Port talks stalled

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 6

Port talks stalled

The container vessel Encounter Bay will not arrive at Lyttelton today because of a breakdown in national award talks for Harbour Board Employees’ Union container terminal staff. The talks broke down at Lyttelton on Thursday afternoon when employees decided to suspend their labour until Monday. Wellington terminal employees took a similar decision yesterday and the loading of the Encounter Bay and ACT 3 at Wellington was stopped. Lyttelton Harbour Board employees not working at the terminal are not affected by the strike, but carpenters working there were riot able to continue on Thursday afternoon after the gates were closed.

Union representatives said they withdrew from conciliation when there were no prospects of an agreement.

They were prepared to resume talks when the employers indicate a willingness to do so too.

Delays to one container ship are assessed at $30,000 a day and the delay to the Encounter Bay could" cause a further interruption to the Mayfield, due at Lyttelton on Tuesday.

A Tasman container vessel Waitaki has been delayed in Auckland since Wednesday by an industrial dispute, the Press Association reports. The dispute has deadlocked, and a sailing before the middle of next week is unlikely.

Mr W. Vale, assistant secretary of the Auckland branch of the Seamen’s Union, said the Waitaki’s crew was demanding a crew change at the end of a fortnightly New Zealand-Austra-lia-New Zealand cycle, rather than after the . present monthly cycle of Australia and back twice. Roll-on vessels on the Tasman run had crew changes every fortnight, said Mr Vale. The general manager of Maritime Carriers N.Z., Ltd (Mr T. Law), said the company had altered from a five or six-week change of crew to a monthly change for the convenience of all concerned. Now the men wanted something which for financial and other reasons the company could not agree to.