Rubber dispute ‘may hit job opportunities’

Press, 15 September 1976, Page 6

Rubber dispute ‘may hit job opportunities’

The long • standing, dispute between rubber workers and their employers in Christchurch could be detrimental to job opportunities in the industry, according to the employers. “Prolonged action of the | type now being taken in limiting employment opportunity will, if continued, have a long-standing detrimental effect on job opportunities in the industry.” said Mr N. M. West, director of the Canterbury Employers’ Association, in a letter to the Canterbury Rubber Workers’ Union.

"The present difference is over issues which are far wider than the rubber industry itself and have been a central feature of every negotiation which has taken place this year.” says the letter. “It must be obvious that the issues cannot be resolved by the rubber industry in Canterbury and that in all probability it will be initiatives in other places which provide the answer,” says Mr West.

The Minister of Labour (Mr Gordon) sent a telegram to the union last week saying that the employers were prepared to resume talks if the union lifted its restrictions. The union replied that it wanted definite indications of what form the talks would take before lifting the restrictions.

The union imposed a fourday week in July after talks over the award broke down. The employers in their letter repeated that they were prepared to resume talks, but only if the union lifted the restrictions on normal work.

Members of the union will meet on Friday evening to consider a reply to the letter. In Auckland, the new president of the national Tramways Union (Mr J. AllsoppSmith) said that the Public Passenger Transport Association had no pre-conditions for talks to resume with the union.

Questioned after the end of: the biennial conference of the; association in Auckland, Mr Allsopp-Smith said any claims! by the association or thej union should be dealt with at the negotiating table. For this reason, the association had no intention of!

backing down on its claims for the introduction of parttime drivers — something he said the New Zealand Railways road services and private bus firms already had.

The president of the Retailers Federation (Mr C. W. Ballantyne, of Christchurch) has said that union harassment to enforce strikes has got to stop. Forcing members to stop

work and harassing others trying to carry on the work of strikers was uncivilised and degrading, as well as costly to the nation, he said when addressing the Auckland Provincial Retailers’ Association annual meeting.

He complimented the shop assistants’ union and clerical workers’ union in being reasonable and responsible in their demands.