Rubber parties fail to agree

Press, 25 January 1986, Page 9

Rubber parties fail to agree

A compulsory conference called to end the rubber workers’ dispute ended yesterday without the parties coming closer to agreement The chairman of the conference, Mr Maurice Teen, will make a decision. which will be binding upon the employers and the Canterbury Rubber Workers’ Union. The conference was called by the Minister of Labour, Mr Rodger, last week as part of a package to end the two-month dispute. Award rates for workers on grades 1,2, and 3 were the only disputed issue to be discussed by the compulsory conference. Mr Teen, a conciliator,

said yesterday that the two parties outlined their positions to him during the conference. They tried, but were unable to resolve their differences. He was then given the power to make a decision and set the award rates “having regard to the dispute over relativity.” He hoped he would be able to release his decision within a fortnight The secretary of the Canterbury Rubber Workers’ Union, Mr Roger Brott, said that both sides essentially maintained the positions they had held throughout the dispute and came no closer to finding a solution. Although the award allowed for four groups of workers, the rates of pay

for only three groups were disputed. Mr Brott said the lowest paid, Group 4, had been easily resolved because nb-one was employed at that level. Employers agreed to increase the basic pay on that scale 16.44 per cent, maintaining relativity with the Metal Trades Award. An Increase of 15.7 per cent was offered for the other grades. A Canterbury Employers’ Association advocate, Mr Neil McPhail, said yesterday that both parties were entrenched in their positions throughout the conference. “It was really necessary to have a chairman’s ruling,” he said. Rubber workers went

on strike on November 21 over the pay relativity dispute. The employers maintained they had retained relativity by increasing the bottom salary rate by 16.44 per cent The union argued that it wanted relativity to be maintained on all scales. The difference between the two parties was about $1.60 a week. The strike by 650 workers, stopped production at four Christchurch rubber factories — Firestone, Dunlop, Feltex and Skellerup. The shortage of raw materials also prompted the suspension of about 200 footwear workers from the Skellerup factory.

Lock-out notices were issued to the striking' workers on December 10 after they had been out of work four weeks. The notices enabled the workers to apply for the unemployment benefit The decision to allow the workers to apply for the benefit was made by the Social Security Commission on January 9. The employers lifted the lockout notices on January 16. Informal talks were held between the parties, along with the president of the Federation of labour, Mr Jim Knox, and Mr Teen, on January 16. The talks resulted in a return to work on January 20.