Brewery Drivers To Strike In Christchurch Today

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31727, 10 July 1968, Page 1

Brewery Drivers To Strike In Christchurch Today

All brewery drivers in Christchurch would strike from 5 p.m. today, in support of drivers elsewhere seeking a 7.6 per cent wage rise, said the secretary of the Canterbury Drivers’ Union (Mr N. Dunnill) yesterday.

The 20 breweiy drivers employed in Christchurch by New Zealand Breweries, Ltd, and two assistants would refuse. to load or unload from 5 p.m., he said.

Carriers would finish their unloading at the time of the strike and would finish work immediately they returned to base.

The secretary of the Canterbury Brewery Workers’ Union (Mr L. Short) last evening said that all Christchurch brewery workers would almost certainly support the drivers. He said that this had been the case in both Auckland and Wellington where the brewery workers had refused to load in or out of the breweries.

The Christchurch Brewery Workers’ Union would meet at 8 a.m. today to confirm this, said Mr Short.

Refusal to load would apply to both draught beer and

bottled beer. This would stop beer being loaded on trucks of the carriers.

Mr Short Mid that the Canterbury Hotel Workers’ Union would support the drivers and the brewery workers.

Mr Dunnill predicted that by the end of this week draught beer supplies would be short and bottled beer would be short later. More than 100 hotels in Canterbury would be affected. Auckland

Two big breweries in Auckland are idle, most hotels are expected to have run dry by the week-end and 700 brewery workers will meet this morning to discuss their plans, according to the Press Association.

At Dominion Breweries yesterday afternoon 55 tanker drivers and 12 boiler-hands and refrigeration workers struck.

The strike resulted from the company’s refusal to grant its employees a 7.6 per cent wage rise. All production at the Otahuhu plant has ceased. The position of the company was still being assessed, said the general manager, Mr W. S. Otto. At this stage it was not planned to dismiss the striking workers and the brewery employees who were not on strike would be kept in work of some kind, he said. Dominion Breweries supplies 78 hotels and licensed clubs throughout New Zealand.

All the brewery staff of New Zealand Breweries walked out early yesterday afternoon before notice could be served on 140 of them.

Earlier, telegrams had been sent to the 35 tanker drivers who have been on Strike for a week. They were told that if they did not report for work at 7.30 a.m. today, they would be dismissed. Before the men left the premises after the walk-out decision they made the machinery safe, and huge cooling tanks were drained of thousands of gallons of water.

Rationing of beer had not been considered by the Auckland Hotel Association, said the secretary (Mr C. F. Young) yesterday. It would not be very long before hotels ran dry. Members of the Auckland

Hotel Workers’ Union will meet to review effects of the brewery stoppages. The union has resolved to declare black any hotel where men are laid off because of the strikes. The Penrose factories of the New Zealand Glass Manufacturers Company Pty, Ltd, and James Hardie and Company Pty, Ltd, are still strikebound. About 120 men are involved at the glassworks and more than 200 at the asbestos factory. Other Auckland disputes which remained unsettled yesterday included the overtime ban by 370 Auckland Electric Power Board linemen, a strike by 13 steel riggers at the Glenbrook steel mill site, and a stoppage by engineers on another part of the Glenbrook job. The Auckland Employers’ Association urged employers to wait for a Government decision on the Arbitration Court criteria rather than bow to union pressure. Any action by an employer at this stage could involve him in a double-barrelled claim. Wellington Most Wellington hotels will run out of draught beer today. Some had already run

out last evening. Rationing has been brought in by many hotels and customers have been limited to one flagon a person and one dozen bottles a person. The 15 striking tanker drivers have been picketing the Murphy Street brewery in shifts of five men at a time.

They also enlisted the support of seven other unions in their demand for a 7.6 per cent wage increase from New Zealand Breweries. The Wellington manager of the breweries, Mr R. J. Harrison,' said in a letter to the eight unions involved that, in view of the present situation, “we are unable to make any offer in respect of a general wage increase in lieu of a court order.

“In any event we are not prepared to enter into any discussions while the Drivers’ Union employees continue their strike action or while the other unions concerned continue to impose any restrictions on handling of beer or goods." Mr Harrison Mid he also urged an immediate return to work by the drivers and a discontinuation of the present handling restrictions. No reply from the unions had been received by the brewery late yesterday.