Dismissals If Car Dispute Not Settled

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31057, 12 May 1966, Page 1

Dismissals If Car Dispute Not Settled

CVeio Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 11. Between 80 and 90 South Island workers, mainly drivers, could lose their jobs if a dispute between the Government and New Zealand’s two largest car freighting firms continued, the managing-director of one of the firms, Car Haulaways N.Z. Ltd., Mr W. M. B. Thompson, said today. The mass dismissal of workers may be forced upon the two firms as the freighting of new cars to the South Island on the Aramoana has almost ceased.

Office staff and drivers in the South Island had thus become redundant, Mr Thompson said.

The dispute is over the freighting of new cars to the South Island.

The Railways Department recently refused to allow! watersiders to handle trade; cars and the Minister of Rail-! ways (Mr McAlpine) later imposed a fee of £3 5s a ship ping ton on new cars, which travelled to Picton in the Aramoana. This worked out at £3O or £32 for the averagesized car, said Mr Thompson To avoid the dispute, Car Haulaways introduced a speci-j ally-designed car freighter to! travel in the Aramoana fully' laden. The transporter was designed to be driven off at Pictor.. Last week, the transporter made its first and only trip to the South island. No vehicles have made the Aramoana crossing at all since last Thursday because of Mr McAlpine’s decision and

i because of his company’s reluctance to build transporters ifor the Wellington-Picton

crossing, said Mr Thompson. The crossing was uneconomical, he said.

Car Haulaways, however, would make the crossing if the firm had the right to drive on to Christchurch. It had applied for a licence to do this, but this was met by a Railways Department objection that it would affect the railways materially. ■ If the firm had to seek “other shipping,” the railways would be materially affected by something in the vicinity of £lOO,OOO a year, Mr Thompson said. The Railways Department also refused a 6000-vehicle a year contract with Car Haulaways, he said. Mr Thompson had discussions with the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) today to try and settle the dispute. Car Haulaways, the biggest single customer of the Aramoana, cannot guarantee continuity of supply to South Island dealers and distributors because of the dispute, said Mr Thompson. The firm transported between 18,000 and 20,000 cars in New Zealand last year. Besides the large traffic from Wellington to Picton, the firm also had a large portion of the freighting contract to the North Island for the new Standard-Triumph factory in Nelson, he said.