Ashburton Guardian MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRÆVALEBIT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1932. FREEZING WORKS DISPUTE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 15, 28 October 1932, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRÆVALEBIT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1932. FREEZING WORKS DISPUTE.

It is to be hoped that the dispute that has arisen in connection with the freezing industry in the North Island will be settled immediately, without recourse to intervention by the Government. Any interference with the smooth working of industry, more especially of such a vital one as the frozen meat trade, is to be deeply deplored, but at a time like the present, when every effort is required to hasten the passing of the economic stress that has afflicted the Dominion so long, any action that hampers trade and commerce is doubly an offence against the commonweal. The principal issue at stake is that of wages, the award governing the industry having expired on July 31. Prior to that date the employers conferred with representatives of the men but the negotiations for a new agreement failed, consequently the companies filed a citation to a conciliation council. That body, however, failed to bring about a settlement and subsequently terms and conditions drawn up by the employers were rejected by the men, who have declined work. The reduction in wages proposed'by the companies equals ten or eleven per cent, which in view of the condition of the industry cannot be considered an unreasonable basis. For some time the farmer has been faced with diminishing returns from his produce, that from meat being no exception, and today, it is no exaggeration to say, his income has in many cases shrunk fifty per cent. On the other hand, under the shelter of an award the worker continued to receive his usual rate of pay long after economic equality required a revision to meet the depressed circumstances of the industry. In his attack on the Government in the House of Representatives recently the leader of the Labour Party complained that hundreds of men had been withdrawn from the employment of the State and put to unproductive work, and he argued that their services—and not theirs only but those of all the unemployed, including women and boys—should be engaged on undertakings of value to the State. What undertaking is of more value to the State than the prosecution of a primary industry, constituting one of the main sources whence comes the overseas funds that provide our national revenue no less than the actual producers' private earnings. If the terms offered to the employees are not as satisfactory, from their point ot view, as those that have ruled in the past, the men should remember that they are not the only section to experience diminished incomes. Stability can be achieved only by every unit producing its utmost and such stoppages as that under review constitute a drag that has effects far beyond its immediate action.