Printers’ bid to save talks

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 8

Printers’ bid to save talks

PA Auckland Newspaper printers will put a proposal to . employers tomorrow which may be the only option to disruption in the industry. Talks to renew the newspaper printers’ award failed to get under way in Auckland yesterday. The mediator, Mr Gerry Ditchfield, would not convene the negotiations because of a dispute over which companies should be included in the award. The Printers’ Union, in filing its claims for the

talks, included printers who work for Independent Newspapers, Ltd, publishers of the "Waikato Times,” "Manawatu Evening Standard,” “Evening Post,” “Dominion,” “The Press” and "The Southland Times.” I.N.L. wants to introduce new technology giving direct editorial input ahead of its rivals and indicated yesterday that it had withdrawn fom the Federal Newspaper Publishers and Proprietors Industrial Association of Employers, said Mr Ditchfield.

It has offered its printers what the union terms “a big carrot” — a lump sum worth up to $20,000 to some — to withdraw from the national award and allow the new technology. The union wants the printers to remain in the national document Mr Ditchfield said he was unable to convene the conciliation council under which the talks formally proceed because employers said they did not have the authority to negotiate a settlement which included I.N.L.