Lyttelton dispute settled

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33987, 30 October 1975, Page 2

Lyttelton dispute settled

The dispute between the Lyttelton Waterfront Workers and the Port Employers’ Association was resolved by a decision from the chairman of the Lyttelton Port Conciliation Committee (Mr R. H, Duff) about noon yesterday.

The dispute was about a two-day penalty imposed on three workers who did not return to work after a smoko, this the union claimed, was victimisation of the men by the foreman after a previous incident. The decision said that it was difficult to accept that victimisation was the motive for the men’s being told not to return to w'ork for two days. Mr Duff directed that the men be reinstated without loss of pay, and that work on the Hong Kong Surety be resumed. In an interim decision on Tuesday, Mr Duff asked for work to be resumed yesterday morning. This was delayed for about 10 minutes to allow union officials to inform members of progress of the dispute, which the union considered serious.

Mr Duff also'directed that the watersiders should work with union and non-union labour as specified in the award.

The secretary of the union (Mr M. E. Foster) said that it would not have taken the matter as far if it had not considered that there was the possibility of victimisation,, but that it was happy to abide by the chairman’s decision.

Mr J. Twomey, the secretary of the Employers’ Association, said that the dispute had not proved too disruptive, land that it would abide by ithe ruling.