Wool office picketers quiet

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 9

Wool office picketers quiet

By

DAVID CLARKSON

Staff still at work inside the beleaguered Wool Testing Authority offices say the picketers in St Asaph Street have been quieter in the last day or two. The police are still there twice a day, to see that matters do not get out of hand when staff arrive at 6 a.m. arid leave during the afternoon. , Picketers got out of their caravan yesterday to yell at departing staff members that they were “money-grabbing hypocrites” or had no principles. Some passing vehicles a still toot to acknowledge at their support for the

strikers. The sign on the caravan announces the latest “score”: 61 days on the picket line. Twenty-two staff went on strike in early December over a pay claim that has led to their membership of the Public Service Association being challenged. Some have now found other jobs. Inside the building, management and 32 other staff remain at work. Among them is Mr Phil Prattley, an engineer. He is worried about the future, even if the strike is settled. “It will be awkward working together if the strikers come hxpk inside,” he said, “perhaps

there will need to be a stand-down period to let things cool.” If the picketers suddenly returned to the offices to resume work, the other staff might choose to walk out, he said; The non-strikers say the P.S.A.’s actions during the strike have alienated them completely, and they would now never consider joining the voluntary union. According to Mr Prattley, the remaining workers want to be members of the Woollen Workers’ Union. They blame the P.S.A. organisers for “stirring up” the picketers, and say things have been quieter

in the last two days because there has been no P.S.A. visit. Mr Prattley also wonders whether the picketers’ behaviour has improved because the date for the conciliation talks is approaching. He cites past instances of cars being struck, windows being broken, and locks being glued. However, the regional secretary of the P.S.A.’s Canterbury branch, Mr John McKenzie, holds little hope for the talks. The Woollen Workers’ Union has expressed no interest in having the wool testing staff as memIjers and is not expected t» turn up for the

talks. Without the union, the respondent in the authority’s claim, talks will have to be adjourned and there will probably be more consultations with the Federation of Labour and the Employers’ Federation. Mr McKenzie believes the employers see the dispute in terms of contestability between unions rather than the State pay linkage claim by the P.S.A. that began the fight. The P.S.A. has no doubt that the Wool Testing Authority is a Government body. Mr McKenzie says it is even listed in a schedule of Official Information