Bid to stop bank strike

Press, 20 December 1978, Page 1

Bid to stop bank strike

PA Wellington With only two days to avert a national strike, a trial attempt will be made this morning to arrange a further meeting between bankers and the Bank Officers’ Union in Wellington. More than four hours of talks yesterday failed to find a way to defuse the dispute in which bank staff have threatened to strike from Friday until January 3.

The employers say they cannot go back into conciliation until the union withdraws its strike threat. Mr B. B. Dickinson, chairman of the Bankers’ Association, said last evening that the employers were willing to meet again today for conciliation talks but were still awaiting from the union an assur-

ance that there would be no strike. The union maintains that the final strike decision has not yet been made. The union’s president (Mr J. D. Matheson) said the union had asked the Labour Department to arrange today’s meeting to try to get an assurance that employers would discuss relativity with savings bank workers in conciliation. The union claims there was no discussion on this during the first round of talks in November. An assurance that the relativity argument would be discussed was given by the employers late in the afternoon, subject to the withdrawal of strike notices. Employers said notices posted on staff notice-

boards yesterday showed that the union had already decided to strike. However, Mr Matheson said this was not the case. The union’s executive council had met on Monday, had endorsed the strike vote of members, and had left the final decision to the assessors. “We have bent over backwards but we are the only ones making concessions,” said Mr Matheson. Mr Dickinson denied that today’s meeting had been stalled on a point of principle. The union had already decided to strike as far as the association was concerned. “What we are looking for is a clear statement that there is to be no strike,” Mr Matheson said. The association was concerned that the public still

did not know whether trading banks would be open during the ChristmasNew Year holiday. Contingency plans were being made to try to provide safe-keeping facilities for cash to supply shops and businesses with enough change to work.

Whether the strike went ahead, banks would offer late-night deposit facilities on Friday and Saturday.

The banks would ordinarily reopen after Christmas on Wednesday, December 27.