Crane Dispute Unsettled

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30724, 13 April 1965, Page 1

Crane Dispute Unsettled

Lyttelton Harbour Board employees last evening reverted to limited manning of cranes on the waterfront. All the cranes were manned from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. but only five of 20 were operated after 5 p.m.

Last Wednesday cranedrivers started working the same hours as the watersiders—7 a.m. to 6 p.m.— pending a meeting between the union executive and the

employers, at Wellington last Saturday. But the meeting ended without agreement.

The national secretary of | the Harbour Board Employees’ Union (Mr H. R. O’Neill) said yesterday that "little or no progress was made.” the Press Association reports. “We did submit, however, proposals in writing to the employers on which it was thought the dispute could be settled."

The secretary of the Harbours Association (Mr R. E. Dawson) said he sincerely hoped that there would be no industrial trouble.

“All I can say at this stage is that no agreement was reached between the parties on Saturday. Negotiations have not been broken off, but a meeting before May 4 would not serve any purpose."

A statement that employees were losing up to £5 a week was not true, he said.

Granta of £7520.—A letter from the Education Department advising it had made grants for new equipment valued at £7520 for 1965 was received by the board of managers of the Christchurch Technical Institute last evening.