Settlement clears way for supply of bitumen

Press, 30 August 1984, Page 1

Settlement clears way for supply of bitumen

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington

The industrial dispute that has badty run down New Zealand’s bitumen stocks was settled yesterday afternoon.

The settlement was reached when the Cooks and Stewards’ Union became the last of the four maritime unions to sign an agreement with the Union Steam Ship Company over manning levels in the tanker Taiko. The Under-Secretary for Transport, Mr Jeffries, said that Christchurch might now expect fresh bitumen supplies by the end of September or early October. The oil companies were negotiating a bulk-load delivery from a refinery in Singapore to be carried in the vessel when she sailed, he said. However, Mr Jeffries said that the Taiko would not leave for New Zealand until the end of next week because a condition of the settlement was that minor modifications be made to the cabins. She would take another 15 days to reach New Zealand. He did not know if the Taiko would unload in the South Island or at Auckland but said it would not make much difference either way because the ship could restock at Whangarei and deliver to Christchurch within about three days. Both Mr Jeffries and the Minister of Transport, Mr Prebble, met representatives of the Cooks and Stew-

ards’ Union yesterday morning. It was the last of a series of meetings with the parties to the dispute to iron out a settlement. Mr Prebble announced yesterday afternoon that an agreement had been reached and said that the Government was anxious that bitumen supplies “reach the areas with most pressing shortages first.” It has not yet been decided at which port the tanker will berth. However, it is known that the South Island has been hardest hit by the disruption because it is completely reliant on the sea link. North Island users have been able to get fresh stocks, although not sufficient for their needs, by road and by rail. The Union Steam Ship Company’s deputy managing director, Mr David Jury, said yesterday that a crew would be assembled “as quickly as possible” and sent to Singapore to bring the vessel to New Zealand. She was expected to arrive towards the end of September, he said. Mr Jury was with Mr Jeffries when a delegation from Canterbury met him at his Beehive office last week to advise him of the

grave problems the dispute was causing.

The group comprised the Mayor of Christchurch, Sir Hamish Hay, the chairman of the Waimairi District Council, Mrs Margaret Murray, and the chairman of the Canterbury and Westland branch of the Contractors’ Federation, Mr Ray Hanna.

They said that hundreds of jobs and the City Council’s $2 million street construction and repair programme would be threatened unless a settlement was soon found.

Mr Hanna said yesterday that he was pleased the dispute had been settled, but that contractors were still going to run out of bitumen. “We will probably last until mid-September,” he said.

Mr Hanna said contractors would be without bitumen for at least one. week, but it was unlikely any jobs would now be lost. “We will try to keep people employed on other forms of work,” he said.

Mrs Murray said that if the tanker did not come to the South Island first it could hold up the council’s roading contracts.

“It will be more than desperate,” she said.