POSTAL GO-SLOW Ban On Union Officials

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32395, 7 September 1970, Page 24

POSTAL GO-SLOW Ban On Union Officials

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, September 6.

The Post Office Association revealed yesterday that the DirectorGeneral of the Post Office (Mr G. Searle) has instructed that association officials will not be allowed on Post Office premises during the go-slow due to start tomorrow.

He had also instructed that any association officials found on Post Office premises were to be asked to leave, the association said.

“They seem determined to throw 80 years of co-operation and good relations with the association down the drain," he said.

“We have promised that emergency services will be maintained by our members. We intend to see that this promise is carried out. Accordingly, we will be present in Post Office premises from Monday to supervise the continuance of emergency services.

“I am absolutely amazed at the Post Office’s action,” the president of the association (Mr J. G. Stapleton) said.

“In fact. I will be in the Auckland mail room from midnight on Sunday, and other officials will be in Post Offices throughout New Zealand from Monday morning. “If the Post Office intends, as it seems, to make a major confrontation out of an issue that we believe should be solved round the negotiating table, then they are entitled to take this action.

“But I suspect that they do not really know what they are doing. We will not be intimidated by such strong-arm tactics. Our members will be quite rightly appalled by this move by the Post Office.”

The directive would not cause the association any problems because staff were right behind the go-slow, but it was quite unprecedented that the Government should deny union officials access to union members, he said.

Mr Stapleton said the development was unprecedented. The directive said union members would be denied access to branches of the Post Office to evaluate the effectiveness of the go-slow or to 1 encourage Post Office workers.