Compromise ends oil refinery dispute

Press, 20 December 1984, Page 1

Compromise ends oil refinery dispute

PA Whangarei The Marsden Point refinery dispute is over, and sacked workers plan to sign up for re-employment today. A decision to return to work on the expansion site and sign a controversial reemployment form was made yesterday at a meeting of sacked workers addressed by the president of the Federation of Labour, Mr Jim Knox. A compromise was reached; the 900 sacked workers will sign the form

on condition that Marsden Refinery Constructors takes back all workers and lifts the ban on some delegates coming on site. Not all workers were happy to sign the form which was a commitment to abide by the industrial law of the land, and by a collective site agreement. Many workers said they would go back but would probably quit when they found other jobs. They will miss out on the three extra days holiday pay M.R.C. offered workers last week in a bid to

bring more people in the gates and break the strike. The site will close for three weeks on Friday. The consortium’s general manager, Mr David Beldotti, said that a majority of the workers had rejected the stand taken by the secretary of the Auckland Boilermakers’ Union, Mr Alex Maclean. Mr Maclean had tried to convince workers that M.R.C. had a sinister motive in asking them to sign reemployment forms, Mr Beldotti said.