Stand over loss of job

Press, 13 April 1978, Page 1

Stand over loss of job

Boilennakers at Andrews and Beaven. Ltd, in Christchurch have given the company an ultimatum — extend the termination notice of a probationary apprentice by mid-day today or face industrial action. The probationary apprentice was to have lost his job last Friday, but the company gave him another week. The secretary of the Canterbury Boilermakers’ Union (Mr K. A. Perkins) said after a stop-work meeting of the boilermakers yesterday that there was a possibility the boy might get a job on Friday, hut if he did not he would join the ranks of the unemployed. Mr Perkins said the boilermakers believed (hat the company had an obligation to safeguard the boy’s job until he found a suitable alternative.

The company cancelled the boy's apprenticeship because of dwindling workloads. The union maintains that the right to cancel a contract during the probationary period was not designed to cover redundancies.

The personnel manager (Mr V. M. Busby) said that the company would be concerned about industrial action being taken because it was believed that it had handled the case with “consideration and understanding.” Already the company had extended the termination date by three weeks, said Mr Busby. He said that the company’s accountability was to the Department of Labour, not to the union. Apprentices were not union members. The company could not go beyond its final termination date because of shortage of work, said Mr Busby.