Wage bargaining sought by A.H.I. workers

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 9

Wage bargaining sought by A.H.I. workers

PA Auckland Alex Harvey Industries workers will take industrial action if their demand for free wage bargaining with the company is not met, according to a union spokesman. About 2000 A.H.I. workers from seven unions met at Mt Smart Stadium on Wednesday. The unions will put their case to the company after Easter.

At Marsden Point, all refinery expansion site scaffolders, except the seven who won injunctions last week letting them work on the site, have withdrawn their labour until Thursday.

A Marsden Refinery Constructors’ spokesman confirmed last Thursday that the seven had been cleared to work on the site and that they would be offered jobs by the main scaffolding contract or on the site. No official Labourers’ Union comment was available after the 180 site scaffolders met on Thursday morning.

At Blenheim, sheep and lamb for almost a full day’s kill were accommodated elsewhere after a stoppage at the Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating Company’s Marlborough works on Wednesday. Work stopped after a man received a burn from an unlagged pipe. Maintenance

crews worked on the problem on Wednesday and Thursday. Grazing had to be found for nearly 6000 head, and some lambs were sent back to farms. The works will reopen on Thursday. Killing at the Dunedin Master Butchers’ Association abattoir will also begin again next Thursday after a six-day stoppage. The strike affected the work-force of 270. Agreement was reached between union and management on Thursday. The plant manager, Mr B. D. White, said the dispute began in the boning room, but he did not want to elaborate.