Brewery men to strike

Press, 27 March 1979, Page 6

Brewery men to strike

Boiler attendants in breweries in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington have voted to strike from midnight on Friday in support of an allowance claim.

Conciliation talks for a new award for the rest of the engine drivers in general industry broke down earlier this year and the union is still negotiating for other house agreements. The award talks broke down when the employers refused to concede on a claim for a registration certificate allowance. Engine drivers at the Timaru brewery of Dominion Breweries will meet today to consider supporting the strike. The secretary of the Canterbury Stationary Engine Drivers’ Union (Mr R. H.

Caffell) said yesterday that the brewery employers had rejected a claim for Bc-an-hour disability allowance, already being paid to other /workers in the industry. The talks on a new house agreement for engine drivers I broke down in February. I The union threatened widei spread industrial disruption l but the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) then threatened deregistration. The parties agreed to put the matter of registration allowance in the hands of the president of the Federation of Labour (Sir! Thomas Skinner), with the I condition that strikes be ■ called off and suspensions of

■ brewery workers cease. I The issue of registration (payments is still unresolved. | A spokesman for New Zea. land Breweries said last evening that the disability allowance was paid to tradesmen to compensate for anv contingencies which might arise that were not in calling with the trade, and to avert possible stoppages over such events. It was not paid if 'the particular difficulty was la normal part of the tradesIman’s conditions. The brewery companies did not think engine drivers would ever work under such conditions where an unforeseen “disability” might arise.