Bus dispute settled while writ-server diverted

Press, 11 May 1977, Page 6

Bus dispute settled while writ-server diverted

Il Wellington .dustrial relations comn sense came to the fore sterday. While an attempt! serve legal notices on two ion officials was diplo-! itically diverted, the bus! vers’ dispute was settled.! A Magistrate’s Court bailiff. ■ r J. Howard, acting as an; rent for an Auckland law! indent, Mr C. L. Harder, in-; solved in legal action against! the Passenger Transport Union arrived at the concilia-; tion council rooms at 12.15 1 p.m. He had notices of motion serve on the union’s national secretary (Mr Henry Stubbs) and the Auckland branch secretary (Mr P. Dewar) which would have required them to be present in the Supreme! Court in Auckland at 10.00 a.m. tomorrow. But the chief mediator. Mr J. P. Cranston, and the senior conciliator. Mr S. J. McConnell, decided to act to take the heat out of a diffien't situation. They took Mr Howard aside and explained that the negotiations between union and the public were at a delicate stage. The serving of legal documents could have disrupted ♦he meeting and dashed any hopes of a settlement in the 18 month-long dispute. It is believed that the two men counselled strongly against creating a scene, and

in particular in the conciliation service rooms, with more than a dozen newspaper, radio, and television reporters, photographers, and cameramen present. I After an hour of tense ! waiting Mr Howard left the premises. He would not com;ment as he left bv the back ; steps. | Late last night the notices of motion had still not been • served on either Mr Stubbs or ; Mr Dewar. But Mr Stubbs said he would go to Auckland voluntarily this morning to be present in court when the writ of sequestration was heard. Mr Dewar would not be present, he was driving back to Auckland and was not expected to arrive till late I in the afternoon. Mr Stubbs said he had decided to go to Auckland to show the court that the union was taking the matter seriously. His withdrawal from the public eye over the week-end was to allow him to prepare for the meeting yesterday. The court hearing today i had implications for the: whole trade union move-■ ment and Mr Stubbs said I that he wanted to see first- 1 hand the processes which could be used against the union. In Auckland yesterday, Mr Harder filed another motion in the Supreme Court—this time seeking leave to dis-

-|pense with service of the 1 ei writs of attachment on Mr i ■,! Stubbs and Mr Dewar. -, Instead he was seeking i i service of the writs on the ; I union’s solicitor, Mr F. H. « • Haigh, with the same view. Ij - The ground for the motion. I ■. was the reasonable efforts ■ 1 • had been made to serve the t ) writs on Mr Stubbs and Mr It 51 Dewar and that they had;f 'been attempting to avoid " j service. r However, it is believed s 5 | that Mr Haigh has no auth-il • ority to receive the writs, f ■■and in view of Mr Stubbs’s ) tj decision to appear in court t ! today, the motions will prob‘'ably lapse. a The settlement of the dis- s ;|pute came after seven hours, l of discussions behind closed t • doors. The union was ac-'a ’ companied by the president:! , of the Federation of Labour r 1 (Sir Thomas Skinner) and;( ; the F.O.L. secretary (Mr W. ’ ,: J. Knox). <a The Public Passengerir I j Transport Employers’ Asso-iv iciation was led by its adv.o-s I cate in the award talks (Mr I a . V. R. Jamieson). iu I The section relating to flex- ja lible rostering arrangements; 'appears to be a compromise e by both parties. |n Rosters will remain the v same as now, but by agree- y ment flexible rostering d arrangements can be brought tl in to meet local conditions, f; If there is no agreement, tl

the matter will be referred 'o a disputes committee. Mr Jamieson said last night that the important « pect of the agreement wa that the employers had an unI equivocal undertaking fror,the union that it wouk' 'honour the agreement, and that there would be mow ment to accommodate th< flexible system locally. Other points in the agree ment included doubling tr shift allowances, a 6c ar hour increase in broken shif payments, an extra week's holiday for day workers aft. ten years’ service, and a pro vision for maternity leave after one year’s continuouservice. All payments have been back-dated to March 13. Thaward will expire on March 12. next year. The agreement must go to the Industrial Commission for approval. Sir Thomas told reporters after • the agreement was reached that he believed it was the best in the circumstances. He said that if legal actions proceeded against the union the F.O.L. would look at the whole situation. Mr Stubbs said he was not entirely happy with the settlement, but he said the union would be back again next year. He expected that bus drivers — who appreciated the difficulties the union we faced with — would acce: the agreement.