Rubber dispute may develop

Press, Issue 33844, 16 May 1975, Page 10

Rubber dispute may develop

If the Dunlop dispute, which is threatening to close the Woolston fac« tory, could not be resolved at a meeting of the Canterbury Trades Council this morning, it might develop, and the Trades Council could take over an extended dispute, the secretary of the council (Mr F. E. McNulty) said yesterday.

Mr McNultv said that the from the rubber workers.

meeting had been called with] the management of Dunlop to trv to resolve the dispute before it developed any further. The dispute involved a number of other affiliated unions of the council, apart

He said that the meeting ihad been called at the request lof the rubber workers, and the South Island Industrial i Conciliator (Mr L. Fortune) would be chairman. The manager of Dunlop’s general products division (Mr N. M. Allcock) said vesterdav that the meeting would look at some way of resolving the dispute. However, he said, there : could be no negotiations while the rubber workers ■were on strike. Mr Allcock said that the plant wag well on the way to closing, and that there would be no more suspension notices issued at the plant, in the hope that the dispute would be settled. Suspension notices have been issued to 40 employees in the golf ball division. This section relies on raw material from the main plant.