Dispute May Shut Port

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32313, 3 June 1970, Page 18

Dispute May Shut Port

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 2. The port of Wellington may be forced to close on Friday if a dispute involving members of the H rbour Board Employees’ Union is not resolved by Thursday afternoon. Union members today voted by a four-to-one majority to stop work in the dispute about wages, but they deferred action for 48 hours ! The secretary of the union I (Mr T. M. Hill) later today |led a,union deputation to the I Minister of Labour (Mr Marishall), and the secretary of labour (Mr E. Davey) in Mr ; Marshall’s office. i Mr Marshall said later that I he and Mr Davey would discuss the dispute with the Wellington Harbour Board.

He had not put forward any proposals for resolving the dispute. The point at issue is payment of an increase recently agreed between the Harbours’ Association and the National Harbour Board Em ployees’ Union. The Wellington union claims that the agreed $3 weekly increase was to be paid at all ports, but the Wellington Harbour Board says that because its employees already receive an average of $2.55 weekly above award rates it is prepared to pay only 45c weekly, thus making up the agreed $3.

Oil company drivers may also stop work on Friday over a wage dispute. The Secretary of the Wellington Drivers’ Union (Mr K. G. Douglas) tonight advised the companies by telegram of the drivers’ intention to hold a special stopwork meeting on Friday morning. At Napier the East Coast fertiliser works has been declared black by the Wellington Engineering Union in a dispute between the company and the union over wage rates for fitters and fitter’s mates. The 26 union members at the plant stopped work last Friday.