Date: January 27

Advertisment in daily newspaper. Subject. University students required for general store duties for rest of the varsity leave year:

Applied for and got employment at Cable Price Kaiwharawhara cleaning up after the Christmas floods: Verbal re-assurance of advertisement. Assurance of a month's work given: Also asked to work specifically on Saturday 12 February to help with their large stocktaking procedure — agreed to.

Friday, January 28

Started Work at Kaiwharawhara.

Monday, February 7, 2.30 pm, Place: Kaiwharawhara.

Four students told no more work available and to pick up pay at 3.30 pm. Action. Strong protest to management who then strongly denied assurance of definite period of work: furthermore stated students would get no redundancy pay, no holiday pay and that management could give one hour's notice if they felt like it. Then asked students if they would be willing to come back on Saturday 12 Febuary and help in the stocktaking. Three acidly refused. Surprisingly I agreed.

Management told by three that further action would be contemplated. In a belated attempt to pacify students, management tries by pretending to look up a name in the phone book which needlessly they did not find — to find students employment elsewhere.

Addtionally all other students told unofficially they would have to go after they had done the stocktaking for Cable Price.

Tuesday, February 8, Morning, Place: Students Association.

Three students go to VUWSA President, Lindy Cassidy, seeking help. She contacts the Secretary of the Store man and Packers Union, Mr P. Mansor.

Action: A delegation is to go and see Cable Price.

Problem: The students had not paid any Union fees, which the made the Union Secretary's position difficult.

Thursday, 10 February, 10.30 am. Place: Cable Price Office at Kaiwharawhara.

A delegation of President, Lindy Cassidy, Mr P. Mansor, and one of the aggrieved students meets management. The student brings the newspaper advert and a signed declaration by 12 students on the site that they all had been given assurance of work until the end of the vacation. The management dismisses both as being irrelevant. Implication that the 12 students are liars.

Proposal: From P. Mansor proposal that unless agreement could be reached the industrial conciliator would be brought in in.

President Cassidy proposed that all students should leave site. Thereby leaving Cable Price in a fix for its stock taking.

Action: Big boss not previously at meeting called in.

Result: Four students would be given one weeks pay and all other students would be given a week's notice and the boss forcibly states never again will he employ ungrateful students who have tendencies towards fair play.

Friday February 11

All other students given one weeks notice.

Thoughts.

Did Cable Price honestly overestimate the work to be done, or did they, knowing that no student would take a job for a week when there were others of a month, deliberately mislead the students into thinking there was a month's work when all the time Cable Price only wanted them up until the stocktaking on Friday 12th. Furthermore, because the students worked hard and well did Cable Price reward them. No. They laid them off a week before 12 February while still expecting them to come and help on 12 February.

Lesson Learnt.

Robert Moore-Jones.

We the undersigned students declare that on being employed by the Cable Price Corporation, we were given at the time of employment a firm assurance by Cable Price that there would definitely be work available until the end of February. Furthermore the advertisement that led us to seek employment at Cable Price also gave the distinct impression that work was available until the end of February. We would not have applied for jobs had we had any notion that work would not be available for that period.