Petrol station picketed

Press, 12 September 1987, Page 7

Petrol station picketed

Hundreds of motorists were encouraged to turn away from a Fendalton Road service station yesterday through what its owners described as blackmail. BP’s South Island station controller, Mr Peter Watts, said a New Zealand Engineers’ Union picket outside the company’s Fendalton service station “just amounts to blackmail.”

The engineers were protesting about the "sacking of four workers” from the station because of their refusal to work

extra hours. , The company branded the union’s claim as “lies.” It said two workers were asked to increase their weekly hours from 35 to 40. They refused, said Mr Watts. He said that one of the workers refused because he had a day-time position that prevented his starting earlier at the station.

The station employs about 15 people. The company said the workers would have to go if they could not agree to

BP’s terms. Mr Watts said BP offered the workers “a reasonable package as per the award but the union has tried to blackmail the company by demanding more. It threatened to picket unless its demand was met by yesterday.” Nobody had been sacked, said Mr Watts. A spokesman for the engineers and picketing workers, Mr Ged O’Connell, said the company had offered 10 weeks severance pay and had then halved the offer.

It presented the 15 staff with a roster of new hours. Twelve of the workers agreed to the new roster, but the others could not meet it — including two full-time workers, he said.

All meetings with the company had failed, Mr O’Connell said.

Mr Watts warned that BP would not capitulate to the union’s demands.

“We cannot understand how an offer of full-time employment can be turned down in times like this,” he said.