FREEZING WORKS DISPUTE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21985, 8 January 1937, Page 10

FREEZING WORKS DISPUTE

MEN OFFER TO RETURN TO WORK DECISION OF MEETING OP UNION A decision to offer themselves for re-engagement was reached yesterday morning by the slaughtermen who were dismissed from the Belfast works of Thomas Borthwick and Sons after they had adopted go-slow tactics on Tuesday afternoon. There was a long discussion at a meeting of the Canterbury Freezing Workers’ Union at the Trades Hall yesterday, and it was decided to refer the matters in dispute to the disputes committee provided for in the award. The dispute has arisen from the method adopted at the works in the chain system of killing. In discounting any suggestion that the trouble might spread to other companies, the secretary of the union, Mr J. H. Kilpatrick, said yesterday that the dispute was purely a local one. “The same point does not arise in other works in Canterbury,” he added. "Although the general principle is the same, there are slight variations in the methods adopted by various companies, and this is the only case where there is a dispute.” Mr Kilpatrick said the men had offered to resume work on the normal basis, provided all of them were taken back on the job. The meeting was fully representative of the employees of Borthwicks, and the decision was taken after the men had heard a full report of the negotiations which had taken place in Wellington between representatives of the employers and of the workers. There had been a good deal of discontent in the industry, but the union considered a fair proposition had been placed before the company, which was acceptable to the men and would not be harmful to the company. “We have made a fair and honest offer to get back to the status quo,” Mr Kilpatrick added, "and we are perfectly willing to meet the employers and negotiate the points at issue. The company, however, has complicated the position by endeavoring to engage fresh labour while the matter is still in dispute.” - The men will present themselves at the works for re-engagement at 7.30 this morning. It was opt known last evening whether their offer would be accepted by the company.