Railway strike ends; Cook Strait ferries to sail again

Press, 22 February 1978, Page 1

Railway strike ends; Cook Strait ferries to sail again

PA Wellington The week-long Wellington railway dispute is over. The Cook Strait ferries will resume today with a sailing from Wellington at 7.20 a.m, There w ill be an early resumption of normal rail services.

The terms on which work resumes are that the suspended Railways driver will be reinstated and that there will be a conference chaired by the senior industrial mediator (Mr J. P. Cranston) to look into the background of the dispute and recommend consultative arrangements to avoid its repetition. The dispute is estimated to have cost the Railways Department about $250,000 a day. The terms of reference for the conference make it clear that the department’s right to discontinue the Sunday trains to Johnsonville is unaffected. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) said that the first ferry sailing would be the Aratika, leaving Wellington for Picton at 7.20 a.m. The first sailing from Picton will be at 11.40 a.m. In total there will be six sailings from Wellington and five from Picton during the day. “This should go a considerable way towards

clearing the backlog of waiting passengers and cars so that full attention can then be given to moving freight." Mr Muldoon said. The resumption of normal train services would be “a large-scale exercise” because of the long shutdown, he said. Procedures such as track inspection and switchingin and testing of 'electrical equipment and signals are time-consuming tasks, almost all requiring to be done in daylight hours. Staff will be brought in early this morning to begin this work but there will be no peak-hour commuter rail services in the morning. The best estimate at present is that the first trains will run from midday. Long-distance and suburban bus services should all begin their normal timetables this morning. The Acting Minister of State Services (Mr Thomson) said that all road and

rail services were to be kept under constant review. This would include "the Johnsonville service beyond the immediate future.” The suspension of an engine driver involved in the dispute had been lifted, and no prosecution will be initiated by the department. A conference will be established to inquire into the dispute with the following terms of reference: To examine the background to, and to prepare a mutually acceptable report on, the present dispute (having regard to the ultimate right of the Railways management to decide the nature and extent of the service to be provided). To’ make recommendations as to the future consultative arrangements between management and the appropriate unions on policy decisions concerning the expansion or diminution of railwav services.

The conference has been asked to report progress by Friday of this week. A settlement had been made possible by the willingness of both management and national union representatives to recogstoppage and restore the railway services in the Wellington region, said Mr The chairman of the Combined State Service Organisations (Mr J F. Turner) said that settlement was made the more difficult as a result of the provocative public comment by some parties not immediately involved in the dispute or the negotiations. The Railways unions could be commended for not rising to the provocation. “There is no doubt that the men- involved in the dispute have pursued, with some sacrifice, a genuine desire to retain an adequate railway network," he said.