CANZ Council, as principal sponsor, approved all recommendations and further contracted me to: • Scope the position of Chief Executive and determine whether its functions should continue to be maintained in one position or split into two positions (either full-time and/or part-time) covering OTTO-related responsibilities and CANZ-related responsibilities respectively.
146 Based on my report, the CANZ Council would decide to split the two CEO positions. Sarah and I had several discussions about the OTTO CEO position following which I advised Ian Grooby of my interest in being considered when the vacancy became available. Some months later I would find myself in negotiations for appointment to the full-time, fixed-term position of OTTO CEO, and working with Sarah on the sale of STL. Having had considerable experience in recruitment and selection, the process that I went through with OTTO was the most bizarre that I had experienced. Sitting in as an observer at an OTTO management board meeting in April 2011, I was somewhat surprised to hear that the CEO position was not being advertised, with board members discussing my potential appointment as CEO - with me sitting there! The discussion included some not very demanding questions directed at myself and ended with unanimous agreement that I should be offered the position, subject to an employment agreement being negotiated. There was indecision as to how the negotiation should be conducted, and eventually it was agreed that it should be in Lower Hutt, with OTTO’s Accountant, Tom Brunn tasked with negotiating the agreement with me. Tom was clearly uncomfortable with this prospect, so Graham Burke was added to OTTO’s negotiating team. Bizarrely I was asked to develop my own employment agreement - a situation that I had never experienced before and never have since. So it was that we met in OTTO’s office and “thrashed” out a 12-month fixed term employment agreement that would be effective from 1 January 2012. The fixed term was necessary because of the government’s thrust towards reducing the number of ITO’s, and it was believed that OTTO would be taken over by the end of 2012 - it would be. There was one interesting inclusion in the employment agreement that I presented i.e. a redundancy clause, most unusual in a fixed-term agreement. That clause was agreed, and in June 2011 I was appointed as Chief Executive - Designate, six or so months earlier than I had anticipated. One of the obvious problems that I had faced as OTTO’s National Moderator was the lack of “fitness for purpose” of all crane qualifications for which OTTO was the standard setting body. As OTTO’s newly appointed CEO-Designate I now had access to information that I had not been aware of before, and I would discover that OTTO had a track record of qualification non- completions, an anathema to both the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and the Tertiary Education Commission, the latter organisation being the funding provider to OTTO based on anticipated, then actual qualification completions. Every qualification that OTTO was responsible for comprised a multitude of unit standards, some of which were relevant and achievable, with others being unfit for purpose and/or irrelevant to the crane industry and therefore difficult, if not impossible to achieve. These qualifications, which had been simply “rolled over” at previous reviews, carried credit values far in excess of NZQA requirements for the levels within which these qualifications were located. The solution was reasonably obvious, OTTO needed to review all qualifications for which it was the Standard Setting Body, with the intended outcome being a set of reviewed qualifications that not only were achievable by trainees, but more importantly met industry needs. As it happened, NZQA were introducing a process called Targeted Review of Qualifications (TROQ), so an application was made to NZQA for approval to review all crane qualifications. This was approved, with OTTO being the first ITO to review its qualifications under the new TROQ process, and in July 2011 I headed to the Classic Flyers Avgas Café in Mount Maunganui (an excellent venue as captured to the right) with a bevy of crane experts present to facilitate the review. Grant Moffatt, Malcolm McWhannell, Lee Liddelow, Bill Houlker, Scott McLeod and Don Ramsay are the crane experts that I remember being present, there may well have been others. Ian Grooby was also there as an observer. It’s fair to say that the guys were in my hands - crane experts they may have been, but they had no idea as to how a qualification was reviewed. This was not surprising as Ian Grooby, possibly with support from others, had simply “rolled over” all crane-related qualifications whenever they came up for renewal. The major surprise from this approach was that NZQA, as the owners of all qualifications on the framework, allowed this to happen, particularly given OTTO’s record of non-completion. So, we’re in Tauranga and I’m using my qualification review experiences with the Tranzqual ITO to literally tell the crane experts what their qualifications should look like.
147 The photo opposite and the comparative table below both illustrate how crane-related qualifications were reviewed at the Flyers Avgas Café back in 2011. Similar processes were performed for all crane qualifications, resulting in a full set of eminently achievable qualifications being developed, that not only were considered to meet industry requirements but that the bureaucratic agency involved i.e. the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, would have no reason to disapprove the implementation of the reviewed qualifications. As it turned out, NZQA would approve all reviewed qualifications, and OTTO finally had a set of qualifications that could confidently be presented to industry, not only as current, but more importantly as relevant and achievable. Old Qualification - Pendant Controlled Overhead Crane New Qualification - Pendant Controlled Overhead Crane Unit No Unit Title Credits Unit No Unit Title Credits 497 DKO workplace health and safety requirements 3 497 DKO workplace health and safety 3 1277 Communicate information in a specified workplace 3 3789 Sling regular loads and communicate during crane operations 22 3787 DKO regulatory requirements pertaining to cranes 4 3800 Operate a pendant controlled overhead crane and lift and place regular loads 10 3788 DKO skills required in the crane industry 8 17593 Apply safe work practices in the workplace 4 3789 Sling regular loads and communicate during crane operations 22 25043 Lockout and reinstate machinery in the workplace 4 3802 Carry out periodic maintenance checks and servicing for overhead cranes 15 43 credits required 6400 Manage First Aid in emergency situations 2 The comparison between the old and new qualifications is reasonably obvious - the new pendant controlled overhead qualification eliminated irrelevant and unnecessary unit standards, other more relevant units were identified and included, resulting in less unit standards (and credit requirements) required - making the qualification considerably more fit for purpose and a more financially viable prospect for employers within the crane industry who funded these programmes. All other crane qualifications were reviewed on the same basis with similar outcomes. 6401 Provide First Aid 1 6402 Provide Resuscitation level 2 1 3800 Operate a pendant controlled overhead crane and lift and place regular loads 10 69 credits required JANUARY 2012 AND I WALK INTO OTTO’S OFFICES on my first day to start my 12-month fixed-term contract as OTTO’s CEO - I’m no longer the CEO Designate. STL had been sold to the AMS Group, more about that in the next chapter entitled The Last Chapter…..Maybe. A couple of friendly faces greeted me as I had already employed Lyn Moynihan as Office Manager and Ashley Chisholm as Technical Manager - both of them captured to the right. I had met Ashley a year or so earlier when Ian Grooby had used him as a consultant, and I knew Lyn very well from her time working for Tranzqual ITO. They were very good appointments.
148 I had instigated one other major change shortly after my appointment as CEO-designate in mid-2011, Roger O’Brien (pictured left) had been appointed as OTTO Chairman, replacing Dick Parsons who had been Chairman for a number of years. I had worked with Roger previously in Papua New Guinea, and with CrossCity Motorway in Sydney, and had no doubt at all that if I was to succeed in my new role, then Roger was the person I needed to not only take control of and manage the OTTO Board, but to also provide me with extraordinarily high-level advice and guidance. I didn’t believe that Dick could be that person. The next 12 months would prove me to be right. I remember my first day rather well. I settled down behind my new desk, fired up my newly purchased laptop, then looked up as there was a knock on the door. It was Lyn, she was holding a piece of paper and quietly said “I think you need to see this”. The piece of paper that Lyn handed me was a letter from the Group Manager, Audit, Risk and Assurance Section of TEC which referred firstly to a letter to OTTO in July 2011 from the Minister for Tertiary Education, Stephen Joyce, then went on to confirm arrangements for a TEC audit in February 2012. I immediately requested Lyn to track down the Minister’s 2011 letter and once it was located, the seriousness of the scheduled audit became abundantly clear. In short, the Minister’s letter was a Section 9 Notice under the Industry Training Act 1992 and referred specifically to the outcomes of a TEC operational audit of OTTO that had taken place in late 2010. The Section 9 Notice confirmed that OTTO’s performance in a number of audited areas was considered less than satisfactory and that corrective actions were required to be taken. In particular, improvements were required in the regular and on-going monitoring of the eligibility of trainees, and the understanding of TEC operational policy and funding rules. Notice was also given that if OTTO’s performance continued to be unsatisfactory, sanctions could include cancellation of recognition as an industry training organisation. Worryingly, the Minister’s 2011 letter had been addressed to my predecessor but for whatever reason he had chosen not to advise the Board. I would discover that following the 2010 audit the Board had been verbally advised that “a successful audit had been completed”, and that the contents of the Minister’s letter had never been advised to the Board. I would also discover that OTTO’s approach to the 2010 audit, including the auditors, was seriously uncooperative, so much so that TEC assigned the 2012 audit to their most senior and experienced auditor. It’s fair to say that there was some initial panic as to what needed to be done to resolve this rather serious issue within the short timeframe that we had. We would however get a reprieve - TEC’s senior auditor became unavailable during February, and the audit was re-scheduled for April 2012. So, in the just over 3 months available to us, we reviewed all existing processes - unfortunately we found them to be sub-standard and not fit-for-purpose, so it was necessary to start from scratch and develop and implement coherent internal processes that focused totally on the effective management of trainees and their progress towards the qualifications in which they were enrolled. We also needed to document a comprehensive Quality Management System that incorporated a range of day-to-day standard operating procedures that met both TEC and NZQA governance requirements. One issue that we had to worry less about was the uptake of crane qualifications, the TROQ review that had taken place in 2011 meant that OTTO now had a full suite of current and relevant qualifications up and running in 2012, and there was already evidence of an increased and continuing uptake by industry, and an associated improvement in OTTO’s performance against TEC contracted funding, known within the ITO sector as Standard Training Measures (STM’s). It’s worth recording that for the year ended 31 December 2011, OTTO’s actual performance (25 STM’s) against contracted STM’s (92 STM’s) was significantly below required levels, and would eventually result in funding clawbacks by TEC during 2012, necessitating a repayment to TEC of close to $200,000. As CEO, authorising that repayment was a painful exercise, particularly as it related to a time when I had no ability to implement processes to improve OTTO’s STM performance. We were audited in April 2012, with the final TEC Audit Report reporting that: • Appropriate governance policies and procedures were documented and followed. • OTTO had effective systems and processes for managing and reporting on all trainees. • The trainee management system included trainee enrolment events, credit achievement and processes to approve recognition of prior learning, where appropriate.
149 • Relevant enrolment and supporting information were retained to verify that each funded trainee was eligible to attract industry training funding. • Records of training agreements were maintained, updated and contain all relevant information. • Results of credit achievement for each trainee were reported promptly. • Industry contributions were contained in the industry financial return. • A conflict of interests’ register was available and maintained. This was an outstanding result. With excellent assistance from Ashley, Lyn and Roger, I had turned OTTO’s performance around and we had successfully deflected the possibility of OTTO’s recognition as an ITO being cancelled, as threatened in the Minister’s letter of July 2011. I remember one conversation in particular during our scramble to turn OTTO’s performance around. TEC’s Audit, Risk and Assurance Section Group Manager was a gentleman named Gary Taylor, and I took the opportunity of contacting him as the start of building my relationships with TEC, not only as a courtesy, but to let him know that a number of changes had been made within OTTO since the 2010 audit, and to assure him of our full cooperation during the 2012 audit. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I realised that Gary Taylor, the TEC Group Manager, was the same Gary Taylor (pictured left) that I had played cricket with at Midland St Pats. Gary also hadn’t made the connection, possibly because he would have known me as Gus during our cricketing days. Small world. During the little over 3 months that we had spent putting together a survival plan for OTTO and in addition to the primary tasks of (i) ensuring that our TEC contractual requirements were met, and (ii) identifying another ITO (acceptable to OTTO stakeholders) into which OTTO could be merged, we also needed to ensure that day-to-day work requirements expected of an ITO continued to be maintained, and in a number of instances, implementing necessary improvements to those requirements. But there were also other issues to be solved: I would discover that OTTO “employed” 2 apprentices, both of them notionally on OTTO’s books, but working permanently and full-time at the New Zealand Steel Mill, and under the Mill’s direct control. This arrangement had been entered into verbally by my predecessor and OTTO’s Chairman at that time, who happened to be an employee of the Steel Mill. A total health and safety exposure for OTTO had either apprentice suffered a work-related accident. An alternative employer for both employees was very quickly found! Strangely enough, I was required to apply for re-recognition of OTTO as an ITO - a totally unnecessary and very lengthy bureaucratic requirement as OTTO would cease to exist by the end of 2012. A Quality Improvement Plan relating to the outcomes of a 2011 NZQA External Evaluation Review of OTTO required constant monitoring. OTTO’s relationship with the Scaffolding, Rigging and Industrial Rope Industry Training Association (SRIIT) had been tenuous for several years, and the development of, and agreement to a Memorandum of Understanding between OTTO and SRIIT was required prior to OTTO’s merger with another ITO. It’s pleasing to look back and know that these issues were all fully resolved prior to the eventual merger of OTTO into The Skills Organisation. July 2012, both Roger O’Brien and I were invited to attend the Crane Association’s 38th annual conference in Rotorua and make a joint presentation on the current state of OTTO, and what the next six months or so would bring as merger discussions headed into their final stages. After 6½ difficult months, I couldn’t resist describing myself as a Dung Beetle - literally cleaning up piles of shit that I had unknowingly inherited when taking over the role of OTTO’s Chief Executive, as exampled by the following 2 slides from my presentation. My presentation elicited some smiles, but a number of conference attendees found it difficult to accept that OTTO was in such poor shape. These people held Ian Grooby in very high esteem, had worked very closely with him for many years, and had been presented with only good news about OTTO’s performance. Both Roger and I were viewed as newcomers, and the
150 less than favourable news (described in my presentation slide to the right) that we were giving them was often treated with suspicion. I would be bailed up at subsequent industry events during 2012 and in one instance, abused soundly by a Christchurch-based crane company owner, who had consumed more than his fair share of the available refreshments. Merger considerations were on-going during 2012, with a final focus on four potential ITO’s i.e. InfraTrain, Motor Industry ITO, New Zealand ITO, and The Skills Organisation. In addition to discussions with these four ITO’s, meetings were held with senior managers from TEC, and the views of Industry Associations relating to their preferred options for merger/amalgamation were also sought. At the end of the day, I recommended that The Skills Organisation presented the best fit for OTTO, and with TEC approval, the merger took effect from Monday 3 December, and OTTO ceased to exist as an ITO, with its standard setting body responsibilities for the crane, elevating work platform, scaffolding, rigging, and industrial rope access industries transferred to The Skills Organisation. Roger O’Brien noted in OTTO’s November 2012 newsletter to stakeholders: Opportunity Training has improved considerably in the 2012 year, moving from the lower to the upper third in ITO rankings. The efforts of the CEO, Graeme Cowan, and his team in this sustained success have been recognized by the Tertiary Education Commission in audits, reviews and investment management meetings over the period. As well, the number of trainees and successful course completions have increased dramatically, leading to one of the best improvements of any ITO this year. Industry contributions to the ITO are at the highest level for any ITO, reflecting the crane industry’s commitment and support. Roger’s comments above referred to a dramatic increase in trainees and successful course completions. Supporting his view are the following comments that I made in OTTO’s final newsletter to stakeholders (December 2012): It is extremely pleasing to report that in excess of 250 National and/or New Zealand crane qualifications have now been achieved since the introduction of the reviewed crane qualifications in March of this year. This represents a 580% increase to 2011 qualification achievements, and according to preliminary advice from our TEC Investment Manager, this result places OTTO in the top 1/3rd for 2012 qualification completions of all ITO’s. This outstanding result is testament to the on-going support received from the crane industry, and the determination of employers, aided by specialist assessors, to ensure that their trainees achieve credible and relevant qualifications. The OTTO Management Board and staff as captured just prior to our final Board Meeting in December 2012. Left to right: Brian MacDonald, Graham Burke, Grant Moffat (rear), Lyn Moynihan, yours truly, Roger O’Brien (rear), Ashley Chisholm, and Bill Houlker. The final OTTO Board meeting was held on 22 November 2012 with my Management Report including comments on what had been an immensely challenging 2012. These comments follow below, and rather succinctly describe the challenges that had been faced by myself and the management team.
151 6.0 2012 IN RETROSPECT 6.1 2012 has been a year of extreme turmoil for Opportunity Training. In summary, a new management team and a new governance board has had to adapt to external challenges as demanded by Government and implemented by relevant agencies (TEC and NZQA), while understanding and accepting the reality that over a significant period this ITO has suffered from poor management and uninformed governance. 6.2 If there is any doubt concerning the above consider the following: 6.2.1 This ITO was under a Section 9 letter from the Minister for Tertiary Education as the consequence of a 2010 TEC audit of Opportunity Training. Performance was at such a level that if major improvements were not made, de-registration as an Industry Training Organisation would occur. 6.2.2 Actual 2011 STM performance was measured at 25 STM’s when the contracted requirement was 92 STM’s. This resulted in a repayment to TEC of close to $200,000. 6.2.3 Documented management procedures relating to ITO compliance requirements were non-existent, a failing that had been identified in previous TEC audits. Of specific concern was (i) the total lack of internal audits on trainee progress, the absence of which was a major contributing factor to the 2011 repayment to TEC (refer 6.2.2 above), and (ii) the re-direction, without accountability, of moderation credit rebates to two industry associations. 6.2.4 Management failure to react to policy changes implemented by TEC, as exampled by their 2010 decision to change the status of Limited Credit Programmes and focus on qualification completions. 6.2.5 Opportunity Training employed two apprentices for whom it had no management control. This was a serious exposure resulting directly from an arrangement that should not have been entered into, and represented an equally serious conflict of interest at the governance level. 6.2.6 Crane qualifications were unfit for purpose as they had not been reviewed since the late 1990’s. 6.2.7 Up to August 2011 effective ITO chairmanship was absent. 6.2.8 We have been advised by our newly appointed financial advisors and auditors that our previous accounting systems / records and audit functions were sub-standard. 6.2.9 Previous Opportunity Management Boards allowed verbal reporting by the then Chief Executive. As taxpayer funding has and continues to form a significant proportion of the ITO’s income, the past history of non-documented reporting was, from a governance perspective, imprudent. 6.3 The performance improvements achieved this year are testament to the dedication, hard work, and sheer determination of the management team. I have no doubt that a successful merger would not have been achieved if the necessary changes had not been effectively implemented, in fact de-registration would have occurred if Opportunity Training had continued without change. Particular credit must go to Roger O’Brien who has contributed a huge amount of professionalism to this ITO. Roger’s support, advice, guidance, knowledge and experience have been invaluable as we have worked through an incredibly demanding year. The contributions, support and commitment of all other Board Members are also recorded. That section of my Report did not go down well with one Board Member, and it probably wasn’t a coincidence that he was a member during the previous management regime, and therefore party to most of the concerns expressed in my final Management Report. I received an email from him questioning several of my statements, with a request for me to provide answers during the final Board meeting. I responded to every question, contrary views were not expressed, and my final report to the OTTO Management Board was accepted without amendment. My one year as CEO of OTTO had come to an end, and I can confidently state that I had met, and in some instances exceeded the performance expectations that had been set. And yes, my redundancy compensation was paid out! IT’S PROBABLY FAIRLY OBVIOUS THAT DURING STL’S LIFE our key clients were (in no particular order) Port Otago, the NZ Defence Force, Graham Mulligan, Opportunity Training, and Tranzqual ITO (previously NZRT&LITO). However there were other clients who played a huge part in our success, and it would be remiss not to remember several of those companies, all of them from within the ports and stevedoring industry, which after all was our bread and butter.
152 • I’ve already mentioned Southern Cross Stevedores (SXS), and our relationship with Peter Sims was instrumental in STL becoming the preferred training provider for 6 subsidiary companies of SXS located in Whangarei, Gisborne, Napier, New Plymouth, Nelson and Dunedin. Employees within these 6 subsidiary companies achieved a total of 58 national certificates, the majority in cargo handling, and with several achieving the higher-level planning and/or supervision qualifications. One trainee from Gisborne also achieved the Level 3 qualification in Distribution. I should also note that we also worked with one other SXS subsidiary, Capital City Stevedores, with several of their employees achieving Certificates of Competence in Cargo Handling. I would also meet Steve Bell, the Manager of Stevedoring Services Nelson, and apart from being an excellent person to deal with and a strong supporter of industry training, he also possessed the most robust handshake that I have ever experienced. If you weren’t aware of it, you would feel like your arm was being wrenched from its sockets, with no escape from the vice- like grip on your hand. Subsequent handshakes weren’t so bad, I was well prepared for the onslaught and hopefully managed to reciprocate to some degree. Steve would go on to be appointed as Managing Director of SXS, a very well- deserved appointment, and he would be replaced as Stevedoring Manager in Nelson by Bob Aitken. Bob was another industry training supporter, and his appointment rekindled an earlier working relationship when Bob was the Manager of Auckland Stevedoring Services, with one of his staff being the first STL trainee to achieve a national certificate. My interaction with SXS would re-surface during my time with the AMS Group, specifically relating to my development of an accreditation company - EXACT Certifications International Ltd, more about this under the chapter entitled The Last Chapter, Maybe…. SXS had appointed a new Health and Safety Manager, Brendon Woodnutt who I had previously met during my moderation role with OTTO (that’s Brendon on the right during a moderation of one of his elevating work platform assessments). As part of EXACT’s requirements to become a JAS-ANZ approved accreditation company, SXS volunteered to be audited against the health and safety standard AS/NZS 4801, and Brendon would accompany me as I audited SXS and several of their subsidiary companies. • The first group of Port of Napier trainees were an interesting lot, there were seven of them from the warehousing division and fortunately they had shipboard experience which meant they could be assessed against the level 3 cargo handling qualification. Interestingly, all seven had been guests of Her Majesty for a range of misdemeanours, one of which involved the firing of a shotgun from a moving vehicle down the main street of Carterton! It took a couple of years but we managed to get all seven successfully through the qualification, with the photo on the right showing six of them presented with their certificates along with Port Napier’s Chief Executive, Garth Cowie. Six mobile harbour crane operators were the next group of trainees that were registered to pursue the level 3 cargo handling qualification. These were our first mobile harbour crane trainees, and the experience of this group meant that training requirements were minimal, with assessment of current competency being the primary requirement to progress them through to qualification completion. Two memories following the completion of the training remain with me. The first was a fatal accident at the port of a mobile harbour crane operator (not one of our trainees), with the first person on the scene being the injured person’s brother, who was one of our trainees. The crane had toppled over after hitting a hole in the wharf, crushing the operator. It would be revealed that port management knew of the hazard, but remedial action had not
153 been taken. The second memory is more pleasant and a small world example, I would come across one of the trainees over here in Perth, we both attend the same snooker club, regularly playing each other. • STL’s relationship with Westgate Port Taranaki had its origins from the Ports and Stevedoring Association, which is where I first met Robin Aitken, Port Taranaki’s Operations Manager. That’s Robin, centre rear in the photo below. Robin was another strong supporter of industry training, and he was well supported by his stevedoring manager, Rob Pompey. Robin would invite me to make a presentation to cargo handling staff about the merits of industry training generally, and the cargo handling qualification specifically. My recollection of that presentation was being met with blank looks and clear resistance to the need to “start studying again and sitting tests”. I overcame these concerns with reasonable ingenuity - I asked for 3 or 4 volunteers to be assessed there and then against one of the required unit standards i.e. Drive a motor vehicle in a port environment. All the guys needed to do was to show me a current driver’s licence, then drive me safely around the port for a minimum of 5 minutes, obeying speed limits and signage, refusing to enter restricted areas, identifying hazards and answering questions from me as they drove. On our return to where the other cargo handlers were waiting, I had pleasure in advising the volunteers that they had demonstrated competence against the unit standard, and they were now on their way towards the national certificate in cargo handling. The ability to achieve the qualification by recognition of their skills, experience and knowledge had been demonstrated, and all cargo handlers present happily signed on to the qualification. In total, 16 Westgate cargo handlers would achieve the Level 3 cargo handling qualification, and a further 7 employees would achieve one or both of the cargo supervision and cargo planning qualifications. Captured in the photo above is Amanda Gunn who was the first female employee within the ports and stevedoring industry to complete the level 4 national certificate in cargo operations. Amanda also achieved the Level 3 cargo handling qualification, a significant achievement that was well recognized by Port Taranaki. Port Taranaki’s Chief Executive, Roy Weaver is pictured to the left. I would meet Roy several years later on a flight back to Perth, another small world situation. • For several years STL would subscribe to the New Zealand Shipping Gazette, a weekly magazine that focused on news and events relevant to the New Zealand port and maritime industries. It’s fair to say that as far as STL was concerned, not much of interest came out of this subscription until I spotted an article that focused on a recent acquisition, by Eastland Port of harbour tug and launch services that had previously been contracted out to a private company. My interest focused on the concern expressed by Eastland Port’s Marine Manager, Wayne Turner over the lack of training records of the tug and launch crews that he had inherited, and the potential exposure in the event of an accident occurring. A telephone call, a visit to Napier (Wayne Turner was contracted to the Gisborne port but lived in Napier) to market our training / assessment services, and STL was engaged to assess the competence of Eastland’s tug and launch employees. With full cooperation from CentrePort’s Marine Manager, Charles Smith, STL sub-contracted a CentrePort tug master and Tranzqual-registered tug and launch assessor, Lew Henderson to carry out the practical assessments, and during May 2005 Lew successfully assessed 8 Eastland employees against the requirements of national qualifications in both tug and launch operations. Eastland’s concerns about their inability to prove that training had been provided had been successfully overcome. STL was subsequently contracted to analyse critical tasks relating to Eastland’s tug and launch operations to identify loss exposures from which a range of operating procedures and other related documentation would be developed. This project was jointly carried out by Lew and myself, and a series of standard operating procedures and other documents covering the operations of Eastland’s tug and launch activities were provided to the Marine Manager. The total Eastland project encompassing practical assessment activities, critical task analyses, and production of standard operating procedures, whilst carried out for a relatively small client, was an excellent example of the services that STL was able to offer.
154 • Primeport Timaru would not become one of STL’s major clients, but a client that was definitely memorable for the inordinate time and effort spent marketing the merits of industry training to a port that, at the time, had no internal expertise to ensure their staff were fully trained in cargo handling operations. We first approached their Operations Manager (Keith Michel) in July 2004 - I had met Keith at S&PNZ meetings, he had expressed serious interest in using STL as Primeport’s preferred training provider and invited me to present a proposal for STL to manage their cargo handling training requirements. A proposal was presented to Keith, he was happy with its contents and passed all documentation over to his Health and Safety Manager, Peter Hunter, whose responsibilities also included training activities. Unfortunately, Peter didn’t appear to have much enthusiasm for industry training. It would take six months for him to provide names of 19 trainees requiring training agreements, and a further 22 months for him to return their signed training agreements - necessary before any actual training could commence. It took until September 2010 for 7 of the 19 trainees to fully complete their National Certificates in Cargo Handling, 6 years and 2 months after STL’s initial proposal, not to mention the 3 marketing trips that we made to encourage Peter into some form of activity. With a lot of time and effort to achieve 7 qualifications, we never discovered why the other 12 trainees made no progress. DURING STL’S LIFETIME, SARAH AND I GENERALLY STAYED within our knitting, i.e. working with industry sectors that we were familiar with, and providing services (training and assessment, moderation, and consulting in human resources, health and safety, and quality) in which one or both of us was experienced and/or qualified. This served us extremely well, and we were able to maintain a high level of credibility with our client base. There were however a couple of times when we moved away from our knitting, and they’re worth commenting on below. The first had its origins in a call in mid-2006 from friends in Featherston, Ginny and Steve Hopper (pictured right) who operated a business called Quince Consulting. The call from them involved an organisational analysis opportunity that Ginny and Steve had become aware of but felt that it was outside of their area of expertise, hence contacting us. Now, organisational analysis wasn’t new to me, but working inside the Mental Health Service of the Wairarapa District Health Board certainly was. The job entailed a review of administrative functions of the Mental Health Service in Masterton, and suddenly I had to get to grips with a totally new organisation and their methods of working, not to mention a range of acronyms e.g. DAMHS, CMHS, GALEN, and having to become familiar with and understand the requirements of the Mental Health Act. However the review was completed, a report submitted, and positive feedback received from DHB management, with the comment that we would be recommended to other Health Boards if similar reviews were required. We never heard from any other DHB. The second “departure from our knitting” opportunity resulted from a call in September 2012 from a guy who I had met when he was the elevating work platform representative on the OTTO management board - his name continues to elude me. His requirement was to have an experienced assessor come on site and carry out practical assessments on a number of drivers. The unusual aspect was that the drivers were train drivers, with the train operating in the Penrose to Hobson Street tunnel, 60 metres underground and with a primary purpose of transporting workers and / or equipment involved in the installation and/or maintenance of cabling used to power the Auckland central business district. Never having done anything like this before, but believing fully in my assessment expertise, the challenge of this job was too much to resist, and so I travelled to Transpower’s premises in Newmarket where the entrance to the tunnel was located. What I would quickly find out was that assessments would be carried out in the early hours of the morning, and that when I first arrived there were
155 no assessment documents that could be used to determine the competence (or not) of the train drivers. My first task was therefore to familiarise myself with the job requirements and then quickly develop an assessment resource that fully covered all practical and safety aspects. Transpower management were happy with what I produced, and so equipped with a full set of PPE including gas mask and accompanied by the driver under assessment, I warily stepped into a rather ancient-looking lift attached to the side of a 60 metre well shaft and descended into the rail tunnel. The preceding photo (extracted from the internet) totally typifies what I experienced in the Penrose to Hobson Street tunnel. Decompression was actually required when returning to the surface. The tunnel itself was in complete darkness when we reached the ground with the only light being from our helmet lamps until the train lights were turned on. With some visibility the working area was revealed to be an extremely narrow tunnel with a single train track on which an ex-coal mine train travelled forwards and backwards over a couple of kilometres of track. In total I entered the tunnel on three occasions, assessing a total of seven drivers. All were assessed as competent, although three of them required re-assessment, in each case because they failed to consistently check the safety of passengers in the open carriage - me!. As I was 60 metres underground and the sole passenger during these assessments, my safety was a fairly important consideration, and no argument was given by any of the three drivers when advised of the reason for re-assessment! I was contacted just a week before I permanently relocated to Perth and asked if I was available to carry out further assessments of new trainers. It was disappointing to decline that opportunity, but time was definitely against me. All in all, a fabulous opportunity that was well out of my background, but not my experience. There weren’t many times that STL tendered for work and acceptance wasn’t forthcoming. But one instance still remains with me as it was an opportunity that I would have loved to have completed. This opportunity arose in August 2013 during an audit of Port Otago’s WSMP performance, when their General Manager - Commercial, Peter Brown suggested to me that I contact the General Manager of Dunedin Venues Management Ltd who was looking to contract a health and safety consultant to review their systems. I met with the Manager, and discovered that the project would involve two locations, the Dunedin Town Hall, and the recently constructed Forsyth Barr Stadium. I was invited to submit a proposal for a health and safety review of both venues and did so but unfortunately was advised that my proposal was unsuccessful. Several months later on a return visit to Port Otago, Peter Brown advised me that Dunedin Venues had considered the cost of my proposal to be too high and had engaged another consultant at a lower cost. Peter also advised me that the review had been completed but that Dunedin Venues were very dissatisfied with the outcomes that had been presented to them. Whilst disappointed that my proposal had not been successful as it would have been an excellent project to complete, I couldn’t then and still can’t escape the thought that “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. Working for ourselves we definitely needed time out, which wasn’t that easy due to the sometimes short-notice requirements of clients. The answer turned out to be 10-day cruises around the Pacific. We would enjoy 4 cruises (the last 2 in balcony cabins) and visiting Mystery Island, Noumea, Port Vila, Nuku’alofa, Lifou, and Suva - some more than once. On our last cruise we sailed past Norfolk Island but couldn’t land due to adverse weather. We discovered that as soon as we were on board, work- related stresses and strains quickly dissipated even though on our first cruise we were accompanied by 4 or 5 Port Otago employees, all of whom were our trainees! Relaxation was definitely aided by some enjoyable (and sometimes exciting) shoreside excursions such as underwater walks, clambering around treetops, and paragliding. Then there was the on-board food and entertainment, always excellent. On our last cruise we met Lance and Sharolyn who became our regular dinner companions and friends, and with whom we would again cruise several years later along Australia’s east coast. The following photos provide great memories of our time spent cruising around the Pacific. Island night on board The Port Vila markets Our lovely café waitress
156 Nothing quite like a balcony cabin! Maybe not so relaxed on the treetops New friends - Lance and Sharolyn Sarah and I look back with considerable pride at what STL had achieved in just over 9 years. Our trainees had achieved 628 national certificates (broken down by qualification below), 385 of which had been achieved within the ports and stevedoring industry - until our arrival no national industry qualifications had been achieved in that sector. We returned $673,494 (ITO subsidies and completion bonuses) to employers where qualifications had been completed, significantly lowering the cost of training for those employers. • National Certificate in Cargo Handling 320 • National Certificate in Cargo Operations (Supervision Strand) 29 • National Certificate in Cargo Operations (Planning Strand) 27 • National Certificate in Pilot Launch Operations 7 • National Certificate in Tug Operations 2 • National Certificate in Distribution (Level 2) 207 • National Certificate in Distribution (Level 3) 36 628 We worked closely with a number of employers, industry Associations, ITO’s, government agencies, and other training providers. STL’s quality systems were audited by NZQA under QA Standard One and EER, with results from both protocols confirming that our quality system and associated procedures were leading edge. Sarah and I travelled widely throughout New Zealand, and I was fortunate enough to experience contract work in Australia and in Papua New Guinea. We sold the business as a going concern. We purchased, and Sarah totally restored a 100 year plus commercial building. All in all, not too bad for a couple living in Featherston who sometimes looked at each other and laughingly wondered at any similarities to Ma and Pa Kettle! I’ve identified above the national certificates that STL helped our trainees to achieve, but I shouldn’t overlook the qualifications that I personally acquired, all of them directly relating to the services offered, and carried out by STL. A copy of my personal NZQA Record of Achievement follows. Record of Achievement Cowan, Graeme Charles National Student Number (NSN): 111019854 This information is provided for use by the providers and learners. It is not an official transcript. Qualification and Achievement Summary New Zealand Qualifications Framework Registered Qualifications National Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (Co-ordination) (Level 4) 25 October 2012 National Diploma in Adult Education and Training (Level 6) 25 October 2012 National Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (Workplace Safety) (Level 3) 26 September 2012 National Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (Workplace Safety) (Level 1) 26 September 2012 National Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Education (Vocational/Workplace) (Level 5) 30 April 2012 National Certificate in Adult Education and Training (Level 4) New Zealand Environment 27 April 2012 National Certificate in Stevedoring and Ports Industry (Cargo Handling) (Level 2) 13 May 2011 National Certificate in Stevedoring and Ports Industry (Cargo Handling) (Level 3) 20 February 2008
157 THE LAST CHAPTER……MAYBE Well, is it the last chapter? As I put the final touches to these memories {mid 2026} and consider that my last contract work finished in August 2020 (a remote audit - thanks to Covid) of Wenita Forests health and safety systems, it’s a reasonably safe bet that this is in fact the final chapter of my working career. So I’m about to reflect on those opportunities that presented themselves after Sarah and I relocated to Rockingham in Western Australia when we thought that our New Zealand work in particular would literally disappear. That definitely wasn’t the case, and working with the Skills Organisation, Port Otago, AMS Group, Crane Association of New Zealand (both Sarah and I), Fletcher Industries (Sarah), and Wenita Forests meant a continuing flow of work from New Zealand. And then of course there was a telephone call from GDM resulting in a nearly one-year contract working with Chalmers Industries in Melbourne and Brisbane. The preceding sentence is the best indicator of why I’ve called this part of my memories THE LAST CHAPTER……MAYBE - Sarah reckons that if GDM calls with another work challenge I wouldn’t be able to say no - maybe! IN TRANSITION As part of the merging of OTTO into the Skills Organisation I was offered a 4-month contract (January - April 2013) as a Transition Manager to literally travel around New Zealand and introduce a senior Skills Manager (Paul Hollings) to key personnel within crane, elevating work platform, and scaffolding companies, and to be available to answer questions and resolve problems that Skills did not have the in-house expertise to properly respond to. My moderation experience was recognised, and during the transition period I continued to act as national moderator for the crane and elevating work platform sectors. I was also engaged in developing integrated assessment resources for the elevating work platform sector. These four months were a bit of a mixed blessing, the trips around New Zealand were great and enabled me to catch up with many ex-clients of STL and remind them that I was still an active assessor within the ports and stevedoring and crane sectors, and that I had added health and safety, and quality auditing into my portfolio. The downside was being based in the Wellington office of the Skills Organisation, a desk in an open plan office, and work colleagues who generally had no interest in the new industry sectors that had accompanied me. I wasn’t unhappy when the end of April arrived when my full-time association with Skills would end, allowing me to focus on my new consulting life. But there was one more twist. Skills suddenly realised that they hadn’t properly come to terms with crane, elevating work platform, and scaffolding requirements, and my departure would not be in their interests. Their solution was to offer me a fixed- term retainer contract to ensure my availability for the following: • Attendance at Skills office as required, emails and phone calls with Training Managers, other Skills personnel and referred client enquiries relating to cranes, elevating work platforms, industrial rope access, existing and potential assessors, ports and stevedoring accreditation application etc. Because Skills were reasonably desperate to ensure my on-going availability, this wasn’t a difficult negotiation for me with my stated position being availability for two days per fortnight over the period 29 April to 27 September 2013. Skills agreed immediately (no negotiation necessary), which meant that I had a guaranteed income not only up to the day before I left New Zealand permanently but also covering the period in June and July 2013 when I underwent knee replacement surgery and the requisite recuperation period. This retainer literally meant that I was available from my home office, which also ensured that other consulting opportunities with the Crane Association, Port Otago and the AMS Group were able to be accepted - more about these opportunities shortly. The two days per fortnight were never exceeded, and I was only required to attend the Skills offices in Wellington on 4 or 5 occasions. All in all, a satisfactory conclusion to my time working for and with Industry Training Organisations, with my time now freed up to continue working with Port Otago, and also to take on new challenges with the Crane Association, Fletcher Industries, AMS Group, Wenita Forest Products, and Chalmers Transport. CRANE ASSOCIATION - the New Zealand Crane Safety Manual The merger of Opportunity Training into the Skills Organisation at the end of 2012 had resulted in an associated transfer of surplus funds ($189k) held by OTTO directly to the Skills Organisation. By way of explanation, this surplus was a direct result of
158 increased qualifications taken up by crane trainees since my appointment as OTTO CEO at the beginning of 2012 but offset by necessary repayments of non-utilised TEC funding under the previous management. Given the challenges that my team had to overcome in a very short 12-month period, the $189k surplus balance sheet item represented an extremely satisfying result. To their credit, The Skills Organisation realised that in order to create a positive working relationship with the New Zealand crane industry, it would be in their interests to ring fence the surplus funds and release them back to the Crane Association (CANZ) for projects as determined by CANZ. Not surprisingly, CANZ decided that the first project would be a review of the Crane Safety Manual, the Association’s prime document and one which was well overdue for review. The Association made one other decision - to appoint me as Project Manager, managing the activities of a person selected by the Skills Organisation who would be responsible for the actual review, including research, interviews with industry experts, and drafting of the new manual. Several months passed before Skills advised that they were unable to identify such a person, and so it was that at a Crane Council meeting in Auckland in the 2nd half of 2013 I suggested (with the suggestion immediately and unanimously agreed by the Council) that Sarah Lester should be appointed as the researcher / writer of the Crane Safety Manual. Grant Moffat - the then President of CANZ was late to that particular meeting, and on hearing the news of Sarah’s appointment, commented “should have done that in the first place”. The next few months saw a concentrated effort by Sarah (including several trips back to New Zealand to facilitate panels of industry experts) to completely review the outdated document, and the eventual development of “a comprehensive book of knowledge” (as would be described by CANZ). My role as Project Manager was totally straightforward as Sarah’s dedication and professionalism meant that project management was nothing but a name. I did have to attend Crane Council meetings and provide progress updates, and not once was any concern expressed as to how the project was progressing. With the Crane Safety Manual close to final production, Sarah and I were asked to make a presentation (our conference profiles opposite) to the 2014 Crane Conference that would be held in Queenstown. We must have been in demand as CANZ paid for our travel to and from Perth and accommodation in Queenstown. The 2014 conference handbook stated: The Crane Safety Manual review commenced this year. Graeme Cowan was appointed Project Manager and Sarah Lester as the writer of the manual. The funding of $189k for this project came from Opportunity and is being held by the Skills Organisation in trust for the Association. The manual has been reviewed by panels during this period and will continue to do so into the next year. A draft will be presented at the Annual Conference for members to comment on. Presenters Graeme Cowan With a background that includes managing a Private Training Establishment that was well known within the New Zealand Crane Industry, developing, integrating and auditing business systems in both New Zealand and Australia, and strategizing and leading the merger of Opportunity Training into the Skills Organisation, Graeme Cowan was well placed to take on the role of Project Manager for the review of the New Zealand Crane Safety Manual. Project managing the review of the Crane Safety Manual has required hands-on application of many of the above skills, and Graeme’s knowledge of the industry, key players within the industry, and general management experience has meant that a long-awaited project is now close to finality. The last project management component of the Crane Safety Manual review will also call on Graeme’s experience as an auditor of health and safety, and quality management systems - the final detail of the Manual will be closely scrutinised prior to its release, ensuring not only the overall consistency of the Manual, but that the expectations of industry stakeholders have been met. Presenters Sarah Lester Sarah Lester is passionate about health and safety in industries that use heavy equipment and which are, as a consequence, high risk. Sarah describes herself as an “information amalgamator”. For projects such as the review of the New Zealand Crane Safety Manual, Sarah starts the project with information sources such as legislative requirements, industry Codes of Practice, equipment manuals and workplace procedures. Sarah then works with industry experts to merge the information into a relevant, user friendly document. In addition to the Crane Safety Manual, Sarah also produces unit standard-based training and assessment resources for the Crane, Port, Elevating Work Platform, and Scaffolding industries, and develops and reviews health and safety focused management systems. Sarah
159 I’m first up with a general summary of what had taken place, and an introduction of Sarah who would provide all the detail of how the Crane Safety Manual had been developed. Sarah presented a comprehensive report to the delegates, and it does looks like the 3 guys in the foreground are paying much more attention to Sarah’s presentation than mine! The quid pro quo for our all exenses paid conference trip was manning the Crane Safety Manual stand during conference breaks. Looks like Sarah’s drawn the short straw as I sneak off to the left! The conference dinner was a fancy dress occasion, during which Sarah and I probably embarassed the Australian Crane Council President, John Gillespie (front left), and the Skills Organisation CEO, Garry Fissenden and his wife. In March 2015, and on behalf of CANZ, Grant Moffat sent me a letter congratulating Sarah and I on the production of the Crane Safety Manual. His letter stated: The Crane Council wishes to express our thanks for the marvellous job that you and your team have done on the review of the Crane Safety Manual. Your expertise in the crane industry made you the right choice for oversight of the project and the Council appreciated your management of the project and the professionalism you displayed. A special thanks to Sarah Lester whose diligence has seen the transformation of the previous version of the manual into a comprehensive book of knowledge that will benefit the crane industry in the years to come. Please also thank Pille Repnau for her contribution with her expertise in InDesign which has made the Crane Safety Manual visually outstanding. These projects are always a collusion of knowledge and skills and there can be no doubt looking at the final product that we employed the right people for the job. Once again thank you for your contribution to the Crane Safety Manual.
160 Grant’s letter made reference to InDesign and to Pille Repnau. InDesign, which is a professional page layout and desktop publishing software, was the Crane Council’s preferred software to be used for the production of the Crane Safety Manual, but on examining the software, Sarah’s view was that InDesign was extraordinarily complicated and would require a specialist to be engaged. It certainly was not in Sarah’s, nor the Crane Council’s interests for Sarah to be trained in the product, so it was agreed that we would identify and contract a Perth-based InDesign specialist to complete that part of the project. We engaged Pille, which not only enabled the final publication to be superbly and professionally presented, but also resulted in a wonderful friendship with Pille and her husband, Adam, plus three of their friends, Cameron, Tammy and Tarron. Sarah and I consider all of them to be our “adopted kids”, with the photo opposite showing Tarron, Tammy, Cameron, Adam and Pille with Sarah and myself at Tammy and Cameron’s wedding in April 2022. WENITA FORESTS Mid-January 2014, and an unexpected telephone call from David Cormack, Chief Executive Officer of Wenita Forest Products Ltd, a Dunedin-based company. David was looking for a health and safety resource to review Wenita’s health and safety system and my name had been recommended to him by Geoff Plunket, the CEO of Port Otago. David would reveal that Geoff had told him that “Graeme will tell it as it is, if you’ve got a health and safety issue he won’t hesitate to let you know”. The lesson here is that it’s not necessarily who you know, rather it’s how you’re perceived by those who know you - a variation to, but very similar to the lesson I referred to earlier when meeting with Mac McColl at the Trentham Army Camp i.e. Mac’s recognition of me after several years being a case of “it’s not the subject, it’s the quality of the tutor’s knowledge, presentation and rapport with people”. David and I agreed that during my next trip to Port Otago I would stay an extra day to meet with him and discuss how a review of Wenita’s health and safety system and associated procedures might be conducted. So it was that on Wednesday 29 January I met with David and several managers in Wenita’s Mosgiel offices. One of those managers was Alec Cassie who, in addition to his role as Woodflow Manager was also responsible for Wenita’s health and safety system. Alec would become my day-to-day contact for anything relating to the audit programme that would be put in place. During the initial meeting I would discover that Wenita’s permanent full-time staff totaled 13, plus one permanent part-timer. Forestry operations were entirely carried out by contractors, all of whom were required to maintain their own health and safety systems while complying with Wenita’s overarching system. The initial meeting went well, I suggested that it was appropriate to conduct an initial audit against the requirements of the Australia / New Zealand joint standard 4801:2001 - Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, and I was invited to present a proposal outlining: • The recommended scope of a health and safety audit - policy and procedures, management/office and operations (forest and port), identify shortcomings and recommend improvements. • Timetable - dates for the audit, draft report received etc. • Any additional information required before commencing the audit. • Cost estimates for the completed report including travel (from Wellington), accommodation, other disbursements, audit and report writing expenses. A proposal was prepared, sent and accepted (other than excluding port operations from the audit), and I headed back to Wenita for a week at the end of March 2014. This first audit (which was also the first health and safety audit that Wenita had undertaken) set the trend for future audits - full cooperation from all staff, prompt access to all requested documentation, attendance at the corporate health and safety meeting, and escorted visits into the forests for contractor meetings. Nothing was a problem, and a comprehensive audit was able to be fully completed within the required time frame. My audit report found that of the 26 elements contained within the 4801 standard, Wenita demonstrated conformance against 10 elements, 9 elements were considered to be major non-conformances, 6 elements were minor non-conformances, and 1 element
161 was considered to be not applicable. A set of recommendations for improvement was forwarded to David and Alec, and I would find out later that both my audit report and recommendations for improvement were discussed at Board level, with no dissenting views about either the contents of the audit report or any of the recommendations I had made. A second audit was scheduled for late October 2015, and it was pleasing to observe the number of recommended improvements from the previous audit that had been implemented. Major non-conformances had reduced to 4, with only 2 minor non- conformances, a really positive trend that would be continued in future audits. In the Mt Allen forest during one of my visits to observe contractor (Griffin Logging) health & safety performance. David Cormack (centre) chatting to a couple of contractor staff during one of Wenita’s annual Safe Start breakfasts. I would carry out 3 further audits of Wenita’s health and safety systems, 2 of them (2017 and 2018) were on-site audits, while the 2020 audit was a remote audit due to the impact of Covid. By the final audit, non-conformances were minimal and Wenita maintained a robust health and safety management system. The remote audit in 2020 (which worked very well) also doubled as a SafePlus audit - a New Zealand WorkSafe-developed audit protocol, with only 5 recommendations for improvement noted in the SafePlus audit report. I can’t speak highly enough about the management team at Wenita and their commitment to health and safety. Superbly led by David Cormack, one of the best CEO’s I’ve worked with (up there with Graham Mulligan), all staff were totally cooperative and all demonstrated their willingness not only to comply with established health and safety procedures but to also embrace new initiatives that were introduced as part of improving their system. I also won’t forget the hospitality shown to an auditor who was thousands of kilometres away from home. Each trip I was taken out for dinner to a selection of delightful restaurants. The photo opposite was from my last on- site audit, and from left to right is David Cormack, Willie Sinclair, Alec Cassie, yours truly and Grant Kenneally The following extract from an email that I sent to David Cormack and Alec Cassie following my final audit sums up the satisfaction and enjoyment that I had from auditing a company that was fully committed to health and safety excellence: Although I have said so before, I would again like to congratulate you for the efforts that you have put into ensuring that your health and safety management systems are both effective and proactive, it is a real credit to both of you and from an auditing perspective, it certainly makes the audit a very enjoyable exercise. Thanks once again for the opportunity of working with Wenita - definitely one of the most enjoyable auditing experiences that I have encountered.
162 FLETCHER INDUSTRIES April 2014 and I received a telephone call from Malcolm McWhannell, a member of the Crane Council and very aware of the work we had done on the Crane Safety Manual. Malcolm explained that the Fletcher Group were looking for a resource to facilitate a review of health and safety processes and associated documentation of several divisions of Fletchers, with the ultimate aim of integrating the reviewed processes into one overarching system. Would I be interested? I had to advise Malcolm that my work with AMS and Wenita Forests would preclude me from this project but reminded him that Sarah was eminently qualified and experienced to provide the services required. Malcolm agreed, and so it was that Sarah entered into a contractual relationship with Fletchers to complete a gap analysis of their Group Safety Management System and Manual, plan and facilitate Auckland- based workshops, and update and edit the manual to the standard required by Fletchers. Several trips back to New Zealand eventuated, with Sarah working closely with health and safety people from several divisions of Fletchers. A significant number of processes were reviewed and documentation updated, but the project became too complicated for Fletchers, with a decision made to put the work on hold and revert to the status quo. Not the required outcome from Sarah’s perspective, but a rewarding opportunity and international recognition of Sarah’s skills and expertise. AMS GROUP - THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY The title of that epic Clint Eastwood western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly provides the perfect description for my six or so years with the AMS Group that effectively started on the sale of STL. The first 18 months or so were generally rewarding (the good), but then I would become increasingly aware of Kevin’s dislike of anything that was organisationally systematic (the bad), and worse, his total lack of business ethics when dealing with people-related issues (the ugly). But before we get into the nitty gritty of working with the AMS Group, I’ll recall my first meeting with Kevin Wall. As part of my National Moderation responsibilities with OTTO, I was required to evaluate any private training establishment that wanted to offer assessment activity against unit standards that OTTO, as the standard setting body was responsible for. OTTO had received an application from the AMS Group to be accredited against several crane-related unit standards, and so it was that I headed to Hamilton to evaluate their application, and their ability to present coherent assessment programmes against selected unit standards. I was met at Hamilton airport by Kevin Wall, and on the way to their premises (pictured right) I advised Kevin that not only was I OTTO’s national moderator, I was also a director of a PTE but that there would be no conflict of interest as STL and AMS had completely different accreditations and therefore worked in unrelated industries. I also mentioned that we were looking to sell STL as I had been appointed as OTTO’s new CEO, and retaining STL would constitute a conflict of interest. On hearing the industries with whom STL worked, Kevin expressed immediate interest in a potential purchase of STL. Long story short, Kevin did purchase STL’s systems and intellectual property, and Sarah and I were delighted to off-load STL for a purchase price of $184,000, plus my retention in an advisory capacity for 12 months. Sometimes timing is everything, prior to my trip to Hamilton to evaluate AMS as a potential provider of crane assessments, Sarah and I had thought that we would simply be closing STL’s doors and walking away. That Hamilton trip would not only ensure that we were able to sell STL as a going concern at a more than acceptable purchase price, but it would also provide lucrative contract work over the next six years, and I was immediately free to take on the 12-month challenges that I would be faced with as CEO of OTTO. The Good My six or so years with the AMS Group enabled me to be a FOFI worker (fly out, fly in) i.e. flying from Australia to New Zealand and return (as opposed to the traditional Australian FIFO model - fly in, fly out, such as from Perth to the mines up north and return) and provided me with the opportunity of catching up with family and friends in New Zealand on a regular basis. Several years later, when applying for Australian citizenship, my application revealed that my time at AMS had required 60 return trips to New Zealand - great for frequent flyer points and maintaining Gold Elite status with Air New Zealand! My last four years with AMS also provided me with more challenges than I ever experienced over 35 years at a port company where industrial issues
163 were seemingly a daily occurrence, but more about those challenges shortly. As an aside, AMS stood for Alan Martin Services, reflecting the original owner of the company. AMS Group would remain the company’s name until 2019 when it was rebranded as Axiom Training. The first eighteen months or so with AMS were reasonably low key, as mentioned before I had been retained in an advisory capacity as there was no internal expertise in either the cranes, or ports and stevedoring industries. Although I had other commitments with Opportunity Training, then the Skills Organisation, and also Port Otago, Kevin called me over to New Zealand on several occasions, primarily to be involved in the NZ Defence Force basic stevedoring programme, and also required me to represent AMS at qualification review meetings when both cranes and ports and stevedoring qualifications were up for review. One of major benefits of these trips was the ability to catch up with our good friend Chris Campbell who had been offered and accepted a business development role with AMS as part of the sale of STL. Coming up from Christchurch himself, Chris would often pick me up from Auckland International Airport and we would drive down to Hamilton together. Over the next few years, we would enjoy many excellent meals at various restaurants around Hamilton, as well as travelling together to other AMS sites around the country. The following three photos were all taken during our time at AMS. Modelling a suggested trainer’s uniform - a great idea but never approved! Staying at Chris’s place in New Brighton, Christchurch and about to go for a burn! We enjoyed a variety of meals at many different Hamilton restaurants. When I look back at my early days with AMS, there were very few problems for me to be involved with. I did need to resolve one or two issues that occurred with the basic stevedoring programme presented to Defence Force trainees, provide guidance around some elements of crane training, and clarification on STL’s quality management system which was included as part of the sale. These were no major issues and minor problems were easily resolved. Future problems that I would have to deal with hadn’t become apparent (more about them shortly) but before that, it’s worth reflecting on a couple of opportunities that arose, the outcomes of which would both be of major value several years later with Chalmers Industries in Melbourne. • The first opportunity occurred in 2013 when I was on a plane from Wellington to Auckland prior to heading back to Perth. I’ve never been a great conversationist on flights but on this occasion I did strike up a conversation with the guy next to me who turned out to be an auditor with an Auckland-based accreditation company, International Certifications Ltd. We exchanged our backgrounds, and he invited me to meet with his CEO next time I was in Auckland. Long story short, I did meet with his CEO who expressed interest in contracting me as a quality / health and safety auditor, specifically to carry out audits in Western Australia - apparently they had no auditors based over there. After a few failed attempts to follow through on this proposal, I mentioned to Kevin Wall in early 2014 that I had been offered this role but that it had come to nothing. Kevin’s response was to ask me to create an accreditation company under the AMS banner that would be capable of auditing quality, health and safety, environmental, and food safety systems. I explained that there would be significant work to be completed that would first require (i) the development of a comprehensive Quality Management System (QMS) that met a number of International Standard requirements such as ISO/IEC 17021, (ii) the proposed accreditation company successfully completing a number of pre-certification audits, and (iii) the appointment of staff to the accreditation company. Kevin’s solution was to contract me to research and document the required quality system, appoint me as General Manager of the accreditation company - it would be called Exact Certifications
164 International Ltd, and for me to identify companies who would be willing to undertake a pre-certification audit. In short, go ahead and do it. The development of the QMS took the best part of six months, the requirements of International Standard requirements such as ISO/IEC 17021 were complex, and the QMS needed to be customized as opposed to simply regurgitating the requirements of the relevant Standards. The final QMS (dated 1 August 2015) was a robust 91-page document that I have no doubt would have withstood the necessary examination of the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ). Two organisations had agreed to being audited, one against ISO 9001 (Quality) and the other against AS/NZS 4801 (Health and Safety). That both audits were carried out by myself presented a bit of a conflict of interest - after all I was contracted to AMS Group and had been appointed as General Manager of Exact Certifications by the AMS Managing Director. However, both audits were completed and audit certificates issued under the Exact Certifications banner, with the Southern Cross Stevedores AS/NZS 4801 certification shown above. The killing stroke came when Kevin finally understood the actual costs of an accreditation business i.e. JAS-ANZ registration (initial and on-going), staffing requirements, and marketing initiatives to attract new clients, not to mention the competitive advantages that existing players in the industry already held. With that information, he pulled the plug on any further implementation, with the development of a robust QMS and excellent auditing outcomes of two external organisations being sadly negated by the failure of the AMS Managing Director, prior to the commencement of the project to analytically consider the merits of a venture that he and his organisation had no previous experience in operating within. This would not be an isolated example of Kevin knee-jerking where he perceived a profit-making venture, even one that was well outside of AMS’s scope of expertise. From my perspective, development work of the accreditation company not only resulted in a contractual payment over and above my retainer but also provided me with an intimate and up-to-date knowledge of ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) requirements, a secondary benefit (unforeseen at that time) but which would become apparent when Graham Mulligan approached me about in 2018 when he was looking to implement 1SO 9001 within a Melbourne and Brisbane based transport and logistics company. • The second opportunity arose a bit later, actually in early 2017 but I’ll cover it now as the outcomes of the opportunity would be repeated in a couple of years’ time when I worked with Graham Mulligan at Chalmers Industries. By 2017 I’d taken responsibility for Human Resources within AMS and I was required to resolve the lack of performance of the Health and Safety Manager, a guy called Grant Whitty who had been employed a year or so earlier. Grant had been appointed directly by Kevin Wall without input from myself as HR Manager, an occurrence which was pretty much par for the course. There was certainly no issue in an appointment to this role as there were more than sufficient reasons for having an H&S Manager in a training business that specialised in high-risk industries, but definitely not an appointee whose approach to the role was extracted directly out of a textbook. One of Grant’s primary tasks had been to develop a Health and Safety Manual, but it took nearly 18 months before he eventually produced the first draft of a massive document that possibly covered the requirements of the Health and Safety in Employment Act. As was initially presented, the intended end users of this document, the staff would have been baffled beyond belief as the draft had been exhumed from textbooks, written in legalese speak, and presented in a style best described as either disordered, confusing, user-unfriendly - or all of the foregoing descriptions. Had Grant survived to turn his first draft into a final document, it would have been simply consigned to shelves as an unread and unused dust gathering tome. There were other areas of concern such as his failure to implement a company-wide health and safety committee - also as required by legislation, and so I recommended to Kevin that a performance management issue should be implemented. I suspect that Grant must have seen this coming because before I could start the performance interview, he handed me
165 his letter of resignation. The fundamental problem had been solved, but there still remained the issue of effective health and safety management with Kevin Wall ecstatic at having saved a salary and clearly reluctant to re-invest in an area of expertise for which he saw no monetary profit let alone any other corporate value to the organisation. So as had happened several times previously in my career and twice before at AMS, this became another “fix it” job for me, but one that I actually offered to remedy. It was becoming clear that even though health and safety management was required, Kevin had little interest in the health and safety of his staff and had no intention of filling the role, so based on my experiences at CentrePort I suggested to him that health and safety responsibilities could be added to my existing portfolio, with no additional remuneration required. The “no additional cost” appealed to Kevin, and he agreed with my proposal. My first challenge was to produce a health and safety publication that would actually be read and referred to by staff, and the draft produced by Grant simply could not be adapted. So I decided that a brand-new approach was required, and I set about developing a health and safety guide that (i) covered key points of the Health and Safety in Employment Act, (ii) was written in plain English, with (iii) all chapters being themed to music. The cover page of the Health and Safety Guide is shown to the right, as is one of the music-themed chapters i.e. “Our fundamental safety behaviours” which was themed on the Guns N’ Roses version of Knocking on heaven’s door. The Guide was made electronically available to staff, and by control-clicking on the album cover, staff could listen to Knocking on heaven’s door as they read about established safety behaviours within AMS. This approach successfully encouraged staff to use the Guide whenever h&s information was needed. As an aside, the development of the AMS Health and Safety Guide led me to produce, based on the same format, a Human Resources Guide as part of my HR responsibilities, with this Guide serving as an excellent induction tool for new staff as well as documenting HR policies and processes in a user-friendly format. Several years later when working for Chalmers Industries, using the AMS Health and Safety Guide as a model, I would create a music-themed Blueprint for Quality Management that would meet ISO 9001:2015 requirements. Proving that this model could be adapted to suit a range of organisations, several years later I would produce a music-themed Quality Blueprint supporting the activities of the Rongotai College Old Boys Association. Definitely there were good aspects during my early days with AMS, which certainly included working with some excellent people. I think of Chris Campbell, Fi Brown, Simone Rakena, Kyra Smith, Felicity Morris, Olya Meehan, Donna Boyce, Trish Bennetto, James Stewart, John Marcus, Ange Brooking, Charlie Renata and Mike Flowers to name a few. The early days at AMS were generally enjoyable, but they wouldn’t last. The Bad As I became more involved with AMS, particularly after taking on senior management responsibilities, I became aware that not only did Kevin condone organisational shortcuts that would avoid costs (in his view such shortcuts would improve his bottom line), but he also had a serious aversion to complying with anything systematic that was introduced into the organisation, as illustrated by the following examples. • Kevin perceived a business opportunity around the scaffolding industry, and as my time as CEO of Opportunity Training included standard setting body responsibilities for scaffolding, he turned to me for guidance as to how AMS could produce scaffolding documentation, specifically training material in support of two qualifications that AMS had decided that they could provide to clients. Sarah came to the rescue here as one of our neighbours where we live in
166 Rockingham was a qualified scaffolder, and willing to share his training resources with us. With our neighbour’s approval, this material was copied and provided to Kevin Wall on the strict proviso that it was a resource only to be used in assisting AMS develop New Zealand specific training material in support of scaffolding qualifications. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way and the material that was produced under the AMS logo and purporting to be New Zealand specific was nothing but a 100% plagiarised version of the Australian material and totally unsuitable for training against New Zealand scaffolding requirements. Sarah and I were horrified, but neither the Quality Manager (who had plagiarised the document) nor Kevin Wall displayed any initial concern as to this outcome, and it required the consequences of not only plagiarism but also of releasing inaccurate and unsuitable training resources into the marketplace to be emphatically explained in words of one syllable before they understood the seriousness of what had been produced. The first warning bell that AMS were (i) ethically challenged and (ii) non-adverse to short cuts for the sake of profits had been loudly rung. The problem was eventually solved by contracting a scaffolding specialist, Vadim Spice to provide current and accurate expertise around training material, with the development of associated assessment resources taken on by myself (recognising my experience in developing assessment resources for other industries), with reviews of those assessment resources undertaken by Vadim. I add here that all scaffolding assessment resources developed were also reviewed and approved by the Scaffolding and Rigging Association of New Zealand and subsequently approved for industry use by the standard setting body, Skills New Zealand. • The first of several changes to my involvement with AMS occurred in late 2014 when the resignation of the Quality Manager was received. Kevin was aware of our previous success at STL in achieving the highest level of recognition under NZQA quality requirements (EER) and asked me to take a greater role in the company’s quality programmes - he wasn’t replacing the Quality Manager. I agreed to do so as part of my retainer contract (which had been extended), with another senior manager, Simone Arkema also taking on extended quality responsibilities. One of my major quality recommendations related to the Company’s procedures, which were basically unchanged since AMS had been purchased from the previous owner - they were basic, well out of date, and generally irrelevant to the way that AMS was operating. From my time working with Port Otago I had become aware of a software package known as ProMapp, a process development and storage system which ensured consistency of procedure presentation, both written and graphical. ProMapp also contained a risk management module, and my recommendation, which was approved, was for AMS to invest in both the Process and Risk Management modules of ProMapp. As part of my new quality involvement, I personally led all senior managers through a risk profiling workshop, the outcome of which was a comprehensive and fully documented Risk Register which identified all risks that the Company was exposed to, controls for those risks, and review timeframes. Unfortunately, there wasn’t the same success with the Process module which required the direct and hands-on involvement of divisional managers. The majority of these managers, including the Managing Director had no interest in either reviewing existing, or developing new processes within ProMapp. To overcome this obstacle, I had to force managers to sit with me, identify processes that they were responsible for, and walk through the various steps within each process. I would then develop the first draft as a ProMapp procedure and return the draft procedure to the relevant manager for review. Needless to say, regular and ongoing follow-up was required to get any sort of feedback from managers, and I definitely became (i) very proficient in the use of ProMapp, and (ii) unpopular with various managers as I hounded them for feedback. One of ProMapp’s functions provided details of user activity i.e. how many times each manager accessed the software. There were very revealing results relating to Kevin Wall who as Managing Director never once accessed ProMapp. Even more revealing, within a month of my departure from AMS he had terminated the contract with ProMapp, effectively losing all created process data and the company’s Risk Register. • Taking over responsibility for the Human Resources function was a challenge that I would accept in mid-2015. By way of background, the AMS human resources activities at that time were managed by Fi Brown, a Tauranga-based employee whose principal role was forestry training, with HR responsibilities as an add-on. It was becoming increasingly apparent that Fi’s forestry responsibilities were impacting seriously on
167 Island. Kevin agreed with my proposal, Fi seemed to have no difficulty in relinquishing HR responsibilities (I suspect she was rather relieved about it), and suddenly I’ve become a permanent contractor for AMS as a FOFI contractor based in Australia and heading to New Zealand for a week (sometimes more) every month. I was based in Hamilton but required to travel to all other sites as required. I would discover that there was a total absence of staff performance review processes, so one of my first tasks was to implement an annual formal Performance and Development Review process. Fortunately, I could call on an excellent system that I had developed at CentrePort which was able to be easily customized for AMS staff and supported by a Performance Review process created within ProMapp (below). There was unanimous senior management commitment agreed at a Senior Management Team meeting, the new process was explained to staff, and all required documentation was personally pre-prepared by myself for appraising managers and staff. What could possibly go wrong? Only one thing. Kevin Wall refused to carry out performance reviews of senior managers reporting to him. The flow-on effect was that three of those senior managers (collectively responsible for the majority of staff) simply failed to review their direct reports, safe in the knowledge that they would not be called into account by the Managing Director. The following graph - 7 out of 36 performance reviews (19.44%) completed - says it all. Kevin’s total lack of leadership support sounded the death knell for the Performance and Development Review process, and I was left to pick up the pieces with some very disappointed members of staff, including personally carrying out performance reviews for several staff that I was not actually responsible for. • Another discovery would be that the security of personal files was totally deficient, with confidential records literally jammed into manila folders in a lockable (but very insecure) filing cabinet located in the Finance office. The Health and Safety Manager at that time had purchased a health and safety management system called PeopleSafe, and when I 0 2 4 6 8 10 Managing Director L&D Manager Financial Controller S&M Manager Training Manager Forestry Manager Admin Manager Required Performance Reviews v Completed Performance Reviews (March 2016) Required Reviews Completed Reviews
168 took over health and safety responsibilities, I would discover that (i) it was an extremely clunky system and difficult to use, and (ii) no health and safety data had been entered. On the positive side, it had a section that accommodated personnel records with access able to be restricted to those with a need to know i.e. managers responsible for staff. So while PeopleSafe had little benefit as a health and safety system, it turned out to be an excellent human resources receptacle for securely storing confidential staff records, and at a rather modest monthly cost of $50.00. With contracted assistance from Sarah, all human resources records for current staff were located and transferred into PeopleSafe, and suddenly AMS had fully secure and up-to-date personal files that could be confidentially accessed by relevant managers. Again within a month of my departure from AMS, I heard that Kevin Wall had terminated the contract for PeopleSafe, and consequently all personal files that had been created were lost. I suspect that to save $50.00 per month he would have reverted to the manila folders and their less than accurate contents that had been archived. • Going back to my health and safety memories, I’ll recall my implementation of a company-wide health and safety committee that had been negligently overlooked by my predecessor. To remedy this issue, I produced Terms of Reference for a Health and Safety Committee structure which defined committee members (including the Managing Director and a Hamilton-based health and safety trainer, a guy named Anthony Horgan) and their health and safety responsibilities. In addition, and because AMS had seven or eight training sites spread throughout New Zealand, the committee would be supported by a health and safety participative structure based on one person from each site taking an overview role of health and safety at that site and reporting to the main health and safety committee which met every two months. So we headed into the first meeting, and the worst possible start that could be imagined actually occurred. Kevin Wall, the Managing Director decided not to attend and I had no choice but to offer his apologies. As soon as he heard this Anthony Horgan swore loudly, with the minutes of that meeting recording that: Anthony Horgan advised that he was making himself unavailable from all future AMS Group HSE Steering Committee meetings until there is demonstrable commitment to health and safety from the Managing Director and left the meeting at this point. I would discover that Anthony had a long-standing problem with Kevin’s cavalier attitude to health and safety, and it is fair to say that my experiences with Kevin strongly supported Anthony’s view. There were only two future health and safety committee meetings that occurred during my time at AMS, with Kevin Wall managing to find the time to attend one of these meetings. Anthony Horgan never returned as a member of the HSE Committee. • I also introduced regular health and safety newsletters that were made electronically available to all staff. As a training company that was involved in a number of high-risk industries, there was an-going and regular supply of relevant health and safety material that could be conveyed to staff, and the first issue of “absolute safety news” covered the AMS Health and Safety Policy, relevant requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act, the structure of the H&S Committee, drugs and alcohol, smoking in vehicles, car parking at AMS sites, earthquakes, and AMS safety rules. I would like to think that post my departure from AMS, “absolute safety news” continued to be produced as a regular source of health and safety information for staff, but I have serious doubts whether that occurred. The Ugly My increased involvement as an AMS senior manager, particularly my role as HR Manager led me to view first-hand some appalling business ethics as displayed by Kevin Wall on a far too regular basis. I was tempted to entitle my AMS memories as Ethically Bankrupt but having gone with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly I decided instead to briefly summarise the more serious ethically challenging examples that I would face under Ugly - as that’s what they were. These examples, which are predominantly about the treatment of AMS employees, seriously challenged my personal views of what constituted right and wrong in the corporate world. • Some time before taking over the human resources role I became aware of a new Christchurch-based crane trainer, Scott Blackler who had previously been employed by Tai Poutini Polytechnic. I would find out that the employment
169 processes included a mandatory drug test, and in this instance Scott had failed a saliva test. The then Human Resources Manager verbally recommended a follow-up urine test which detects drug use over a longer period of time, but this recommendation was overruled by Kevin Wall, with this decision compounded by Kevin’s instruction that Scott should be employed, irrespective of the negative drug test which was never documented - I would be told about it when taking over human resources responsibilities. Making matters worse was concern expressed by James Stewart, another crane trainer who had also come out of Tai Poutini Polytechnic, that Scott was a well-known drug user. This mattered not to Kevin, he was only interested in the increased income that he believed could be achieved by employing an additional trainer, and not at all in the health and safety implications - either for the AMS Group or client company’s requiring crane training. From my ports and stevedoring, and crane industry background, drug taking was an absolute no-no in any circumstances, and it was totally unbelievable that Kevin would insist on the employment of this person in a training role within a high-risk industry. It was my introduction to what I continue to describe as Kevin’s “ethical bankruptcy”. Probably not surprisingly, Scott’s ongoing employment would come to a head a year or so later by which time I had responsibility for human resources. In November 2016 Scott was stood down from all training and assessment activity for one week following a failed random drug test. He subsequently failed a second test one week later, and I issued Scott with a final written warning based on his “failure to comply with the requirements of the agreed Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Contract between him and the AMS Group”. This final written warning (which bizarrely was his first offence as his pre-employment drug test failure was undocumented) was to remain in force for a period of two years. All was well for 5 or 6 months until I was advised that Scott was refusing to carry out work for which he had been scheduled and had accepted one month earlier. I travelled to Christchurch and, accompanied by Chris Campbell (the manager responsible for trainers) carried out a disciplinary interview, during which Scott refused to provide any reason (drugs was suspected but not able to be substantiated) for his refusal to carry out the work. I therefore advised him that his services were terminated with immediate effect. When advised of this outcome, Kevin Wall attempted to convince me to retract the termination - more ethical bankruptcy, which I refused to do, reminding Kevin of the Company’s Business Standards (which I had introduced, and Kevin had signed off on), specifically “refusal to carry out agreed scheduled work”, which constituted serious misconduct resulting in instant dismissal. • On one of my retainer-based trips to AMS I would meet the newly appointed Marketing Manager, Annie Monk. Visually, first impressions weren’t good; Annie had a preference for wearing extremely short dresses which did nothing to enhance her vertically challenged and rotund physique. While this look was definitely off-putting, second impressions were considerably worse, Annie had developed a close relationship with Kevin Wall and used this relationship as she deliberately, and often belligerently undermined the work of other managers. There were a number of complaints, myself included, made to Kevin regarding Annie’s demeaning behaviour towards staff, but these complaints were consistently brushed off by Kevin as having no substance. There were rumours, from staff and contractors, that Kevin and Annie were romantically involved, but personally I believe that these rumours were unfounded. Annie was responsible for a Marketing Assistant, Shawnee, a shy young lady with not a great deal of work experience. One Friday morning not long after taking over the human resources portfolio, I entered Shawnee’s office and found her in tears. After some gentle prompting, Shawnee advised that she had decided to resign as she could no longer tolerate the bullying that she was suffering from Annie. I asked whether she was prepared to make a formal complaint to which she agreed. I immediately contacted Kevin and advised him of the situation, including a postponement of my trip back to Perth so I could formally investigate the matter on the following Monday. Kevin reluctantly agreed, but only after I advised him that the lodging of a formal complaint meant that under health and safety legislation relating to bullying, we were obliged to investigate. In short, my investigation found that bullying of Shawnee by Annie had occurred, with Annie being presented with a final written warning that any repetition of proven bullying would result in her instant dismissal. Annie’s continued employment was saved only by the absence at that time of an approved Company Code of Conduct, with her letter sta
170 of Conduct will be implemented immediately. Please also be aware that any future instance of proven workplace bullying by you is very likely to result in the immediate termination of your employment. I introduced a Code of Conduct some two weeks later and ensured that it was immediately approved by the senior management team. Two or three weeks later Kevin announced that Annie had found alternative employment and had finished working for AMS. Yet another rumour immediately surfaced - unproven but certainly believable: that Kevin had paid Annie out, and that she was now working with Kevin’s wife in Cambridge. If this second rumour was true, then it probably put paid to the first rumour that Kevin and Annie were in a relationship. During the bullying investigation, I confidentially asked a number of AMS employees the following question: If you had to name one current AMS employee against whom a complaint of workplace bullying would be made, who would that employee be? Without any hesitation, all responded “Annie Monk”. Without naming the employees concerned, I made this information available to Kevin Wall as part of the investigation outcomes, and it was only then that he conceded that Annie may not have been the invaluable employee that he had irrationally supported and protected, when so many other managers, in the best interests of the organisation, had attempted to tell him differently. The redundancy of the North Island Account Manager and the closure of the Palmerston North branch with associated redundancies of three staff were probably signs of a deteriorating financial situation for AMS. What made these situations “ugly” was Kevin Wall’s approach, as Managing Director, to the people affected. • Chris Campbell as Business Development Manager had been responsible for the activities of a North Island-based Account Manager, Nadine Henderson. I say “had been” because Kevin Wall had unilaterally decided that Annie Monk would take over executive responsibilities for Business Development, and that Chris would report to Annie - definitely not a popular move, not from Chris nor other AMS senior managers. The employment of a North Island Account Manager had been initiated by Kevin, and Nadine’s actual engagement had been personally approved by Kevin - well prior to my taking over human resources responsibilities. Later, when I was responsible for HR, I recall sitting in a meeting in the Hamilton offices with Kevin and Chris, and Kevin stating that Nadine didn’t meet either his or Annie’s expectations of what an Account Manager should “look like”, and that she should be removed from the organisation. I immediately advised Kevin that he was on dangerous grounds, and that if he was genuinely concerned about Nadine’s performance and not how she looked, then realistic, achievable, and measurable performance targets should be established and agreed with Nadine - such targets had never previously been implemented. Kevin reluctantly agreed, and instructed Chris (interestingly not Annie) to develop a set of monthly performance targets that Nadine would be expected to achieve. It's fair to say that at that time Chris had no idea how to establish such performance targets, so I offered to assist. The following 3 major targets were developed, and agreed by Nadine: ➢ A minimum of 20 face-to-face customer visits achieved each week, including two visits relating specifically to Well Worker HQ; ➢ A minimum of 24 on-site courses confirmed on the Planner each calendar month; and ➢ A minimum of $60,000 revenue (gross) generated every calendar month. The targets were implemented, and one month later, Nadine’s performance against the targets was evaluated. She met and exceeded all three targets. That meant little to Kevin, he continued to espouse his view that she didn’t “look like” an Account Manager and instructed Chris (against my advice) to remove her from the organisation, under a restructuring guise. He also insisted that any discussions that Chris had with Nadine were “without prejudice”, which meant that any discussion between Chris and Nadine could not be used in any subsequent dispute or mediation proceedings. The end result was that Nadine’s position was declared redundant, and she departed AMS - without compensation. There was one other interesting statistic that had come to light, Nadine was actually the best performing salesperson within AMS at that time - she generated $9.74 per employment dollar as compared to the other two on-the-road sales- specific employees at that time, $7.36 and $7.10. But in Kevin’s view this statistic was irrelevant, as was Nadine’s
171 exceeding of the agreed performance targets, in his view Nadine simply didn’t “look like” an Account Manager and she had to go. • John Marcus was the Manager (and trainer) of the Palmerston North branch, and responsible for one other trainer and one administrator. He was also Kevin’s longest-serving staff member, and for much of his time at AMS had been one of Kevin’s strongest supporters. By the time I met John, his support for Kevin had seriously waned, primarily because Kevin had ceased all communication with him, and was heard complaining on several occasions that John and his team were causing nothing but problems - the problems were never identified. I had visited the Palmerston North branch on several occasions, and I always found John to be welcoming and amenable. It was no surprise when Kevin announced that it was his plan to close the Palmerston North branch, and service clients with contractors. A meeting at the Palmerston North branch was set up to consult with the staff regarding the proposed closure, with Kevin, Jo Pennell (Operations Manager) and myself representing the Company, but it was no surprise when Kevin failed to attend the meeting. John had great pleasure in turning to his representative and commenting “told you he wouldn’t be here”. Sadly, John decided that I was a major driver of the closure of the branch - I wasn’t, but I guess in John’s mind I was the logical target given Kevin’s absence. I did take pleasure in advising Kevin that all 3 staff should be paid redundancy compensation and if they weren’t, personal grievances would be taken against the Company. All 3 employees did receive redundancy compensation, and interestingly John would set himself up as a training provider in the Manawatu region, almost certainly working with a number of organisations who would have previously been AMS clients. • Six months or so before my departure from AMS, Kevin decided to appoint an Operations Manager, Graham Smith, whom Sarah and I had worked with briefly in our early STL days. Back then he was not a pleasant person to work with, we found him devious and untrustworthy, and I viewed his AMS appointment with a high degree of skepticism. Once Graham started at AMS it was apparent that nothing had changed since we first met him, with two instances, both involving Chris Campbell, reinforcing my views of the man. The first occurred in the Tauranga office one afternoon as I was about to head back to Hamilton - Graham and I were on our own in the office and he turned to me and asked what I thought of Chris, and whether he was suited to the Business Development role, stating that he didn’t think Chris was. I advised Graham that Chris was Kevin Wall’s most loyal employee, and that the business growth that AMS had enjoyed was almost totally attributable to Chris’ efforts. I didn’t think too much about this conversation until a couple of weeks later when Chris told me of a telephone conversation with Graham - the second instance - that as the call was being terminated, Chris heard Graham mutter “fat c#*t”. Chris took this up with Graham at their next meeting, with Graham’s explanation being that another driver had cut him off at an intersection. Neither Chris nor I believed this explanation. After I had departed AMS, I had a call from Chris who told me that he had been advised by Kevin and Graham that Chris’ position of Business Development Manager was being disestablished, and that he was being offered a Sales Representative position, with reduced status, remuneration and benefits. If Chris didn’t accept this role he would be made redundant, without compensation. Chris forwarded me the relevant documentation that he had been given, and it was patently obvious that the proposed Sales position was about 80% identical to the existing Business Development Manager’s role. There was no doubt in my mind that this was a deliberate move to remove Chris from the organisation under a pretext of restructuring, and I am confident that it would have been strategised by Graham Smith, before being triggered by Kevin Wall. In short, it had all the hallmarks of a constructive dismissal. Unfortunately, the events took place during Covid, which precluded me from travelling to New Zealand and acting as Chris’ representative - with my HR background and knowledge of how AMS had dealt with other “redundancy” situations I would have absolutely enjoyed the look on Kevin and Graham’s faces when I walked into the room with Chris. This episode left Chris shattered, and it wasn’t a surprise when he chose to resign rather than either fight to retain his existing position or remain in an organisation where he was clearly unwanted, irrespective of how well he had performed in the past, and his outstanding loyalty to Kevin Wall. • Graham Smith and Kevin Wall had taken one further opportunity to demonstrate their now collective “ethical bankruptcy” propensities, and this time the target was Fi Brown, the Company’s Forestry Manager
172 was paid just over $21,000 by way of severance compensation. I would certainly have used this knowledge had I acted for Chris Campbell when his employment was under threat of redundancy without compensation, as referred to above. A bit more about Fi. At the time of the Erebus disaster on 28 November 1979, Fi was a young constable with the New Zealand Police. Fi would become a Police member of the “Operation Overdue Mortuary Staff” team where she assisted in the identification of 213 of the 257 victims of the tragedy. This would have been a truly harrowing experience which, to my knowledge, Fi never spoke about. It was only during the writing of these memories that I became of Fi’s involvement in the aftermath of the Erebus disaster. The way that Fi was treated meant that what little respect I had for the Smith / Wall combo had now completely disintegrated, I felt, no, I knew that my reputation as a Human Resources practitioner was seriously compromised, and that it was time to move on from AMS. But I didn’t tender a resignation, rather I presented Kevin Wall with a proposal that would remove me from day-to- day HR / H&S responsibilities and see an existing staff member, Kyra Smith (a very talented lady, but who was totally under- utilised) move into a combined HR / H&S management role with advice and guidance from myself as might be required, and an internal moderation role being contracted to me for a period of 2½ years. To explain, internal moderation was a quality-based activity that all PTE’s were required to carry out, and I had already introduced a moderation system into AMS that in my opinion, was second to none. I also thoroughly enjoyed the moderation process. I sold my proposal to Kevin Wall on the basis of organisational cost savings i.e. work enhancement for Kyra and increased remuneration for her, the removal of my HR / H&S / Quality overhead, both offset by the requirement for AMS to demonstrate a cost-effective moderation system covering all sectors (NZTA licencing / endorsements / forklifts, ports and stevedoring, cranes, elevating work platforms, working at height, scaffolding, agriculture, rural, and adult education) for which AMS was accredited to assess against. With Kevin’s focus on cost savings, he quickly agreed, Kyra was appointed as HR / H&S Manager, Kevin and I signed a contract for services for me to manage internal moderation services to AMS for 2½ years - meaning that I had relinquished an annual salary of $105,000 that was replaced by moderation remuneration of $29,120 per annum, with the new arrangements being put in place effective from 1 July 2018. I had voluntarily and happily surrendered an amount of $75,880 by way of guaranteed annual income to be rid of the ethically bankrupt behaviours that were in front of me on a daily basis. What could go wrong this time? During July, August and September 2018 I internally moderated 39 assessment samples {5 observed on-site, 34 moderated off- site} and provided AMS with individual moderation reports for all moderated assessors, as well as graphs (below) summarising moderation outcomes by month and by each moderation quarter. The moderation system that I implemented, supported by reports and graphical summaries more than met NZQA requirements for internal moderation. The horizontal blue line at 9.0 represented the moderation performance target that had been established, with some definite requirements for improvement identified! Monday 3 September 2018 and two unrelated telephone calls while I was in Dunedin would mean the end of my moderation contract and my involvement with AMS. The first was from Chris Campbell who let me know that during an AMS senior management meeting earlier that morning, concern had been expressed as to the cost of contracted internal moderation (me) with further mutterings that my contracted moderation role should be brought back in-house. Kevin apparently concurred, even though he was well aware of the reasons behind my contracted moderation role and the savings that AMS had achieved, as initiated by me. I should not have been surprised at another example of Kevin’s ethical bankruptcy, and my decision to permanently sever all contact with the AMS Group was very easily made. The second phone call was all around 5.30pm that same evening as I was wandering through a New World supermarket. Graham Mulligan was the caller, and he wanted to know if
173 I was familiar and up to date with the requirements of ISO 9001. On hearing that I was, GDM asked me if I could head to Melbourne with urgency, explaining that he was the Executive Chairman of Chalmers Transport, a trucking and logistics company with branches in Melbourne and Brisbane, and he believed that there was a crucial need to implement a quality management system into the Chalmers organisation, and which would be capable of achieving external accreditation against ISO 9001:2015. One phone call to Sarah, two days and three new business shirts later, I’m sitting in GDM’s office and agreeing a new role as Chalmers’ Quality Advisor for the next 12 months. Back to my last days with AMS. I still had 14 assessments to moderate, and I quickly completed these before emailing my notice to terminate my contract, giving the requisite three months’ notice but making myself unavailable for any further moderation activity - effectively terminating my contract with immediate effect. With my decision to depart having been set in concrete and on my terms (I had certainly wanted to terminate the contract rather than receiving notice from Kevin), Sarah wasn’t displeased as it meant that I would no longer be working with the Kevin Wall / Graham Smith combo. It’s worth recalling that Sarah was immediately suspicious of Kevin Wall after meeting him for the first time in 2012 when he visited STL as part of his pre-purchase evaluation of the business. Sarah wasn’t at all taken with his approach to her believing it to be chauvinistic and completely dismissive of her role with STL. Sarah has always been an astute judge of character, and from my experiences over several years I reckon her initial view on Kevin way back in 2012 (which never altered) was smack bang on target. CHALMERS TRANSPORT The contractual arrangements that GDM and I agreed were similar to those that had been in place when I was contracted as Quality Manager of CrossCity Motorway i.e. each month I would spend time on site at either the Melbourne or Brisbane premises, followed by off-site work from my home office in Rockingham. The majority of my on-site work was spent in Melbourne, with accommodation always booked at the Radisson on Flagstaff, GDM’s preferred choice of hotel. It’s fair to say that we got to know the staff very well! Chalmers Transport was a long-established family business, but over recent years had been poorly managed, particularly the Melbourne site. Its financial performance was in serious decline, and GDM who was a Director of the Company, had stepped in as Executive Chairman. I remember my first meeting with the management team very well, GDM introduced me, explained my background, and stated that I would be implementing a loss control system capable of ISO 9001 accreditation “just like we did at CrossCity Motorway”. At this point I politely interrupted GDM and said, “no we won’t be doing that”. There were surprised and shocked looks on the faces of the gathered managers, they clearly believed that it wasn’t career-enhancing to say no to GDM. I went on to explain that there had been a number of changes to the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, one of which was the considerably reduced need to have volumes of management manuals that only took up shelf space, gathered dust, and were seldom referred to. Because of our relationship, GDM accepted that I knew what I was talking about, and I immediately found myself with a free hand to review, develop and implement a comprehensive management system that would comply with the requirements of ISO 9001, but would not be burdened by a swathe of unnecessarily voluminous management tomes. To ensure compliance with ISO 9001 I would produce two major documents. The first was a “Blueprint for Quality Management” (cover page pictured right) and based on the model that I had first developed at AMS Group a couple of years earlier. The Chalmers version, written in plain English, covered key requirements of ISO 9001 and was available electronically to all staff including drivers, all chapters were themed to music, with the Blueprint able to be used in induction sessions for new staff. Feedback was extremely positive, with one employee telling me that the use of music to support each chapter was a huge help to her in recalling and understanding Chalmers’ approach to quality management.
174 The second document was “Chalmers Guide to the 7 ISO Quality Management Principles”, literally describing how Chalmers complied with those ISO principles (Customer Focus; Leadership; Engagement of People; Process Approach; Improvement; Evidence-Based Decision Making; and Relationship Management). This Guide not only complemented and reinforced the Quality Blueprint, but more importantly it provided staff with easily accessible (via SharePoint) working-life examples of day-to- day quality compliance within Chalmers Transport. In my working career, I have never seen any other organisation successfully record actual day-to-day examples of how the 7 ISO Quality Management Principles were adhered to, so this innovation certainly stands as one of Chalmers quality success stories. So two key documents were developed as the primary drivers of Chalmers’ quality system. As ISO 9001 audits continued to be evidence-based, it was also necessary to provide an electronic receptacle within which all evidence sources could be stored and extracted as required. My recommendation (which was approved) was to implement SharePoint and establish a folder framework for retaining documentation that made up Chalmers’ quality system. The folder framework comprised the following: Blueprints / Guides Continuous Improvement Evaluations External Audit Facility Inspections Internal Audit Management Review Planning Policies Procedures Resources Risks Sales Training All staff received personal introductions to the Quality Blueprint and were provided with read-only access to all documents contained within SharePoint. There would be an interesting “distraction” for me as I focused on implementing a quality management system for Chalmers. I began to hear murmurings about Chalmers health and safety performance, particularly around the company that had been contracted to manage Chalmers’ health and safety performance, but whose involvement seemed to consist of monthly “walk arounds” of the Melbourne site. I met with the principal of this company and to say I was underwhelmed by the health and safety “expertise” that they were offering to Chalmers would be a definite understatement. More worrying were serious health and safety non-compliances that were clearly obvious, but which had not been identified by the external company. By this time GDM and I had been joined by Parke Pittar on a short-term contract as State Manager - Victoria (pictured left on his first night in Melbourne sitting between GDM and myself during dinner at the Radison Flagstaff hotel). Given Parke’s management background as CEO of a New Zealand stevedoring company where health and safety was absolutely paramount, it was comforting to realise that Parke shared the same concerns that I did concerning Chalmers’ health and safety performance. My recommendation to GDM was for me to carry out an audit of Chalmers’ health and safety performance against the requirements of AS/NZS 4801:2001 - Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, an audit standard that I had used on previous occasions when working with Port Otago, Exact Certification Services and Wenita Forest Products. GDM agreed and an audit was carried out of the Melbourne site. The results were astoundingly bad - the 4801 standard comprised 26 elements, and Chalmers achieved conformance against only two of those elements. Three elements resulted in minor non-conformances, while a staggering 20 elements were rated as major non-conformances. One element was not rated as evidence was not provided.There were several remedies immediately put in place. The first remedy was to document a comprehensive set of corrective actions that were presented to GDM and the Chairman of Chalmers’ Governance Safety Committee. Following close behind was the production of a Health and Safety Guide that I developed and introduced into the Company. This Guide was developed in a similar format to the Blueprint for Quality Management and was placed into SharePoint where it was accessible to all staff. Coincidently the Health and Safety Guide comprised 26 elements, but they were not directly linked to the 26 elements of 4801, rather they specifically targeted health and safety issues faced by
175 Chalmers on a day-to-day basis, such as managing contractors, internal policies and procedures, and managing risks - to name but three. A Health and Safety “Strategy on a Page” was developed, as was a set of Fundamental Safety Behaviours. The potential sale of Chalmers to QUBE meant that some health and safety initiatives were placed on the back burner while the sale process went through the necessary formalities. They shouldn’t have been backburnt. One major regret that I had (and still do) was not knowing with certainty that the remedies necessary to improve Chalmers’ health and safety performance were actually implemented by the new owners. There was one more distraction at the Melbourne site that GDM tasked me with resolving, this time an alleged case of bullying of a union official by the Chief Financial Officer. Cutting to the chase here, my investigation would find that the allegation of workplace bullying did not meet the threshold as set out in Safe Work Australia’s definition and therefore could not be substantiated. Notwithstanding this outcome, it’s still my view that the CFO displayed bullying tendencies (a view held by others - one manager describing him as “a f*#king bully boy and a pig”) and in fact had been the subject of an earlier complaint to previous management. I’m unaware of the outcome of that previous complaint, but I know that the person affected by the alleged bullying made a claim for compensation based on mental injuries which left that person no option but to resign. Putting allegations of bullying aside, I had ongoing concerns about the CFO’s commitment to the quality project that I had been contracted to implement. There were a number of examples, some of which follow below but the one that stands out involved the selection of process mapping software for Chalmers’ standard operating procedures (SOP), a vital component for ISO accreditation. Based on previous experiences I recommended ProMapp, but a decision was made to purchase XSOL Workplace. One problem was that there was no internal XSOL expertise, so responsibility for the management of the process mapping project was allocated to the Company’s Business Analyst (who reported to the CFO), and who would be designated as the in-house XSOL expert. Unfortunately, no progress at all would be made on developing procedures within XSOL as the CFO refused to release the Business Analyst to work with other managers in the review of existing, or development of new processes. Knowing the importance of procedural documentation if we were serious about 9001 accreditation, I had no choice but to develop a Procedures Template within Word (fortunately I had done this during my time at CentrePort) and work with individual managers to review and / or develop their procedural documentation. A time-consuming project, but one that was necessary to overcome what I still believe to have been the CFO’s deliberate sabotaging of the XSOL project. I had other concerns about the CFO’s commitment to the quality programme, and these were documented in the following extract from an email I sent to GDM in late July 2019: Another worry is around leadership. You will recall that in April / May I presented an “Introduction to the Quality Blueprint” training programme to Melbourne-based staff, with in excess of 50 attending. The noticeable absentee was the CFO. You will also remember that when Rheddyn and I carried out an internal audit on the leadership section of the ISO 9001 standard, you made yourself fully available, but the CFO did not turn up although scheduled to do so. You will also recall that during a discussion in your office in early July, he undertook to remind his management team of 9001 requirements and their importance - there is no evidence that this has happened. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the CFO is at all committed to this programme, and if we get into an external audit, I would be very concerned as to how quality leadership can be demonstrated in Melbourne, particularly if you happen to no longer be involved. I would email GDM a month later in which I identified 14 emails (between 16 April and 21 August 2019) relating to quality or health and safety issues that I had sent to the CFO, with none of them being either replied to, or otherwise actioned. In that email I also stated: In my opinion, the CFO has been totally negative towards the ISO programme and continues to be so. It is also my opinion that there is no way that Melbourne would achieve ISO certification under the CFO’s “leadership”. I believe there is no quality leadership in Melbourne now that you are no longer involved. I do not have the same concerns with Brisbane. Greg has been totally supportive, and he has a team around him that is far more quality-focused than what is the case in Melbourne. ISO 9001 accreditation is a real possibility in Brisbane. While expressing my concerns to GDM regarding the Melbourne site and its leadership, I had no such qualms about
176 when GDM was the CEO of Port of Brisbane Corporation. Greg and his team were totally supportive of the quality project and the targeted ISO accreditation, so much so that GDM agreed with my recommendation that ISO accreditation should be sought only for the Brisbane site, as within the timeframes available to us, Melbourne was not capable of demonstrating compliance against several ISO 9001 requirements, “leadership” being the primary problem but not the only one. Ignoring the challenge of implementing a Company-wide quality programme capable of achieving ISO 9001 accreditation, Chalmers’ Brisbane site was a much more pleasant working environment than Melbourne. Management and general staff in Brisbane consistently looked like they were enjoying their work, the care and cleanliness of their facilities were several notches above those in Melbourne, and from a consulting perspective, Brisbane was a far more welcoming environment in which to introduce and implement new management initiatives, and it wasn’t a difficult decision to focus IOSO 9001 accreditation on the Brisbane site alone. Not surprisingly a decision was made to schedule an external ISO 9001 audit of the Chalmers Melbourne site for November 2019. But before this could occur, the sale of Chalmers Industries to QUBE was signed, with the new owners stating that ISO 9001 accreditation was not something they wished to pursue for Chalmers as a stand-alone business. It appears that their preference was to achieve group accreditation, as evidenced at that time by QUBE’s major port and bulk facilities being compliant with ISO 14001 environmental standards, and a recent google search reveals that QUBE now has ISO 9001 certification that applies to all products and services provided by QUBE. A disappointing outcome for me personally, I believe that the Chalmers Melbourne site would have achieved ISO 9001 certification, but QUBE’s decision to focus on corporate-wide accreditations is fully understandable. ALL TIMES AND AGES INEVITABLY BECOME BYGONES, and my working career would not prove to be the exception to this fact. My final work-related communication with David Cormack from Wenita Forests - my last active client, was by email dated 16 September 2020, with a quick calculation revealing that my working career, which started on 20 May 1968 as a Junior Clerk for the Wellington Harbour Board, had lasted 52 years, 120 days. To say I was gob smacked when calculating this time span would be a serious understatement - that time literally flew past. I should note that there were several working opportunities that arose after September 2020 - the possibility of implementing ProMapp into a New Zealand national institute was suggested but never eventuated, assisting an industry association to develop the documentation for an industry-specific Private Training Establishment was offered but declined, and I was contacted by Wenita Forests as to whether I was interested in reviewing the health and safety system of another forestry company, that was also declined, although somewhat reluctantly. My working career had definitely come to an end, although I continue to ask myself the question - what would my response be if GDM was to contact me to assist him in yet another restructuring role? And an even more challenging dilemma, if I accepted, how would I explain this to Sarah? I feel absolutely privileged to have met and worked with and alongside so many fabulous people, and I hope that many of them are recognizable throughout these memories. They’ve included chief executives, board members, senior managers, industry trainers and assessors, trainees, staff at the coalface, and even the occasional union official falls into this category - some definitely don’t! Many have become very good friends, and we have entertained a number of them at our homes in Lower Hutt, Featherston, and in Rockingham, WA. I still marvel at the places that my work has taken me e.g. not only major cities in New Zealand but so many small towns in both Islands, cities in Australia, and I will never forget the short time that I spent in Papua New Guinea. Many of the places were made even more memorable on those occasions when Sarah accompanied me. Yes, there’s been some less than memorable moments over the last 52 plus years, including some difficult and distressing events that I had to face, but that’s a fact of life. Overall, I look back at my working career with a high degree of satisfaction and achievement. If I have one final hope from these memories, it is that my grandchildren will have a reference point should they ever wish to find out anything about not only me, but also the fabulous years that I’ve enjoyed with Sarah. Sadly, I’m not confident that my two remaining children are of the mind to talk positively about myself or Sarah - both of us sincerely hope that we are wrong.
177 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Most of what you have just read (and hopefully enjoyed) is accurate, however the occasional memory may be fractionally distorted due to the ravages of time. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to fully complete the saga of my working life without acknowledging the following: • The meticulously compiled records of the annual WHB vs AHB cricket matches from which I was able to extract my personal performances from a number of those games. • The senior archives team from the Wellington City Council who provided photographs of several Wellington Harbour Board executive managers (Dick Reeves, Jim Stewart, Karl Renner, Charles Hardy, Clarrie Thompson, Graham Boswell and Tom Blewman) all of whom were at the Board when I started there in May 1968. • GDM (Graham Mulligan) for providing his amazing (almost frightening) recollections of Wahine Day, and his contributions from our working time together (Port of Wellington, Port of Brisbane Corporation, Papua New Guinea Harbours Boards, CrossCity Motorway and Chalmers Transport) that have not only added immeasurably to my story, but in some instances corrected some of my blurred recollections of our corporate adventures. • The publications that I have extracted snippets of information and / or photographs from and used to enhance and / or illustrate my story. These publications include the Port Company’s staff newsletter - Pipitea Port Pourri; the Rongotai College 1968 magazine - Te Rama; the WHB journal - The Beacon; and the Defence Force publication - NZ Army News. • Sarah Lester. I couldn’t have produced these memories without the support of my extraordinary wife, Sarah whose ongoing encouragement was absolute, as was her patience as I tucked myself away in my “scriptorium” for hours on end (sometimes in our dining room in an attempt to gain some “brownie points”). There is no way I could have written this epic without Sarah’s support which definitely surpassed the amazing encouragement she gave me when I was head down and backside up writing my previous reminiscences - The View from the Top that described my adolescent days around the streets of Brooklyn. Many grateful thanks, Sarah. ???????? 2026