Meeting holds key to rail dispute

Press, 3 July 1979, Page 1

Meeting holds key to rail dispute

PA Wellington Attempts to resolve the Railways freight forwarding dispute continued last evening with an exchange of letters between the Minister of Railways (Mr McLachlan) and the national council of the National Union of Railwaymen. The union’s letter was sent to the Minister early in the evening and Mr McLachlan replied soon after 9 p.m. A spokesman from Br McLachlan’s office said just before midnight that an approach was expected soon from the N.U.R. No details of last evening’s discussions were released. The Acting Minister of Labour (Mr Thomson), the General Manager of Railways (Mr T. M. Hayward) and Labour Department officials were still waiting in Mr McLachlan’s office at Parliament at 10 p.m. for further developments. Earlier an hour-long

meeting had ended inconclusively. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) said earlier yesterday that the Government had offered to set up a committee of inquiry into freight forwarding as a way of settling the Railways dispute. However, Mr Muldoon rejected a request that suspended railwaymen be paid for time lost in the dispute. The Government has also rejected another N.U.R. demand—the sacking of Mr Hayward. “We have confidence in the General Manager of Railways,” Mr Muldoon said. The president of the N.U.R. (Mr G. Finlayson) said last evening that the union considered the Government offer of a committee of inquiry “a basis that we can settle on.” He would not discuss the question of pay for the more than 2000 suspended rail workers because that

was a matter before the courts.

The union has brought an action in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the suspensions. At the meeting in Mr McLachlan’s office yesterday afternoon were, as well as the N.U.R. national council, the presidents and secretaries of the Railway Officers’ Institute and the Locomotive Engineers’ Association, and the director of industrial relations at the Labour Department (Mr R. Stockdill). Rail ferry seamen have given notice of industrial action because they say their pay agreement for the time the Aranui will be surveyed and refitted has been broken by the Railways Department. The Aranui will go into dry dock today and will be out of commission for eight to 10 weeks. The union says it had an agreement that crew members would be paid for the entire lay-up, but the department says it will pay, off crews after 10 days.