MORE DISMISSALS AT CABLES

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29932, 20 September 1962, Page 14

MORE DISMISSALS AT CABLES

Watersiders Place Ban On Handling Steel

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, September 19.

Tension in the William Cable, Ltd., dispute is mounting, with 10 more men dismissed today, the Government taking steps to prevent their engagement elsewhere, and employers considering how to bring matters to a head.

Dismissals resulting from the month-old dispute now

total 32.

Cable’s spokesman said the company today had been forced to dismiss a welder at Gracefield and nine boilermakers at Kaiwharawhara.

“We did this with tremendous regret,” he said.

The watersiders today entered the dispute by declaring a “black” ban on the loading-out of Cable’s supplies from the wharf, including steel for Steel Supplies, Ltd., a Cable-Price-Downer subsidiary.

Although there was some confusion early today about the relaxing of bans, allowing some materials to move, the Drivers’ Union later reaffirmed the bans, and deliveries virtually ceased. Various meetings of the Employers’ Federation, the Wellington Master Carriers’ Association, Cable’s representatives with the Secretary of Labour (Mr H. L. Bockett) as well as contact with the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) continued throughout the afternoon. One result of these was an announcement by Mr Shand that instructions had been issued to the railway workshops and other Government employing agencies not to employ workers from Cable’s or other firms that have become involved during the dispute.

A spokesman for Cables said after meeting the Employers’ Federation, that the firm hoped to be able to carry on operations with ‘the co-operation of other employers.” But neither the company, nor Mr P. J. Luxford, the Employers’ Federation secretary, would say what the co-operation would be. The Employers’ Federation will hold another meeting tomorrow.

The Wellington Master Carriers' Association have also called a special meeting for tomorrow night, its pre-

: sident (Mr F. Skeet) said tonight. Mr Skeet replied to the secretary of the Drivers’ Union (Mr C. Bailey), who earlier said Mr Skeet’s suggestion on Tuesday night that the union had issued no directives regarding the ban on carting material was “entirely without foundation.” Mr Bailey confirmed a statement by the union’s organiser, Mr K. G. Douglas, that the union was observing the directives of the Federation of Labour and the bans had not been relaxed. “Mr Bailey is talking nonsense when he says that the ban on the flow of materials to and from Cable's plant at Kaiwharawhara and Gracefield had not been relaxed,” said Mr Skeet. “At the time my statement was made goods were being) moved to and from these plants by members of Mr Bailey's union, and this position still applied today. “I can only, therefore, leave it to the public and Mr Bailey's drivers to judge the accuracy of our respective statements. “Any confusion that exists seems to be in the minds of union members, arising solely from Mr Bailey s failure to inform them of his union's position.” The president of the Federation of Labour (Mr F. P. Walsh) could not be reached tonight to comment on the situation.