N.U.R. injunction hearing today

Press, 1 June 1984, Page 3

N.U.R. injunction hearing today

Blenheim reporter and NZPA The hearing of an interim inmjunction sought against the National Union of Railwaymen has been adjourned in the High Court at Wellington until today. Mr Justice Jeffries adjourned the hearing in chambers yesterday morning on the application of the union. The case will be heard in open court at 10 a.m. today. The Railways Corporation has claimed damages of more than $4O million. A Railways Corporation official in Blenheim said yesterday that the corporation had “no intention of making surplus staff in Picton redundantz’ Because Picton was an area where a lot of shift work was necessary, the average annual leave the workers had was 35 days, made up of 20 days annual entitlement, five days shift workers’ leave, and 10 days for statutory holidays, which the workers tended to work for less pay rather than have the holidays, said the acting area traffic manager, Mr Don Johnson. At present there were arrears of 2000 days, he said. “By the time we work that off, natural resignations will have taken care of the surplus staff,” he said. Under the current roster, which is at the centre of the dispute, there is provision for six men to be away on various forms of leave, but in practice 10 are away, and this has led to demands by the management that staff rostered off should respond to requests to fill in, but since May 18 the members of the N.U.R. have refused to work overtime or respond to call-backs. Mr Johnson said that some members of the union had complained to him privately that unless they soon started to get their normal

rate of pay they would soon be in trouble with their mortgages and other commitments. A lot of them had taken their jobs to work the overtime, night rates, and Sunday time to earn a little extra money. “Picton is one of the only places in the South Island that has not had any reduction or change to staffing in recent years,” Mr Johnson said. “Every station in the South Island, including Blenheim, has had staffing levels and roster adjustments within the last two years. It has nothing to do with BoozAllen. “This is a myth that the N.U.R. is putting forward — these rosters were prepared before the release of the Booz-Allen report. We have been working on these for three months along with the timetable review which is continuing this week along the South line.” He said that a change in the timetable at Picton must have a roll-on effect right through the South Island. Timaru, Greymouth, Dunedin and Invercargill had already had shunting staff reduced. The president of the N.U.R., Mr George Finlayson, said in Picton yesterday that the present roster in Picton was working with 10 men fewer than it pro-

vided for. This was the real reason for all the trouble. “The only way you can have absolute normal operations, taking into account all the regulatory requirements of the corporation relating to safety and so forth, is by the payment of overtime.” he said. “We say very clearly that anybody required to work overtime should be given sufficient notice that he is required to do so. “A man who has already worked eight hours can be told by the boss that he is required to work another eight hours. That to us is just not on.” Mr Finlayson said that this sort of situation led to undue strain and the danger of serious accidents. Shunting yards were accepted throughout the country as high-risk areas. “From what the corporation says, and we say, there appears to be a minimum of four people short at Picton today,” he said. “All we are asking in the roster dispute is that instead of putting a time limit on the negotiations they allow our people to sit down with corporation people who know something about shunting conditions and roster operations,” he said.