Threat Of Stoppage At Manapouri

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31783, 13 September 1968, Page 16

Threat Of Stoppage At Manapouri

(New Zealand Preet Association) INVERCARGILL, September 12. A work stoppage from midnight on Sunday is threatened at the Manapouri power project’s West End powerhouse.

An ultimatum has been served on the contracting company by the Workers’ Association executive because of a dismissal.

The association's executive said in a statement tonight that it did not want a stoppage by the 750-odd men concerned and such a stoppage, in the interests of justice, would be a last resort.

The president of the association (Mr J. R. McKenzie) said that neither the company nor Government departments appeared prepared to help, but the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk) had promised a compulsory conference. “That,” Mr McKenzie said, "is what we want—to get round the table with the company’s representatives.” From Te Anau tonight, Mr M. S. Morris, project manager for the Bechtel Pacific Corporation, the Government’s consultants and managers on the Manapouri scheme, said on the telephone: “Well be looking into this first thing tomorrow, and I am hopeful that the problem can be settled.”

Mr Morris added that the details of the dispute were

not known. The company, Utah Construction and Mining, had simply advised him that the employment of a worker had been terminated because of absenteeism. But the association’s statement said the worker about whom it was concerned was “extremely industrious and intelligent.” The statement named the worker as Mr Camil Marmarac, a Jugoslav, who had completed a two-year contract and had been granted a permanent residency permit. “The union considered his

case and asked the company the reasons for his dismissal. We were told: ’He is a foreigner’,” the statement said. “I am a Scot,” Mr McKenzie commented. “Mr Mullaney’s an Irishman, and it was an Englishman who told us this.

“We attempted to discuss the matter with another executive of the company and were told that it was none of the union’s business. A letter was given to the company’s public relations manager (Mr A. Allan) but we have had no reply.