Electricity workers to take action

Press, 8 May 1985, Page 3

Electricity workers to take action

Canterbury and West Coast electrical supply authority workers intend to take industrial action later this month.

They intend to refuse to work overtime and not to answer after-hours call-outs from May 21. Employers would be told formally of the intention today, said the Canterbury secretary of the Engineers’ Union, Mr Bob Todd, yesterday. The action has been supported by workers at stopwork meetings throughout Canterbury and the West Coast during the last week. At most of the meetings support was unanimous. Some dissent was by workers wanting stronger action, Mr Todd said.

The union wants the wage agreement covering the Canterbury and West Coast workers changed to restore its “historical linkage" with the agreement that covers other electrical supply authority workers throughout New Zealand.

That linkage was lost earlier this year when the local agreement was negotiated before the national one,

said Mr Todd.

Christchurch City council electricity workers will not take action. They have their own agreement, with rates comparable with those in the rest of New Zealand. Mr Todd said that this meant that they now got more than other Canterbury electrical supply authority workers. The Central Canterbury Power Board’s deputy general manager, Mr Kelvin Lewis, said last evening that if the ban went ahead it could mean that after-hours power failures were not repaired until the next day. Other board staff would ensure that safety was maintained and would minimise any inconvenience to consumers, he said. An advocate for the Canterbury Employers’ Association, Mr Keith Woodroof, said last week that circumstances beyond the employers’ control had led to the difference in agreements.

The local agreement had been negotiated in good faith and employers did not intend to renegotiate it before the next wage round.