Welders sacked over pay dispute
A series of small disputes at Andersons Engineering, Ltd, Christchurch, led to three welders being sacked yesterday morning. The men were sacked for refusing to work a submerged arc welding machine. The secretary of the Canterbry branch of the Boilermakers’ Union, Mr Hugh Rice, said yesterday that the men wanted extra pay for working the machine. Members of the union at
Andersons had been working two other such machines for extra pay for some time, he said.
The third machine had been installed since the beginning of the wage freeze. The company had promised to discuss the matter of more pay for the machine at Christmas, when 48 men were laid off, but had not done so, he said.
Mr Rice said the members had approached the management to ask them to lodge a joint application to the Arbitration Court for an exemption to the freeze, but had been declined. “Those machines do four hand welders out of a job,” said Mr Rice.
“They not only cut down the job opportunities but increase production for the company.” The 47 members of the union working at Andersons were paid an extra 3c an hour for the first two machines. The members were at present in the middle of a
four-week overtime ban because of the company’s handling of a discipline problem with the foreman, he said.
There had also been a roster dispute earlier this year which had not been satisfactorily resolved. These problems, together with the “pitiful” increase in pay after the $8 a week wage order had caused the men to “get cracking and do something about it,” said Mr Rice.
The company had asked three men to work the machine yesterday and they had all refused and were subsequently sacked.
The union is supporting the three men who have lost their jobs, but strike action was unlikely, said Mr Rice. The company’s manager, Mr B. Phillips, and the works manager, Mr John Gilmore, were last evening going to try and work out a solution to the problem, he said.
Mr Phillips refused to comment yesterday.
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Press, 17 May 1984, Page 8
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352Welders sacked over pay dispute Press, 17 May 1984, Page 8
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