Judge has to refuse to hear dispute

Press, 30 January 1986, Page 28

Judge has to refuse to hear dispute

PA Auckland A High Court judge yesterday refused to hear a dispute between a food catering company and the union of striking Northland hospital workers because he knew one of the parties.

Mr Justice Sinclair granted an interim injunction and adjourned the matter because he felt it was “Improper” for him to hear the case.

He said the dispute, between Advanced Food Systems International Ltd, and the Auckland Hotel, Hospital, Restaurant and Related Trades Workers Union, and other defendants, could be heard by the Arbitration Court today or by another High Court judge on Monday.

Advanced Food Systems wants the union to stay

out of a strike by kitchen staff in Northland hospitals, which has affected patient’s meals for over a week.

The interim injunction granted yesterday would stop the union from being party to, or aiding and abetting, the strike.

Kitchen workers walked off the job after they were transferred from the employ of the Northland Area Health Board to a private catering company. Union and employer negotiations in Auckland on Tuesday failed to settle the dispute.

Mr Justice Sinclair told the court he had known one of the defendants for a number of years.

He had dealt with the person regularly in employer and union matters before he joined the judges’ bench.