BUTTER STORAGE AT CHRISTMAS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14859, 22 December 1948, Page 3

BUTTER STORAGE AT CHRISTMAS

DAIRY FACTORIES CONCERNED

Extra Holiday Demanded By Workers

Problem Referred To Minister

(P.A.) Auckland, today. Many dairy factories in the Auckland Province are facing a serious position over the holiday period owing to the decision of the men employed at the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company’s cool store to cease work at midday on Friday until the following Thursday morning unless they are granted additional rates of pay outside the provisions of their award. Appeals have been made to them by the executive.of the union and representatives of the Labour Department, but so far no progress has been made toward the settlement of the dispute.

Under the freezing workers’ award there are three holidays without pay—January 2, Anniversary, Day and Easter Tuesday. If the men are worked on these days they are paid time and a-half. The men now wish to have the day after Boxing Day included as a holiday and have asked for payment at the rate of time and a-half for Wednesday night. The Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company has refused to concede this request, and the men have intimated that they will not work, even at overtime rates, from midday on Friday until Thursday morning. Overtime Rates Normally men are emploved at overtime rates to receive butter delivered over the holiday period. Because of their refusal to accept employment under these conditions, the butter will either have to bo stored at the factory or held in insulated railway trucks until the cool stores reopen. Some of the factories in the Auckland Province have cool storage soa.ee, but others are not so fortunate.

An urgent request has been made to the Railway Department to meet the emergency, and every available truck is being placed at the disposal of the factories. The department is confident that it can cope with the situation. Trucks will be made available to those factories such as the East Tamaki Dairy Company, which normally deliver their butter to the stores bv road. One departmental officer said last night that past experience had shown that these trucks could hold butter without deterioration for fiv n days. The men have taken this stand against the advice of the executive of the union. They were addressed on Monday afternoon by a representative of the Labour Department, who urged them to reconsider their decision. However, the matter was not discussed by the meeting as it was ruled that, the gathering was not a properly constituted meeting within the rules of the union. It is alleged that a Communist faction whhin the union has been active in influencing the men in their proposed action. , Serious View Taken

A serious view of the situation is taken by Mr A. J. Sinclair, the secretax-y-manager of the Te Awamutu Co-operative Dairy Company and a member of the New Zealand Dairy Board. Mr Sinclair said that the co-operation of the Railway Department was appreciated, but there was a danger that the butter would deteriorate. If it did the companies which were compelled to use insulated trucks would face a loss on their product. He pointed out, however, that the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Company had taken the only possible stand. If agreements were not honoured there would soon be industrial chaos.

Urgent representations from a number of dairy factory managers have been made to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Cullen. The Minister left Wellington yesterday for Hawke’s Bay, and the problem has been referred to the Minister of Labour. Mr McLagan. The Secretary of Labour, Mr H. L. Bockett, said last night that a meeting had been held today between officers of his department and representatives of the Freezing Workers’ Union. An endeavour was being made to persuade members of the union to work next Wednesday, but no decision had yet been reached.