Day 174 - 17 Oct 95 - Page 27


     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS:  Just one general question:  you said there were a
     3        lot of strikes around this period, and you said the
     4        National Understanding or national wage agreement had
     5        recently come in.  Was that something which the unions had
     6        been campaigning for?  What I am saying is, all these
     7        strikes, was that part of some general momentum to get a
     8        national wage agreement?
     9        A.  There was a momentum to get a national wage agreement.
    10        I cannot recall the details of -----
    11
    12   Q.   That was -----
    13        A.  There was a momentum involved.
    14
    15   Q.   That was a momentum from the unions, was it?
    16        A.  Momentum from employers, I would think, too.  The
    17        parties to the agreement were the government, the unions
    18        and the employer bodies.
    19
    20   Q.   But it resulted in improved conditions?  When you
    21        implemented the National Understanding, you said that the
    22        conditions improved.  So the national wage agreement, the
    23        National Understanding, was something which improved the
    24        conditions of employees generally in the country, did it?
    25        A.  It probably regularised the situation from the point of
    26        view of wage increases.  What I can remember of national
    27        wage agreements at that time -- and it is a long time
    28        ago -- is that inflation was running very high, the
    29        government were anxious to try and have some control on the
    30        wage agreements, so that they could get inflation under a
    31        little bit of control.  I cannot even remember at this
    32        point the details of the agreements.
    33
    34   Q.   The employers were also wanting to keep wage rises low to
    35        reduce labour costs; yes?
    36        A.  I do not know.  I mean, the situation was that -- what
    37        I remember distinctly about the national wage agreement was
    38        that the government were anxious to get an agreement on
    39        wage increases that would apply throughout the whole
    40        country because, prior to this, there were levels of wage
    41        agreements; and that is what I remember of it.
    42
    43   Q.   Anne Holmes -- do you recall her?
    44        A.  Yes.
    45
    46   Q.   Is it right that she was the first picket from
    47        Grafton Street to join the strike -- the first person from
    48        Grafton Street to join the strike?
    49        A.  I cannot recall if she was the first picket, but I do
    50        remember her picketing. 
    51 
    52   Q.   She was the shop steward, was she, during that strike, to 
    53        represent the workers from Grafton Street?
    54        A.  I do not know.  She never indicated to me that she was
    55        the shop steward.
    56
    57   Q.   Before the strike, she was a lobby hostess?
    58        A.  Yes.
    59
    60   Q.   At the end of the strike, the Company said that she could

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