Unite Union has been very quick to put the boot into Sky City for the after-effects of the fire.
They issued a press release where they claimed workers’ health was in danger.
“Unite Union is demanding Worksafe New Zealand does it [sic] job and investigates if tens of thousands of workers had their health endangered at work last week.”
Press Release
They also organised a strike claiming unsafe working conditions and then labelled instructions from their bosses to “refer media enquiries to Laura Barrett in the SkyCity Communications Team” as a muzzling of workers because management asked them to say “no comment” to media.
While Unite Union have no sympathy for management, who are dealing with a massive loss, apparently caused by one of their employees, there are bucket loads of sympathy for the worker whose negligence caused the disaster.
A teenager – possibly an apprentice – is believed to have accidentally left a blowtorch unattended after going on a smoko break on Tuesday afternoon, igniting a blaze that took Fire and Emergency NZ nearly a week to extinguish and causing gridlock in the city for days.
NZ Herald
A source told the Herald the teenager, believed 18, was working for a sub-contractor and after realising his mistake went back to his work spot only to discover a fire had already started.
“The poor guy is in tatters … he’s completely shattered,” the source said.
The elephant in the room here is that it is highly likely that it was a Unite Union member who failed to follow basic safety guidelines and who is responsible for everything that they are currently complaining about. Even A Newspaper minimised what the worker did referring to it in a headline as a …wait for it…“glitch”.
This “glitch” could very well be the reason why the insurance company refuses to pay out. If a CEO of Sky City were responsible for causing the fire and causing millions of dollars worth of damage, Unite Union would want their head on a platter. The media would splash their face all over the front pages to name and shame them. This is why Unite Union have a bare-faced cheek to complain about their current working conditions, when it looks highly likely that they were caused by one of their own.