“Unions’ dispute cause of delay”

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32702, 3 September 1971, Page 4

“Unions’ dispute cause of delay”

Although container ship operators and unions began discussions in December, 1969, and informal talks continued with the Federation of Labour and individual waterfront unions in 1970 and 1971, progress towards an agreement on handling containers was held up because unions were unable to agree among themselves on the demarcation of work, says a spokesman for the ship operators.

In a statement supplied to newspapers to describe the negotiations, Mr D. L. Binnie, for the employers negotiators, says: “A misleading impression has gained currency that the recent container dispute could have been averted if negotiations had started earlier.” In spite of the continuing differences over the demarcation of work, the employers requested an early start to formal talks on July 19 and the talks began on August s—two weeks before the container ship ACT 3 arrived at Wellington.

' The waterside workers’ representative'would not agree to Harbour Board Employees’ Union representatives attending this meeting because board employees had not accepted the demarcation decision issued by the Federation of Labour on June 15, says Mr Binnie.

“This meeting ended with a wide gap between the parties on wage structure, manning and conditions of employment,” he says.

Mr Binnie’s account of events from 1969 lists employers’ meetings with the Federation of Labour on December 16, 1969; December 11, 1970; and March 3, 1971. On April 5, 1971, there was a meeting “between employers, harbour boards, the F.0.L., and some other unions to facilitate a decision on demarcation.”

Auckland employers and employees met on this issue on April 8; but the Auckland Harbour Board and the Auckland branch of the Harbour Board Employees’ union later, refused to accept the F.O.L. decision on demarcation issued on June 15.

“On July 19 the employers presented the uiiions with a statement of basic principles and requested an early start to formal, joint talks—even though at that stage a demar-

cation problem still existed,” says Mr Binnie. The meeting was agreed to by the unions, and they submitted written proposals. The employers made their detailed proposals to the unions on August 4, the day before the abortive thtee-day meeting with the watersraers’ negotiators. After disagreement on wages, manning, and conditions, a further meeting r was arranged for August 13; but it was cancelled because of a national stoppage in protest at the offer for a wage review by the Port Employers’ Association.

On August 16, when no agreement seemed possible before the ACT 3 arrived, the employers requested the unions to consdier interim arrangements to enable the ship to be worked. The Harbour Board Employees’ Union accepted the demarcation decision on August 18 and joined the negotiations.