Clyde ban threatened

Press, 17 April 1982, Page 6

Clyde ban threatened

PA Wellington A black ban will be imposed on the Clyde Dam project once the contract is officially announced, according to the secretary of the Workers’ Union, Mr Dan Duggan. He said that the Government had decided to give the contract to private firms instead of to the Ministry of Works and Development. After the union’s national conference in Wellington yesterday, a union delegation

visited the Minister of Works and Development (Mr Quigley) to ask him to give the contract to State workers. Mr Duggan said that Mr Quigley had told the delegation that many tenders received from would-be private contractors were substantially lower than the Ministry’s estimates. ./■ Mr Duggan said, “I have no doubt that the contractors on this occasion have tendered lower than they normally would because they

want to get into the busines of major dam construction. “Just because they put in a lower tender now, it does not necessarily mean they will be bound by it. There are always ‘outs’ on these contracts. But on the other hand, the Ministry has completed dam construction work well beneath the estimates.” Mr Quigley was not available for comment yesterday. Mr Duggan said that industrial action could be takfcn at other power-project sites.