Bond may face union action

Press, 13 September 1988, Page 27

Bond may face union action

NZPA-AAP

Canberra

Bond Corp Holdings may face industrial action by the Building Workers’ Industrial Union over its investments in Chile.

A spokesman for the BWIU’s ACT branch, Mr Jeremy Pyner, said his union was looking at industrial action over a 64-storey building planned by Bond Corp for Sydney. The union would also monitor the activities of “many other” Australian and New Zealand firms which had invested in Chile, such as BHP Co., he said. Mr Pyner was speaking after a demonstration by more than 100 people outside the Chile Embassy in Canberra to mark the 15th anniversary of Chile President Augusto Pinochet’s rise to power in a military coup. Bond Corp withdrew sAust2so,ooo of sponsorship for Melbourne’s Moomba parade last week after some Melbourne city councillors reportedly criticised its association with the Pinochet regime. "It’s my view that Australian businessmen who associate with the criminal who led the coup in Chile are equally guilty... and I refer not only to Alan Bond but also to BHP, which is a major shareholder in a copper company,” he said. “I think we will have to look at these companies which wish to put buildings in Australia, as it is our union who builds them. Industrial action has always been one of the strengths of unions.” Bond Corp spokesmen were not available for comment. _____________