Unions, employer dissatisfied

Press, 16 June 1983, Page 8

Unions, employer dissatisfied

PA Auckland Both union and employer officials yesterday criticised Arbitration Court decisions relating to a demarcation row between the Engineers’ Union and the Northern Labourers’ Union over the coverage of riggers at the Marsden Point oil refinery extensions site and the New Zealand Steel mill expansion project at Glenbrook.

In both cases, which were referred by the respective employers, the Court said that neither union had exclusive jurisdiction over riggers. As a result, the issue has been thrown back at the parties themselves. In its decision on Marsden Point, released this week, the Court said it preferred to say that the resolution of the problem, having regard to the complexity of the

project and the particular circumstances of the dispute, must rest to a large extent upon the good will and common sense of the three parties. The secretary of the Auckland Engineers’ Union, Mr J. A. Butterworth, said yesterday that the decisions were a “surefire formula for a demarcation dispute arising on the job. I am not optimistic that we can reach a decision with the labourers. “I cannot give you a reaction that is printable. It is absolutely no decision at all.” The secretary of the Northern Labourers’ Union, Mr L. T. Smith, said, “The Court could not have done less about it. I am frustrated that it has been unable to make up its mind.” The industrial relations manager of the JV2 consor-

tium constructing the refinery extension, Mr Ron Richards, said JV2 had hoped the hearing would have sorted out the demarcation lines — “or at least given positive directions as to where it should go. “As I see it, the problem has been left entirely with us.”

Between 150 and 160 riggers are now working at Marsden Point either for JV2 or site sub-contractors. Most are members of the Labourers’ Union. Mr Richards said he hoped no work would be affected by any delays that might occur in getting the argument resolved. A spokesman for New Zealand Steel Development, Ltd, said he shared the disappointment of the unions in that the Court did not produce what all parties had been expecting.