Corporation may stop ferries if row extends

Press, 4 June 1984, Page 1

Corporation may stop ferries if row extends

The Railways Corporation may stop the Cook Strait ferry service if the row over railway workers’ rosters continues.

The Picton members of the National Union of Railwaymen were not working the rosters as directed by the High Court on Friday, said the corporation’s general manager. Mr Gordon Purdy, yesterday. However, officials of the N.U.R. said that they had advised members in Picton that they should comply with the Court ruling. Mr Purdy said that the Picton workers had continued their “antics” during the week-end by refusing to replace workers who were sick. A special sailing of the freight ferry Arahanga was cancelled yesterday because a shunting gang was not working. He was not sure if the ferry would sail today. “We say that if this continues we will have to consider the cancellation of the ferries,” Mr Purdy said. Passenger and car ferries would continue to sail until after Tuesday, when the High Court hearing of the case would continue. The Court granted an interim injunction on Friday, ordering the railwaymen to work the rosters as directed. Tomorrow the N.U.R. will seek a judicial review of a regulation which requires the railwaymen to work overtime. Asked about the union’s assertion that it had com-

plied with the interim injunction, Mr Purdy said it appeared that members of the Blenheim branch of the N.U.R. were not obeying the directions of their national office. That was “consistent with their attitudes,” he said. The corporation was “very disappointed” that the High Court order had not been complied with. The action of some of the Picton staff had already meant that no new freight had been accepted since last Friday and it was now uncertain how long any

ferry sailings could be maintained. “We regret the inconvenience to clients. Alternative arrangements for perishable freight, passengers and cars to bypass Picton will be announced if the ferries stop operating,” he said. The national president of the N.U.R., Mr George Finlayson, said in Christchurch that the union had accepted the Court’s interim decision. If members were not working overtime he assumed that was because they were “taking their individual rights.” In a statement last evening, the union’s general secretary, Mr Don Goodfellow, said that the union had complied with the Court order and that it was unfair for Mr Purdy to suggest otherwise.

The union had sent a copy of the Court order to Picton on Friday and sent a further telegram yesterday advising members to work in accordance with their contracts of employment as directed by the corporation, Mr Goodfellow said.

“The order is not directed at individual members. It is directed at the union and the union has strictly complied with it. The union can do no more than advise its members,” he said. The union was most concerned that the Railways Corporation had issued letters -to members yesterday saying that they might be individually in breach of the order by refusing to work compulsory overtime.

Instead of cancelling ferry sailings, the corporation should give serious consideration to a union offer last Wednesday, Mr Goodfellow said. That proposed a return to the negotiating table and a return to the old rosters while the problem was discussed.

“The union wants to keep freight and passengers moving and in the public interest appeals to the corporation to consider this offer, which, to date, has not been responded to,” he said. The secretary of the Blenheim branch of the N.U.R. Mr Brian Cameron, said from Picton that the members were working the rosters. There had been problems over the week-end because the rosters did not provide enough staff to cover for those who were absent because of sickness or accident.

A spokesman at the Picton railway station reported that the ferries had sailed “as normal” during the week-end. He confirmed that a special sailing of the Arahanga was cancelled yesterday because a shunting gang was not working, but he said that the ship was expected to sail from Wellington as scheduled today.