Arbitration plea over Marsden

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 6

Arbitration plea over Marsden

PA Auckland An Arbitration Court hearing on the Marsden Point oil refinery labour row may be held in about a week. Lawyers acting on behalf of the’ Badger-Chiyoda JV2 consortium building the expansions yesterday prepared and sent an application to the Court for a hearing. The registrar of the court. Mr J. H. Hall, said: "We are expecting to have it by tomorrow (Wednesday). We are aware of the problem and of the necessity to have it dealt with urgently, and so the court will consider a fixture date immediately it comes to hand." Mr Hall said that the respondent (the Federation of Labour and site unions) had to have seven days notice of a hearing.

The consortium wants to hire 50 British boilermakers, but cannot get F.O.L. or union approval to do so. A clause on the site agreement said both the employers and the unions must agree before workers from overseas can be brought in for the job. The agreement also calls for the use of New Zealand labour to the greatest possible extent. The court will be asked to make a ruling on those points. The decision to go to the court was made by the consortium after the F.O.L and union officials declined to attend a disputes committee hearing in Auckland. The unions said that there were still New Zealand boilermakers without jobs and that there was no need to clarify the clause concerning overseas recruitment.