Drivers stay out

Press, 15 November 1977, Page 1

Drivers stay out

Striking petrol-tanker drivers in Christchurch met yesterday and decided not to return to work. They will meet again today to review the decision. Oil industry employers’ representative's who arrived in Christchurch from Wellington yesterday and were prepared to meet the drivers’ representatives only if they returned to work, will be on hand again today ready to resume talks if the drivers return to work.

The officials of the Can-

terbury Drivers’ Union recommended that the drivers return to work provided talks resume on the cut-off switch question which is at the centre of the dispute, and that the drivers who were suspended be paid for the time they were off work. But the oil industry employers’ spokesman (Mr D.' J. Patten) said that the men were not suspended under the Industrial Relations Act as claimed by the union. They were placed “in default” under

the award for refusing to obey a lawful instruction given to them by management, he said. Mr Patten maintained that the BP drivers who went on strike last Wednesday were striking illegally because they had not »iv—» 14 days notice as required. The union had merely notified the employers that it would review the situation on November 14. “Last week, without notice, the BP drivers went on strike,” he said.