Aust. Postal Strike May End Today

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31584, 23 January 1968, Page 12

Aust. Postal Strike May End Today

(NiZ. Press Association— Copyright)

SYDNEY, January 22. Postal workers in Brisbane and Hobart have accepted terms for settling Australia’s mail strike, but there has been a hitch in Sydney.

A mass meeting of about 3000 postal workers in Sydney this afternoon declared its dissatisfaction with some of the proposals and asked the New South Wales executive of the Australian Postal Workers’ Union to try to have some changes made. The meeting adjourned until tomorrow afternoon and, in the meantime; members of the union have been ordered not to resume Work. The terms of settlement were agreed to by the Government, the Australian Council of Trades Unions, and the A.P.W.U. last night. The return-to-work decision by the Brisbane postal

workers was almost unanimous; more than 800 decided to resume work from midday tomorrow. The starting time fixed in Hobart was the same, but union officials there have told the Post Office that all non-union labour must be withdrawn before the strikers return to work. Mass meetings of strikers in other States will be held tomorrow. The Terms The terms of settlement were released in Melbourne today by the PostmasterGeneral (Mr Alin Hulme),. The main points are:— The inter-State executive of the A.C.T.U. supports the union in its wage claim for transport drivers for an extra $122 to $175 a year. On the resumption of nor-

mal work, the Public Service Board, in association with the Postal Department, is to confer immediately with the union on pay claims. ‘ The board is to ensure tbit there are no unavoidable delays. If the union is dissatisfied with the board's decision it will confer with the A.C.T.U. Anyone dismissed or suspended during the U-day strike is to be reinstated immediately without penalty. The casual staff recruited to replace the strikers is to be withdrawn, but special casual staff may be taken on to overcome the huge pileup of mail. There will be no victimisation by either side, and any such impediments to the normal movement of the mail such as “black” bans are to be removed immediately. “Not A Success” Releasing the settlement terms, the PostmasterGeneral said the striking postal workers were now in no better position than before the strike. “This has shown that this type of strike cannot be a success,” he said, adding that he expected no major difficulties from tomorrow’s mass meetings of trade unionists. The president of the A.C.T.U. (Mr Albert Monk) said tonight that the settlement terms had been unanimously accepted by the executives of both the A.C.T.U. and the A.P.W.U., but there were some minor matters still to be ironed out. He was confident these would not cause further industrial trouble. The objections taken by the strikers at the Sydney meeting concerned nroposals for the use of Christmas casual staff to help clear the build-up of mails, and the fact that no assurance had been given that the mail vandrivers would be given a rise of $6 a week. The pay issue was the principal cause of the stoppage. The meeting asked the New South Wales executive of the Postal Workers’ Union to meet tomorrow morning to try to secure some amendments to the terms of settlement. The executive should then report to a meeting of drivers at noon, and a mass meeting of all members of the A.P.W.U. would follow.