Drivers’ ban against petrol station averted

Press, 9 December 1980, Page 1

Drivers’ ban against petrol station averted

A black ban against Halliday Motors, of Shirley was averted yesteday. The business is owned by Mr B. B. Halliday, chairman of the Canterbury Motor Trade Associations service station division. The oil industry stood firm behind Mr Halliday and told the, • Canterbury Drivers’ Union and the Drivers’ Federation that .it would not tolerate any work restrictions. Petrol tanker drivers in Christchurch had voted yesterday with oil storemen to return' to work, but also voted-to impose a week’s black ban on Halliday Motors. When the i; executive officer of the Oil Industry Unipn of Employers (Mr S. Marshall) / found out about the ban late yesterday, he told the Drivers’ Federation that such a ban was unacceptable. Mr Marshall said he had not threatened hot to re-

sume conciliations, but he thought the prospect might have occurred to the. federation.

.The president of the Canterbury Drivers’ Union (Mr D.. Collins) said that the meeting - of tanker drivers had discussed a ban against Mr Halliday’s business because of his remarks against tanker drivers during the dispute, and . because of some of his actions. ■ The drivers had decided to review the ban hour-to-hour.

Mr - Collins said that when the union secretary (Mr P. R. Liggett) the union advocate (Mr R. J. Campbell) and the secretary of the Canterbury branch of the Labourers’ Union (Mr R. A. Lowe) had met service station-owners last month, Mr Halliday had undertaken to have talks with the unions in the event of any trouble in the industry..

Mr Halliday had failed to honour his undertaking and had previously failed to diucuss the matter with the union. “The whole thing got out of hand. It could have been prevented by more consultation between the union and Mr Halliday,” said Mr Collins.

Mr Halliday was reluctant to comment but said he was only the spokesman for the association and was guided by the rulings of its meetings. “I’ll let the public judge it for themselves. I’m just pleased it’s all over and everything is settled,” he said. -Tanker drivers and oil storemen in the main centres returned to work yesterday except for those at Auckland and Masterton, who met in the after-

noon and would return to work today, said Mr Marshall. Saturday, December 14, had been tentatively booked for a resumption of conciliation talks. Mr Halliday said that many service stations were dry yesterday morning but most would have received token deliveries later. He expected normal deliveries would be completed by Friday. Christchurch service stations resumed normal trading hours yesterday after closing at 5 p.m. on Friday, catching many motorists without petrol for the week-end.

A Press Association message from Wellington said that the threat of a widespread loss of jobs in industry, particularly in Canterbury, was behind the joint decision by the Federation of Labour and Drivers’ Federation to cal! off the petrol strike The decision followed a series of telephone calls involving the F.O.L. secretary (Mr K. G. Douglas) in Auckland, and the drivers’ industrial officer (Air R. Campbell) in Christchurch, on Friday. It was concluded in discussions in Wellington. The Canterbury Motor Trades Association decision to close service stations out of petrol, and to work a five-day, 40-hour week in those with petrol,

triggered the action to abandon the oil industry strikes. Mr Campbell said yesterday that the service station owners’ decision would have affected the jobs of many members of the Engineers’ Union, and of many workers in other industries. The decision was made before the return of the Minister of Labour (Mr

Bolger) from Manila and a planned meeting with him in the Beehive. The Secretary of Labour (Mr G. Jackson) was advised, Mr Campbell said, and the meeting with the Minister called off. Also, the F.O.L. believed that the drivers, and oil company storemen could not succeed with their 35hour working week claim in this year’s award.