Threat of strike by 21,000 drivers

Press, 28 July 1976, Page 6

Threat of strike by 21,000 drivers

PA

Wellington

The transport industry faces a national stoppage by 21,000 drivers if employers continue to refuse to negotiate a new general drivers’ award.

The national council I of the Drivers’ Federa-| tion reached this de-[ vision yesterday after [ the employers refused’ to attend the conciliation council because of) a strike by 21 drivers i in Hamilton The president of the federation (Mr K. G. Douglas)' Mid last evening that the; union would also implement, restrictive practices through-i out the industry. He would not comment on) the nature or the timing of; the stoppage, except that it would be for 24 hours I initially. The matter will be I discussed with the national, executive of the Federation! of Labour today. The stoppage was planned) because of the employers’! refusal to negotiate. Mr Dougias said. It would be' called off if the employers! returned to ’he negotiating* table. Mr Douglas’s comments) came after a day of waiting! for the negotiations to begin on a new award for drivers , The award was being! treated as a test case, and ’he president of the F.O.L I (Sir Thomas Skinner) was in’ Wellington to pilot it, through the initial stages. Facilities for the concilia-! tion council were set up in, the Industrial Court; the! usual conciliation rooms i were too cramped for the 50 spectators.

After more than an hour the advocate for the employers. Mr P. H. Oldham, had a statement delivered which said the assessors representing employers in road transport. contracting and ancill- i ary industries were not pre-) pared to resume talks be-i cause of the continuation of j the five-week-old strike byj [drivers employed by Firth Industries m Hamilton. “Employers generally are) [sick and tired of having to' [suffer stoppages by workers! in contravention of the terms: iof their employment as provided in the appropriate! [agreement." he said. 1 Both the F.O.L. and the! [Drivers’ Federation knew the [employers were unlikely to [resume talks on a new agreejment while the strike continued. Mr Oldham said. [ “Employers have no practical way of expressing their [dissatisfaction with these 'illegal tactics, other than by refusing to negotiate under such circumstances.’’ he said. “We are prepared. how-| ever, to resume discussions) immediatelv normal work resumes.” The Firth drivers stopped' work in a dispute about a) ■s2-a-day travelling allow-’ ance. The claim is not connected with the national) award negotiations. Three: unions are involved in the dispute, which the F.O.L, has) taken over. Sir Thomas Skinner said; yesterday that the F.O.L. I

was not prepared to accept the employers’ condition for negotiations to begin: that the Firth workers return to work. The F.O.L. was willing to negotiate on behalf of affiliates and expected meaningful negotiations, and not to be spoken to under the employers’ terms and conditions. The employers had breached the Industrial Relations Act by refusing to talk to the drivers, he said. “1 think they deliberately set out to force a confrontation,” he added “1 do not think they had any real intention of entering negotiations today.” The dispute at Firth Industries was a local matter; it had no national implications, he said. The F.O.L. would not insist on the men returning to work, especially when the workers concerned had taken their stop work action some weeks ago. ■Mr Douglas said the union was concerned that the employers had chosen to renege on an undertaking given on July 9 that there should be swift processing of the drivers' claims. The proposed stoppage would be by all drivers, except ambulance drivers, irrespective of their award coverage. This means oiltanker drivers, local body drivers and .others not directly affected by these award proceedings would stop work.