OUT ON STRIKE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21816, 12 September 1945, Page 6

OUT ON STRIKE

300 BUS DRIVERS AUCKLAND DISPUTE CITY SERVICES STOPPED (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Sept. 12. Auckland’s 300 ous drivers went on strike last night shortly after 6.30 o’clock, bringing to a standstill all passenger bus services in the city and suburbs, including those on the North Shore. It is the intention of the men to remain on strike until the proposed disputes tribunal, which they have been promised to consider matters in dispute with the employers, commences its sittings in Auckland. As two of the three employers’ representatives on the tribunal are in Wellington on another matter, the earliest date on which the tribunal can sit is Friday. An emergency meeting of the representatives of the drivers was held last night to consider a last-minute suggestion from the acting-Minister of Labour, the Hon. J. O'Brien, hut this was stated after consideration to be unacceptable and was accordingly rejected. A general meeting of bus drivers will be held in the Trades Hall to-day, when the men will decide upon their future action. In the meantime, some 25,000 Aucklanders will be faced to-day with the problem of travelling to their offices and factories. Whether normal transport facilities will be available for their return home in the evening is dependent upon the decision of the drivers’ to-day.

The appointment of Mr. J. A. Gilmour, industrial magistrate, as chairman of the tribunal to hear the Auckland bus drivers’ dispute was announced yesterday by the Minister of Transport, the Hon. J. O’Brien. The Minister said he could see no earthly reason for the men stopping work in view of the fact that the tribunal had been set up and the chairman was available for any date for the hearing of the dispute.