Little disruption caused

Press, 24 August 1976, Page 1

Little disruption caused

The drivers’ strike tied up about S2SM worth of machinery in the Christchurch district yesterday, but there was little disruption to the public.

The strike by freezing workers also had little effect: the major works are not killing for other reasons (the season will begin in October).

Mr A. G. Williams, a spokesman for the Christchurch Road Transport Association, said that the strike brought deliveries to a standstill. Owner-drivers would not be doing the work usually performed by members of the Drivers’ Union, he said. However, there was no backlog of goods yet. Support w?s given to the drivers by the National

Union of Railwaymen, who refused to service any carrier’s vehicles or owneroperated trucks at the railway yards. City Council rubbish was collected as usual. The council’s drivers have a separate award and are exempted from the strike. But rubbish was not collected in Paparua, Heathcote, or Waimairi Counties.

Christchurch Transport Board and Railways Road Service buses were not affected. The movement of fresh fruit and vegetables to and from the Christchurch markets yesterday was impeded little. Growers, as usual, arrived at the market on Sunday night and early yesterday with their own produce. Buyers who normally rely on carriers to cart

their supplies to retail outlets used their own vehicles.

The markets are, however. concerned about what today will bring. The Railways Department has a considerable quantity of citrus fruit, kumaras, and tomatoes from the North Island ready for unloading at Christchurch.

Lyttelton was let off lightly by the stoppage. Only three of the nine vessels in port could not be worked because of the lack of road transport: the Regent Marigold, the Hazelbank, and the Toei Maru.

The Regent Marigold had knocked-down cars and 2500 tonnes of steel from Japan to discharge, and the Hazelbank was to have unloaded about 1000 tonnes of bulk potash. The Toei Maru, which arrived yesterday morning, had more

than 26,000 cartons of bananas from Ecuador for Christchurch.

The other ships in port worked either to rail or to transit sheds.

Shops will get.their normal bread deliveries today, according to Christchurch bakeries.

Both the manager of Boon’s bakery (Mr M. S. Scott) and the president of the South Island Bakers’ Association (Mr J. P. Devine) said last evening that although there had been panic buying during the week-end when a few shops sold out all their supplies, the situation was back to normal by yesterday. A spokesman for Midland Coachlines said that normal services would run today. The drivers’ stopwork meeting was for general drivers only.