Oil plant costs rising

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 21

Oil plant costs rising

Two successive months of industrial unrest at the Marsden Point refinery expansion project are likely to lead to another upward cost revision by the end of this year, says the chairman of New Zea'land Refining Company, Ltd, Mr R. J. Milward. He told shareholders at the annual meeting in Auckland that it was “very disappointing for me to have to report that (progress) has not been maintained over the last two months.” He laid the blame for the disruption at the door of the union movement. “The reason for this, quite simply, is lost productivity caused by industrial relations problems,” he said. Quoting from a letter sent last week to Marsden Point unions, Mr Milward said: “The dismissal (of the work force) took place for breach of contract with a background of stoppages, strikes, stop-work meetings, bans, restrictive practices, refusals to work, and a general disregard of the site agreement.” He said unrest at the company’s plant had been caused by the failure of the Wage Freeze Authority to approve a package already agreed with the unions. The company had earlier been given dispensation by the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, to negotiate terms and conditions which would apply during the plant’s four-week maintenance shutdown. Mr Milward said that once the expanded refinery was integrated with the existing operation, there would be no need to close the entire plant for maintenance as was now the case.