Twizel men face suspension in extended fuel ban

Press, 6 May 1980, Page 1

Twizel men face suspension in extended fuel ban

About 350 workers at the Ministry of Works town of Twizel might be suspended this week unless the Canterbury Trades Council lifts its ban on delivering fuel to the Ministry.

The fuel delivery ban was imposed when the Ministry made it clear to the council that it could not prevent Musgrove Bros, Ltd, from doing contract work for the Ministry. ■

The Minister of Labour (Mr Bolger) said he would act if there were a call for a compulsory conference. However, he was reluctant to comment until he was asked to intervene.

“At this stage I have not been asked to be involved, but I would be concerned if work at Twizel ceased,” he said. The project engineer, at Twizel (Mr S'. M. J; : Smith) said that diesel fuel supplies would probably run out tomorrow or ; Thursday bringing to a halt the big earthmoving equipment, / tractors andtrucks and 'leaving about' 350 men without work. Mr Smith said that the Twizel trucks ; and machinery : used about 50,000 litres of diesel fuel a : day. Half of this' was used by . Ministry equipment, the rest by contractors, but : the two groups of vehicles were interdependent, so 'that although the ban did not apply to the contractors they would have , to stop work if the Minis-, 'itry stopped.' There was no other way that the fuel could reach Twizel than in tankers driven by Drivers’ Union members. Other Government departments would not be able to help with the quantity of fuel needled and there was no railway line to Twizel. Even the Army would not be able to carry such quantities of fuel. The head office of the Ministry became involved in the dispute yesterday when it was learned that the ban on fuel deliveries had been extended from the sites where Musgrove’s is working for the Ministry to all Ministry sites in Canterbury and South Canterbury- It seems clear that the Trades Council involved the Ministry to try to bring to a head .the month-old dispute. The Minister of Works and Development (Mr W.

L. Young) said the problem was industrial, and could well be resolved before fuel at the Waitaki hydro-electric project at Twizel ran out. It would take only a few hours to resume supplies after a settlement.

However, the Minister had no contingency plan in the event of no solution. “I will get a report on the dispute tomorrow, and with a bit of good will, and looking into things, there is no reason why the issue should not be

fairly readily solved.” The dispute began early last month as a simple difference of opinion between several trade unions and Musgrove Bros, Ltd, a Christchurch contracting company, over the level of redundancy pay that should be given to 20 workers to be laid off before winter.

The company _ has carried on its business without the 30 men who went on strike and were later dismissed, because it has 33 workers who are owner drivers, owner operators, ■ or management staff.

The Acting District Commissioner of Works in Christchurch (Mr M. R. Lancaster) said yesterday that he had received a written confirmation of the ban on delivery of fuel and he had replied to the Trades Council. The Ministry’s position was that it could not tell Musgrove Bros not to work on Ministry sites because it was bound by contracts. It was not the Ministry’s dispute, and the Ministry did not wish to become involved in it. Mr Lancaster said that Ministry of Works projects in Canterbury (other than Twizel) were not yet affepted by the fuel ban but he declined to say how long the fuel would last.

The secretary of the Canterbury branch of the Labourers’ Union (Mr R. A. Lowe), said the ban had been extended from 8 a.nu last Friday after the Ministry refused to agree to the council’s request for the Ministry to ask Mus-

grove’s to leave the sites. Mr Lowe said that the council wanted Musgroves away from the sites until the dispute was settled and Musgroves was using union labour. He said the ban was put on the Ministry to try to persuade it to ask Musgrove’s to leave the sites.

The Trades Council realised the possibility of workers being suspended and had approached both the Public Service Association and the Workers’

Union, both of which had members employed in Ministry jdbs at Twizel. Both unions had promised their support. Asked how the Ministry' could get out of its contracts with Musgrove’s, Mr Lowe said there were precedents set by the Fletcher Construction Company, which, had asked Musgrove’s to leave its site’ in Cashel Street. Two other companies had also stopped Musgrove’s from working on their sites: «