F; ) RP PRESS No 71/ 1S72
OILI. INIDUSTRY STRIKE
Stateirent by the Prime ?-Tinister, the Rt.
Bon. William McAahon, CH, MP
Today I calle, 2. a meeting of seniJor Ministers to
consider the critical situation caused~ by the oil industry
strike. The strike is a challenge by about 1,000 union m-embers
to the whole structure of conciliation and arbiAtration which we
are d; etermined to maintain.
It threatens to disrupt industry , cause unemployment
and slow down com~ mercial and industrial activity in Australia
affecting the life of every citizen.
Let us look,-at the facts.
Early this year a log of claims was served by the
unions upon the oil comnanies.
A numnber of strikes and stoppoages occurred and after
patient and painstaking effort, a Deputy Prcsident of the
Conciliation and ArbiLration Comm~ is~ ion, M~ r. Justice Voorre on
union assurances that the strikers had returned to work qave an
interim decision which granted wage incrciscs of $ 4.3oner week for
trad--: smcn and S3.60 for tradcF, assistants. He made these increases
retrospective to 5 June.
Mr Justice M~ oore granted these incrcases on. assurances
that the men had genuinely r= eturned to work
And t'h. e employers had already statc-d that as soon as the
strike ended they were ready to contcinue wi th the hearing of 1
the union's claims in full by the Com~ mission.
Desnite this, the strike w as resumed and has continued
in defiance of th. e-decision of Pflr. Jnstice PMoore. On Friday night
last, it became obvious that the ACTU was powerless to get the ment
back to work. The Governm--. nt obiectives are twofold. The first is to
ensure--that the men return to work, that tihe renfineries opera-te,
that supplies of patrol and oil are available and that a situati-on
in which services vital to the community are grinding to a h-alt
should end.
The Government also believes that it must uohold the
svstem of arbitration.
In the interests of the whole cormmunity I asked the Minister
for Labor and National Service, the Minister for Shipping and
Transport and the Attorney General to have immediate discussions
with the oil industry employers and with the ACTU.
Discussions took olace with the employers this evening
and arrangements are being made to have discussions in Melbourne
with the ACTU tomorrow morning.
The Ministers will renort to Cabinet which will meet
tomorrow, Thursday afternoon.
CANBERRA, 26 July, 1972.