Guard rejects strike call

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 1

Guard rejects strike call

Mr Bob House, the Christchurch security guard who took a grievance against his union to the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, will ignore a call to strike today.

Mr House is a member of the Canterbury, Marlborough and Westland Cleaners, Caretakers, Lift Attendants and Watchmen’s Union which has instructed its members to strike today and one Friday each month in support of the Federation of Labour’s campaign for a $2O a week wage rise. He wrote a letter to Mr Muldoon alleging that he and others had not been told of the meeting and had not been able to vote on the issue. Mr House said that until he had voted on the rolling strike he would consider himself exempt from it.

“I am going to work tomorrow and so are some of my colleagues,” he said. Mr House alleged that the union was putting pressure on him and his supporters to comply by involving other unions.

“Among them is the Drivers’ Union, which will not service any company that has security guards on duty,” he said. However, both the secretary of the Canterbury Cleaners’ Union, Mr Gavin Cumming, and the secretary of the Canterbury Drivers’ Union, Mr D. Leggett, denied that any such agreement existed. “There has been no request made to me not to service any organisation or company where there is any dispute,” Mr Leggett said. Mr House’s action would earn him strong criticism but, if he wanted to “cop the reaction from the rest of his union in taking it, good luck to him,” he said. Mr Cumming said that no threat had been made to members planning to work today and no decision had yet been made to discipline those who refused to follow the call on June 8 to strike. A union field officer, Mr Bob Laycock, who earlier said that to his knowledge all guards had been notified by post of the meeting, said yesterday that he had not heard of any approach to the Drivers’ Union for support.