Tasman settlement hopes slip

Press, 25 October 1985, Page 4

Tasman settlement hopes slip

PA Wellington The chances of a settlement in the five-week Kawerau pulp mill lock-out were falling apart yesterday. The Tasman Pulp and Paper Company appeared bent on “buying a fight” with the Federation of Labour over the terms of the settlement, said the F.O.L’s secretary, Mr Ken Douglas. The company had to decide whether it was prepared to negotiate with the F.0.L., he said. More than 600 pulp and paper workers have been locked out since September

20 for refusing to sign a company document aimed at reducing manning and introducing new technology. The Pulp and Paper Workers’ Federation said the document contained provisions which seriously eroded union rights. The Minister of Labour, ■Mr Rodger, is expected to call a compulsory conference to resolve the dispute if the parties cannot agree on a settlement for a return to work. The possibility of a settlement became bogged down yesterday after the company demanded an undertaking in writing from the

workers that they abide by disputes procedures should any unrelated disputes arise i during the compulsory con- ] ference. i Without such an undertaking the lock-out would not I be lifted, said Tasman’s I public affairs manager, Mr I David Nicholson. i The Pulp and Paper Workers’ Federation’s secretary, Mr John Murphy, said such an undertaking had been given to the F.0.L., which was now representing the federation in the dispute. That undertaking should be sufficient, Mr Murphy said.

Mr Douglas said the company’s demand for an undertaking direct from the pulp and paper workers was unreasonable. “The company will have to decide whether or not they are negotiating with the F.0.L.,” Mr Douglas said. The F.O.L. had acted in good faith in lifting a ban on a shipment of imported newsprint. It now appeared Tasman did not want a settlement of the dispute. Mr Nicholson said the company sought the undertaking because of past “industrial chaos” at the mill. The lock-out had been im-

posed to try to bring the problems to an end. The company is also concerned that the locked-out workers would not return to work before Thursday. The earliest a mass meeting could be called to confirm the settlement would be Wednesday, Mr Murphy said. There were signs yesterday that even a compulsory conference, under a chairman with the right to make a binding decision, might not resolve the dispute. “There is no way we will ever sign that document,” Mr Murphy said.

Earlier report, page 9