Workers reject rehiring terms

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 1

Workers reject rehiring terms

PA Whangarei Workers at the Marsden Point refinery expansion site yesterday rejected a call to accept five management conditions for ending the dispute.

At an afternoon mass meeting in a Whangarei park, union officials got approval to negotiate a settlement and call in the Federation of Labour if necessary. The meeting came after the first talks with the construction consortium yesterday morning since the unions were handed five conditions for rehiring on Tuesday. Marsden Refinery Constructors sacked 2000 workers last Friday after they went on strike because the eight scaffolders blacked from the site had been allowed to return. The other 1000 workers employed by subcontractors have either been sacked or are still deemed to be on strike.

Among the rehiring conditions are acceptance of the eight scaffolders and the lifting of black bans and

restrictive work practices including bans on week-end work.

Yesterday’s talks were set up after the consortium’s general manager, Mr David Beldotti, and the secretary of the.F.O.L., Mr Ken Douglas, had informal talks in Auckland on Thursday. Mr Alex Maclean, the advocate for the site unions, said there was some “small progress” at yesterday morning’s meeting. The unions plan to put counter proposals to the five points at a meeting they hope to have with the consortium on Tuesday. Yesterday’s meeting also decided to increase the strength of the picket at the expansion site gate. The eight scaffolders at the centre of the dispute left the site yesterday afternoon in their fortified van, without incident. The police

were out in force, and as most of the pickets were at the Whangarei meeting, a repetition of Thursday evening’s violence was avoided. Earlier, an apology from the scaffolders was read to the refinery workers at the meeting. It said, “We, the eight scaffolders, working on site, apologise to all concerned and give this written guarantee that we will not be involved in an issue of this nature again. “We reoffer our Saturday (February 2) earnings to a charity (1.H.C.) and a receipt will be given to the site committee.” (The original dispute involved work on that Saturday.) Unrest at the refinery was caused by the failure of the Wage Freeze Authority to approve a package already agreed with the unions, said the New Zealand Refining Company’s' chairman, Mr R. J. Milward, on Thursday. 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, he j;old the annual meeting. Of the refinery expansion project, he told shareholders in Auckland that it was very disappointing to have to report that progress had not been maintained over the last two months. He blamed the union movement for the disruption.

“The reason for this, quite simply, is lost productivity caused by industrial relations problems,” he said.