RETURN TO WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 225, 23 September 1938, Page 13

RETURN TO WORK.

FERTILISER EMPLOYEES. CONFERENCE BEING HELD Pending a discussion between flicir representatives and the companies concerned, the employees of chemical fertiliser works who had objected to rates of pay for the unloading of guano, decided to return to work this morning. The dispute was originally confined to Te Papapa and \Vestfield companies, out was extended yesterday afternoon to the Otahuhu works of the Challenge Phosphate Co.. Ltd. Some 300 men were involved. The decision to return to work was made at a meeting yesterday afternoon.

It was stated on behalf of the men that the dispute had arisen through the I absence of any provision in their award j for the handling of guano. They stated j that the rate of payment for unloading sulphur did not compensate them for the discomfort involved in handling I guano. Three shillings an hour, they j claimed, was reasonable. j Messrs. A. G. Osborne, M.P. for Maim- j kau, and C. R. Petrie, M.P. for Hauraki, j addressed a meeting of men from West -> field, Te Papapa and Otahuhu and appealed to them to return to work pending negotiations with the employers. The men finally acquiesced by a email majority and elected representatives who are to confer with representatives from the three companies concerned, Kempthorne, Prosser, the New Zealand Farmers' Fertiliser Co., and the Chal- J lenge Phosphate Co. '