No trains run as strike continues

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33290, 30 July 1973, Page 1

No trains run as strike continues

No trains will run in Canterbury today as the Canterbury branch of the National Union of Railwaymen continues the strike which began on Friday.

The Minister of Railways (Mr McGuigan) will not negotiate until the men go back to work. In Christchurch yesterday he declined an invitation to talk with representatives of the Canterbury branch.

The secretary of the Canterbury branch of the union (Mr J. F. McDowell) said that he had been instructed by the national executive on Saturday to arrange a meeting with Mr McGuigan in Christchurch. He described the Minister’s refusal to meet them yesterday as “irresponsible,” and said that the men would “stay out” until the reinstatement of the man whose suspension on Friday started the strike. Although the immediate cause of the stoppage was the suspension of a man who refused to marshal! waggons and move them to Riccarton, the basic cause of the dispute,

which has been in progress for some weeks, is a union restriction on some types of shunting. The national secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen (Mr N. R. Collins) told “The Press” last evening that the union believed that large bulk-loading firms were getting favoured treatment over the ordinary railway operations.

“This affects Railways staff, and we don’t think it should,” Mr Collins said. Asked to comment on this, Mr McGuigan said that the whole question was one of who was running the Railways. As far as he was concerned, he said, it was the Railways Department — not the N.U.R. He had made it clear to Mr Collins on Friday

evening that he would not condone unilateral action. He would negotiate only at national level, and only after a return to work, Mr McGuigan said. But, according to Mr McDowell, the strikers will not go back until some action is taken to resolve the cause of the union restrictions on shunting. He said that the refusal which started the strike was in line with national policy. “The man had no choice but to refuse,” he said. “He gave his reasons for doing so in writing, but was still suspended.” The national council of the N.U.R. is expected to meet in Wellington today to discuss the dispute. Most services were affected on Friday evening, and all traffic was halted at the week-end. The Southerner remained immobile, while last evening saw cancellations of the West Coast railcar, the Dunedin railcar, the service to the inter-island ferry, the goods express to Blenheim, and the express to Dunedin. Today’s cancellations include the early morning railcar to the West Coast, the Southerner, and the railcars to Picton and Greymouth. Roads Services buses are also not travelling, as staff there come under the N.U.R. also.