Firemen Question Validity Of Board's Order Board’s Order

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29952, 13 October 1962, Page 10

Firemen Question Validity Of Board's Order Board’s Order

A solicitor acting tor the Christchurch Fire Brigadesmen’s Union yesterday sent a letter to the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Board questioning the validity of the board’s order that firemen must remove •"extra” mattresses from their rooms at the new headquarters fire station in Kihnore street. The solicitor requested that the order be stayed pending discussions on the legal implications of the situation. The chairman of the board (Mr W. R. Campbell) last night said he had instructed the board's secretary (Mr S. F. Marshall) to reply to the union solicitor that the board would stand firm on its decision, and that the brigade order issued by the Chief Fire Officer (Mr U R Osmond), at the direction of the board, that the mattresses must be removed from the station by Monday afternoon would be adhered to.

The mattresses were taken into the fire station in August after the Conciliation Commissioner in Christchurch (Mr S. W. Armstrong) had given the ruling, as a decision of a disputes committee, that the board was not required to provide separate beds for firemen living off the station while off duty. The union apoealed against this decision. The board.decided to allow 'the mattresses to remain at the fire station until the Arbitration Court decided the appeal. The Court

decided, on a majority decision. that the board was not required to provide separate beds. The board this week resolved that the mattresses must be removed from the fire station. No member of the board voted against the deckion. The union held a special meeting yesterday morning to discuss the order that the mattresses must be removed from the fire station by 3.45 p.m. on Monday. Firemen not provided with the separate beds they claimed have been sleeping on the mattresses on the floor since August. The letter from the union’s solicitor was received by Mr Marshall yesterday afternoon. “The whole matter has been thoroughly covered and decided by both the disputes committee and the Arbitration Court,” Mr Campbell said last night. “Tlie men living off station while off duty are not tenants of the board. The board has the authority to rule what shall be brought on to its property. The board will stand firm by its decision that the mattresses must be removed I have instructed Mr Marshall to inform the union solicitor of this. “The solicitor requested that the order to remove the mattresses be stayed while the matter is discussed. The pros and cons of the matter have been fully discussed by the board members, the disputes committee, and the

Arbitration Court. There is nothing left to discuss,” Mr Campbell said.

Hie union secretary (Mr G G. Walker) and the president of the Canterbury district council of the Federation of Labour (Mr F L. Langley), who attended the union meeting yesterday morning, had no statement to make last night.