Police at strike not hostile act, says CHH

Carter Holt Harvey has denied it acted aggressively toward its striking workers by summoning 40 police to the picket line in Whangarei yesterday.

But the company has confirmed it is exploring "alternatives" while the strike continues to halt production at the Marsden Pt laminated veneer plant.

The 200 Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) members have been on strike since September 22 after failing to reach a pay deal with the company.

The workers say they want a 5 per cent rise. The company has offered them 3 per cent but says the workers' demands, including new allowances, add up to a nearly 10 per cent rise.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said workers and negotiators had been met by a double row of 40 police outside the plant when they turned up yesterday.

"The situation was extremely confrontational," Mr Little said.

"This is one of the most aggressive examples of employer behaviour that I have seen in a long, long time."

But Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) general manager of employment relations Paul Mackay said police were there as standard procedure. "They were there specifically to escort some trucks through the picket lines, which is one of our normal safety precautions.

"A union team did enter the site and met with the company for more than an hour."

Mr Mackay questioned why Mr Little would choose to highlight the police presence yesterday. "The police have been there on each occasion the trucks have come through the picket line and the union hasn't sought to comment on it those times."

He said it was "baseless" to say CHH had acted in an aggressive or antagonistic way.

Mr Little said the talks the negotiators had had with CHH yesterday had been pointless. "All the employers would say was that they might talk to us if the workers came back to work."

Mr Mackay confirmed there would be no negotiations on the contract until the workers stopped their strike and returned to work.

He said there was a substantial gap between what the workers wanted and what the company was willing to offer.

- NZPA