SETTLEMENT LIKELY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 801, 23 October 1929, Page 1

SETTLEMENT LIKELY

TRANSPORT DISPUTE BOARD MAY WITHDRAW Rumours of approaching peace between the Auckland Transport Board and the Tramwaymen’s and Omnibus Employees’ Union are in the air. It is said there is a possibility that the application made by the Auckland Electric-Power Board, through the Employers’ Association, to have the Transport Board added as a party to the local bodies’ labourers’ award, in order to have certain men employed on preparing tracks for tramway extensions, will be withdrawn.

This step would be likely to pave the way to a settlement of the dispute between the board and the union,though there would still remain for settlement the question of the renewal of negotiations for a new agreement between the board and tramway employees. The last agreement was made on November 10, 1927, and expired on December 3, 1928, although a provision was made “that, notwithstanding the currency of the agreement, it shall continue in force until a new agreement has been duly entered into.” Both sides seem unwilling to discuss the position at the moment. The chairman of the Transport Board, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, adopts the attitude of “least said, soonest mended.” The union representatives are also

uncommunicative, because the dispute has been put into the hands of the Alliance of Labour. The union secretaries of Auckland discussed the attitude of the board for over an hour and a-half yesterday afternoon, but it was decided to release nothing for publication.