35 Chch railworker jobs on the line—union

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 6

35 Chch railworker jobs on the line —union

The National Union of Railwaymen says railway workers throughout New Zealand are being shown a series of presentations outlining proposed redundancies in the next year. Union officials have said that the slide presentations given by the Railways Corporation mention that 87 track maintenance staff in Dunedin and at least 35 maintenance workers in Christchurch will lose their jobsJiy March, 1985. TMk union’s president, Mr George Finlayson, said yes-

terday that he thought the meetings had been begun last Friday, although he had not been informed by the corporation. “My members inform me that the least number of people in Christchurch who are to go is 35,” he said. The general manager of the Railways Corporation, Mr Gordon Purdy, said that the presentations were designed to show the corporation’s strategy with staff, not to outline redundancies. He sajd that he assumed that staff were mixing up

reductions in job numbers with redundancies. The corporation’s plans involved job losses of 6000 during the next five years but only 3500 of these would be early retirements or redundancies, he said. Mr Purdy said that if specific figures were mentioned at individual presentations these probably referred to job losses, not necessarily redundancies. • The Canterbury branch of the N.UJR. has recommended that its members boycott the presentations.