Railwaymen stop in protest over non-union labour
PA Auckland The Railways Corporation will take legal advice over an industrial dispute at the Otahuhu Railway workshop in Auckland concerning the new voluntary unionism laws.
Senior corporation officials have asked their legal advisers to investigate. Yesterday morning, 600 workers, members of the National Union of Railwaymen and the Railway Tradesmens’ Association, walked out of the shop in protest against having to work alongside non-union labour. They took the action after learning that an engine driver at the shop, Mr Grant Wilde, had already left his former union, the Locomotive Engine Drivers’ Association. Pressure on them to
strike intensified when they also discovered that a member of the N.U.R., Mr S. J. Holland, had tendered his resignation from the union.
Members of all three unions work together at the workshop. A spokesman for the striking workers, Mr D. Stewart, said that the unions had approached management and asked them to transfer Mr Wild to other work and replace him with a union man. “We were told that management was not prepared to shift him at this stage. So now we are going to have to convince the corporation that this is not on. “We will increase pressure on them step by step so that they will come to the realisation that this is a union shop.” Mr Stewart said he was
confident the issue could be resolved within the workshop, but that the unions would call on support from other railway workers if necessary. The workers will return on Monday morning when they will hold another meeting to assess the matter. The general manager of the corporation, Mr Gordon Purdy, said from Wellington: “We cannot refuse to employ non-union labour. We have our legal officers examining steps we might be able to take to find a solution. “It is difficult to understand that staff who must know that their own future is far from secure should take such pointless action as this.”
Mr Purdy said the action was having no effect on any Railways’ services. He declined to comment further.
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Press, 18 February 1984, Page 8
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347Railwaymen stop in protest over non-union labour Press, 18 February 1984, Page 8
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