Strike chaos in Australia

Press, 22 June 1979, Page 5

Strike chaos in Australia

NZPA Sydney Chaos spread in Australia yesterday as strikers cr.ppled industry. power supplies, and public transport in protest against the a-rest of 10 union leaders under a controversial state la’.v.

Last-minute peace moves came too late to prevent the 24-hour stoppage by 200 unions called after the men were arrested for addressing a meeting in Western Australia without police permission.

Trade unionists have agreed with Government negotiators not to go ahead with an indefinite ban on Western Australian exports—its iron ore shipments are crucial to the economy — pending a review' of the controversial law that bans meetings unless police permission is obtained. The only state affected little by the strike was New' South Wales, but this W’as of little comfort to its residents. already in the throes of a petrol drought because of a separate strike by refinerv workers. The refinery workers, striking for better pay and conditions, yesterday refected proposals aimed at ending the dispute which

has left 80 per cent of Sydney’s petrol stations without fuel.

Petrol rationing w>as introduced in the region on Wednesday for the first time since World War Two. Dwindling fuel supplies may nevertheless cut food supplies to the city and disrupt commerce.

It was a day of industrial chaos in other states where more militant union leaders regarded the arrests as an important civil liberties case.

In Queensland, blackouts and industrial stoppages were expected to cause k- ises estimated at S2OM. Residents went without buses, trains, milk deliveries, or rubbish collections. In Victoria, hundreds of thousands of factory and public transport workers stayed at home. International flights from Melbourne Airport were grounded. The two trade-union leaders at the centre of the storm have spoken of further harsh industrial action unless union demands are met.

That would place an effective embargo on the movement of most goods into and oa of Western Australia, he said.