Lyttelton Port workers have agreed to temporarily lift their strike action until next Tuesday as their union goes back into negotiations with the port company.
Rail and Maritime Transport Union organiser John Kerr Photo: RNZ / Alex Harmer
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union had already offered to lift the strike action for the next two days.
After a request from the Lyttelton Port Company, it has now agreed to extend that for three further days, until next Tuesday.
Union organiser John Kerr said the union would go back into negotiations with the port tomorrow morning.
The port also agreed to pay the workers returning to work tomorrow regardless of whether there were ships to service or not, he said.
The port's refusal to pay union members after a previous occasion when a strike notice was lifted has been one of the sticking points in the negotiations.
Around 50 union members protested outside the the office of the Christchurch City Council-owned company Christchurch City Holdings Limited (CCHL), which owns the port company.
The union presented CCHL chair Jeremy Smith with a letter calling on the board to encourage the port company to resolve the dispute.
The CCHL board later released a statement saying the matters needed to be resolved between the port and the union.
It acknowledged the stress caused to staff, the company, wider community and stakeholders.
The general secretary of the RMTU said he could not understand why the company was not stepping in.
"It just beggar's belief that when there is so much pain being inflicted on the Canterbury economy why the owner of the business wouldn't intercede, and use their good officers to try and get a resolution. It just doesn't make sense."
Wayne Butson said if CCHL won't intervene then its owner, the Christchurch City Council, should.