Deadlock in P.S.A. row

Press, 3 July 1979, Page 1

Deadlock in P.S.A. row

PA Wellington The Government’s dispute with the Public Service Association over housing rentals for electricity workers remained deadlocked last evening. Neither the P.S.A. nor the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) were prepared yesterday to back down on stands they had taken to enable talks on the dispute to start again. The dispute produced national power black-outs on two mornings in late May, and more are threatened for Thursday, July 12. In response to this the Government has threatened to derecognise the P.S.A. and has introduced legislation to this effect. Mr Muldoon yesterday offered the P.S.A. a meet-

ing today with officials to complete negotiations on the housing package that is at the centre of the dispute.

The president of the P.S.A. (Mr D. H. Thorp) said the meeting would go ahead provided the first item on the agenda was the deferral of the houserent increases.

Mr Thorp said the P.S.A. Was willing to discuss the issue so long as Mr Muldoon acknowledged its request for the rents to be deferred. In the negotiations so far, the Government has refused to consider deferring the rent increases on electricity workers’ houses which took effect in April. The P.S.A. has consistently maintained that

the rent increases have to be deferred for the negotiations on a house-pur-chase scheme to continue.

Mr Thorp said deferring the rent increases would cost the Government $3OOO a week for 13 weeks while the housing package was negotiated. But at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Mr Muldoon ruled out any possibility of the Government’s deferring the increases.

“There is no chance whatsoever that the Government will suspend these increases,” he said. The Cabinet had agreed that officials should meet the P.S.A. as outlined in his letter.

“I hope they will meet and talk about the housing

package and the rent review,” Mr Muldoon said. Mr Thorpe, who has said the P.S.A. wants the dispute taken out of the hands of the Prime Minister and put back to “normal” industrial negotiation, said last evening that he would have no recommendations on the issue to put before the P.S.A. executive committee meeting this evening.

“The P.S.A. executive officers will discuss it at their weekly meeting on Wednesday, but I see no signs of any progress,” he said.

“There is no way that we can submit to the Government’s de-registration threat. This must be put back on a proper employer-employee relationship.”