Last Proclamation issued for waterfront strike

Press, 9 December 1982, Page 1

Last Proclamation issued for waterfront strike

Parliamentary reporter

The last time a Proclamation of Emergency, was.' issued was in 1951 during the waiterfront strike. It was made under the same: act that the Government intends to invoke today if striking riggers at Marsden Point do not return to work by midday. ■ The Proclamation declares a state of emergency. and • gives the Governor-General, by Order-in-Council, power to make any regulations prohibiting any acts “injurious to the public safety,” and conferring powers and duties “securing and regulating the supply and distribution 0f... fuel . . .” Any regulations made under the act — the Public Safety Conservation Act, 1932 — would be strike-breaking

in nature, and Could empower the Armed Services to do work normally done by striking workers. They could also declare a strike illegal, and appoint a receiver to take possession of all the funds of the striking union or unions. . The 1951 dispute lasted three months, and began when the .waterside workers stopped work. The regulations broke the strike and the then Prime Minister, Mr Holland, went to the country in an early General Election for public endorsement of his handling of the dispute. .The National Party was returned with an increased majority. In spite of the opinion of some pundits, the. Proclamation the Government may issue today is not a likely

harbinger of a General Election, The Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, is several times on record in unsettled periods this year as saying that the Government’s ability to govern is not in any way affected by its majority of one, and that it intends to govern for an uninterrupted three-year term.' It has a number of punches it can throw before a General Election even becomes a consideration. One of these, the Commerce Act, produced a return to work at the site several weeks ago when maintenance work was held up. The act was never used, but would have made the dispute subject to an Arbitration Court decision. The Government can use the Petroleum Demand Re-

straint Act, 1981, which rations petrol. But the Public Safety Conservation Act is about the harshest measure the Government can take, and it is clearly intended to force a return to work, or to break the strike and get the work done by other workers. It is open to legal challenge if regulations made under the act are held to be too broad or strong for the “essential” at stake. Any regulation may remain in fprce for Ohly 14 days, at which time it must be renewed by a resolution of Parliament. It may apply throughout New Zealand, even if the Proclamation was issued over a limited arha.

The Proclamation itself remains in force for one month and is renewable for any number of one-month periods. The act says that an emergency may be proclaimed “if any action ... is immediately threatened by any ... body of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be calculated, by interfering with the supply and distribution of food, water, light or fuel, or with the means of locomotion, to deprive the community or any substantial portion of the community of the .essentials of life.” Anyone breaching any regulation is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for three months or a fine of $2OO. Any regulations made override any other regulations made under any other act. Any person carrying out duties under the act is immune from claims of injury, damage, or loss although “reasonable compensation” is given for property taken or used by the Crown. The regulations made under the act in 1951 applied nationally. They allowed the

Government to decide what strike would be subject to regulations made under the act, and to require the union to end the strike within a specified time. They provided for appointment of a receiver to take possession of the funds of such unions, and all books, and stopped any payment or contribution to any such union. They allowed the Minister of Labour to suspend all or part of any-award, industrial agreement, or other agreement, or any order of a tribunal or of a disputes committee. They authorised the temporary employment of members of three Armed Servicess “in any kind of work specified.” They gave power to arrest without warrant to any police constable if a person disobeyed a direction to not enter or to stop loitering about the site of the dispute, or “counselled” anyone else to stop work, or, threatened a person for not stopping work. A constable could also arrest without warrant, any person refusing to move on from a place (e~xcept a dwelling house) where ‘,‘his pres-

ence” was likely to influence a person to stop work. Displays of posters inducing or “counselling” any person to stop work could be seized and the person arrested without warrant. Meetings and processions could be prohibited and persons disobeying a sergeant’s order to break up could be arrested without warrant. Any member of the police could enter at any time, using force if necessary, and with any assistance necessary, on to any land, premises, or place to give effect to the regulations. The Cabinet has had the Proclamation of Emergency available’’as a contingency plan for about two weeks. Members of the Government caucus were taken as much by surprise as members of the Opposition. Members of the Opposition have not yet formed a position on the Proclamation. In 1951, the Labour Opposition was indecisive, declaring itself neither for or against the watersiders. A stance in favour of the Proclamation would only be after hasty consultation with the labour movement and would almost certainly anticipate a return to work today by the riggers.