Business New Zealand has warned that the ongoing effects from the industrial action at the Port of Auckland will have wide ranging effects on the rest of New Zealand the longer it goes on.

More than 250 Maritime Union staff walked off the job for 3-1/4 hours yesterday following a two-day strike over a contracts dispute.

Dockers are seeking a 4.5 to 4.9 percent pay rise and the company has offered around 3.25 percent.

Two further strikes are planned for October 17 and October 22, which is Labour Day.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said the Ports of Auckland was such a strategic asset to New Zealand incorporated that the impacts of the dispute would affect transport operators, exporters, importers and every day New Zealanders who would not be able to get their container off the wharf.

He said this kind of industrial dispute is damaging to New Zealand the longer it goes on and damages customer confidence. He said some New Zealander exporters will not be able to hit their target markets.

Union branch said the Labour Day strike was to draw attention to the fact that it would otherwise be a normal operating day for the port, even though it was supposed to be a celebration of workers' rights.

All three strikes will be for 3-1/4 hours as a reflection of the workers feelings on the recent actions of the employer and the 3.25 percent wage increase they are trying to force workers to accept.

Staff had been on strike last week. Attempts to break the 10-month pay impasse failed, despite the efforts of two industrial mediators.

Ports of Auckland has asked the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to help find a way through the deadlocked negotiations.