WORK STOPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 191, 15 August 1939, Page 10

WORK STOPS.

DISPUTE AMONG MEN.

WHENUAPAI BARRACKS.

DISHONESTY ALLEGATION

Owinjr to a dispute alleged t( , ] )C . between the carpenters and the steelworkors engaged on the job. work ha* ceased on the i-oni-truction of tin- airmen's barracks at the Whonuapai aerodrome. The facts of the dispute are not <-lear. hut it is stated that the trouble arose over a private disagreement between the two sections of workers. One version is that a party comprising both carpenters and steel workers was playing cards in the lunch hour. .An objection is stated to have been made bv a carpenter to the play of a steehvorker. Both sections supported the attitude of their mate, and when the lunch hour was over, work was not begun. It is understood that the carpenters asked that the steehvorker concerned in the frame should be dismissed.

Questioned as to the actual position, a representative of the.firm of contractors for the barracks, Messrs. W. H. Whittaker and Company, Limited, said that apparently one of the men had been accused of dishonesty and the others were asking the Him to dismiss him. "We are refusing to do this until we get proof of the allegation, as we cannot risk dismissal without proof," he said. He added that about 60 or 70 carpenter;were involved. . The secretary of the Carpenters and Joiners' Union. Mr. J. (i. Kennerley. when questioned concerning the position, said he was not aware of any strike having taken place. His union had been advised of some trouble between some of the workers, and the organiser, Mr. R. Stanley, had gone to Whenuapai in an effort to straight*. , !, the matter out. Mr. Stanley was communicated with at Whenuapai. but refused to make a statement or to confirm or deny any of the stated facts of the dispute.