NZ firm in strife at Olympic sites

By NICK SMITH

A New Zealand company is embroiled in a union dispute at some of the Sydney Olympic sites, stopping work at the hockey stadium and the velodrome.

One international women's hockey team was yesterday prevented from training because of union pickets and the dispute appears unlikely to be resolved until Tuesday.

If the strike continues, it will also halt work at the shooting, regatta and softball centres.

The pay dispute spells further trouble for French company Generale Location - which has hired 16 New Zealanders through Auckland company Town and Country Marquee - because it is already behind schedule.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union accuses the two companies of breaching an agreement on terms and conditions, including pay and penalty rates, holiday and sick pay, redundancy, superannuation and allowances.

"This is not about Kiwis taking Aussie jobs - it's about exploitation of labour," said union spokesman Brian Fitzpatrick.

Town and Country director Steve Kemble said his company had been contracted to provide 16 staff to help construct marquees in Sydney because Generale Location was behind schedule.

It pays into its workers' New Zealand bank accounts an average of $20 an hour, in breach of the union agreement to pay $A40 ($51.08), plus a living allowance of $A300.

"Apparently they pay $40 an hour basic, which is bloody ridiculous," said Mr Kemble.

"It's just the unions flexing their power."

But he denied any intentional breaches of employment agreements, saying that "we haven't dealt with unions for so long that we forgot all about it."

Mr Fitzpatrick said all of Town and Country workers were now union members and would stay on strike until they were properly compensated for their work.

"If this was a boxing match, it's a knockout win to the union."

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