KiwiRail and the union representing some of its workers have reached a settlement over the unloading of new rolling stock from China at the Port of Tauranga.
Rail workers set up a picket at port overnight in a bid to stop the unloading of 120 Chinese-made wagons by contractors.
At a meeting with the Rail and Maritime Transport Union this morning, KiwiRail agreed to use its own workers to unload the wagons, Radio New Zealand reported.
The union is protesting against KiwiRail for commissioning the wagons from overseas, jeopardising local jobs.
KiwiRail announced yesterday that between 40 and 44 jobs would be axed at its Hillside workshop in Dunedin and called for voluntary redundancies.
Thirty workers at the Woburn workshop in Lower Hutt are also expected to be made redundant.
The rail company said it would cost about $36 million to build the new wagons in New Zealand compared with $29 million to buy them from China.
