Denniston miners considering strike

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 3

Denniston miners considering strike

Westport reporter Denniston’s 90 miners could come out on strike if they don’t get good news from the Coal Corporation on Thursday, says Denniston’s Miners Union president Piet Groot The corporation will make a public announcement to 440 workers from the Coast and Canterbury in the Westport Community Hall this Thursday. They will be addressed by a representative of the Corporation and the West Coast district manager, Kevin Brazil. At the meeting the workers will be • told which assets the new corporation will be buying, their level of production

and, therefore, the number of jobs available. Mr Groot is pessimistic about the employment prospects for his 90 union members. “We’ve heard some numbers and if there’s only such a small number to be employed, we will have to decide what sort of action to take,” he said. Mr Grot believed that predictions of 100 workers being made redundant were “right on the knocker” and said his union won’t accept that “I mean there won’t be any work at Denniston for sure, if they have that number of men.” • Mr Groot said that Denniston was economic if markets could be found for the coal.