34,000 U.K. workers seek N.Z. jobs

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 1

34,000 U.K. workers seek N.Z. jobs

PA Whangarei More than 34,000 skilled British tradesmen want to work on the Marsden Point oil refinery, expansion.

The tradesmen have answered advertisements published in Britain, but none have yet been hired. The president of the Federation of Labour, Mr W. J. Knox, said the advertisements had broken a site agreement on the project. But the general manager of industrial relations in Whangarei, Mr Ron Richards, said yesterday that this was not so because none of the British workers had been hired.

The F.O.L. wants the main contractor, J.V.11, to exhaust all available New Zealand labour before hiring staff from overseas. Mr Richards said that this was being done and that about 300 skilled men, about 340 semi-skilled, and unskilled staff had been hired.

He said some of the British workers had been interviewed, but none hired. He

confirmed that more than 34,000 had responded to J.V.1l advertisements.

“The position quite clearly, is that we will have a substantial shortfall of skilled men,” Mr Richards said. “It is possible we can get the unskilled people from the Whangarei area.”

Mr Richards said that it was recognised that overseas tradesmen would be needed on the project, and that the contractors would be able to select from the list of applicants for the jobs advertised in Britain.

The advertisement offered paid air fares to New Zealand, accommodation, meals, and transport. Pay of more than $22,000 a year was offered for a five-day, 46-hour week, with a minimum contract of two years.

More than 1000 unemployed unskilled New Zealand workers are expected to be hired when the labour force reaches its peak of about 2500 towards the end of next year.