BUSES TO STOP BEFORE 9 A.M.

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30725, 14 April 1965, Page 3

BUSES TO STOP BEFORE 9 A.M.

Bus services in Christchurch would stop before 9 a.m. tomorrow until after a stop-work meeting of members of the Christchurch Tramway Workers’ Union, said the union’s secretary ( Mr L. C. J. Southon) yesterday.

Early-morning buses, he said, would run to bring workers to the city before the meeting.

But bus passengers who began work at 9 a.m„ might have to leave home a little earlier tomorrow, because the union wanted all the buses back at the depot not later than 9 a.m.. said Mr Southon.

“I advise members of the public to study their time-tables and leave on buses due in the Square no later than 8.50 a.m. If they do this, early morning workers should suffer little inconvenience.”

When the union members returned to work depended on the length of the meeting, said Mr Southon.

For instance, he said, if the meeting lasted till 12.30 p.m. the morning shift men would need a meal and then they would have to go to the depot to get the buses mobile. Mr Southon said it might

be 1.30 p.m. before the bus service resumed.

At the stop-work meeting, he said, the union members would hear a report from their national secretary (Mr P. A. Hansen).

The report followed a breakdown in negotiations for a new award. Mr Southon said a ballot would be taken on certain features of Mr Hansen’s report.

The last award expired on July 6, 1964. The union has been in conciliation since December 17.

Union members were concerned about the delay to an agreement on the terms of the new’ award, said Mr Southon.