Calls for changed container ruling

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32564, 25 March 1971, Page 12

Calls for changed container ruling

(Neu> Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 24. Decisive action by the Government was needed to end the container dispute in the port, the Wellington Harbour Board decided tonight

The Minister of Labour (Mr Marshall) should be big enough to admit he had made a mistake in promising watersiders they could work in off-wharf areas, said a board member, Mr S. H. J. Duff.

Mr B. R. Toop said the dispute was between two unions

yet it was affecting the economy of the whole country. The board's general manager (Mr R. R. Reeves), said that 230 Seafreighters were awaiting delivery from the wharf and a serious situation had developed. Working of the berth would be seriously affected if there was any more build-up. A meeting of the Wellington Manufacturers’ Association tonight urged Mr Marshall to take immediate action to end the watersiders* ban on container handling. The resolution also called on the Minister to “correct the error made in approving the alterations to the rules of the Wellington Watersiders' Union when watersiders were given the right to pack and unpack containers in designated off-wharf consolidators' depots.” , The electoral committee of the Meat Board, after discussion of the container ban today, asked that the Minister of Labour advise all interested parties of his agreement that wool be packed as close to source as possible, using traditional wool store labour.