Sydney Mail Sorters Ban Overtime

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32233, 27 February 1970, Page 13

Sydney Mail Sorters Ban Overtime

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, February 26. , Sorters at Sydney’s central mail exchange, the largest in Australia, and at the Sydney G.P.0., today refused to work the 5000 hours overtime required of them.

The overtime ban is the first part of a national campaign by the Amalgamated Postal Workers’ Union for direct negotiations with the Postal Department for increased pay. Today’s overtime was required to disperse the backlog of several million letters and parcels that had accumulated . during the 24-hour

national postal strike on Mon-1 day. The ban means that 121] million letters and parcels will continue to move sluggishly each day through the Australian postal system; and union officials said that the hundreds of mailbags piling up each day at terminals would continue to accumulate.

They added that they planned more nation-wide 24hour strikes, but did not intend to make final rollingstrike plans until after the conferences that the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (Mr R. J. Hawke) is seeking with the Commonwealth Public Service Board.