Parties Agree To Attend Conference On Dispute

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29107, 20 January 1960, Page 16

Parties Agree To Attend Conference On Dispute

(New Zeaiana Press Association)

WELLINGTON, January 19.

All the parties invited to the compulsory conference on the New Zealand freezing works’ dispute to be held in Wellington on Thursday will attend.

The talks have been called at the direction of the Minister of Labour (Mr Hackett) as the result of the freezing workers’ ban on overtime as a sequel to the ruling of the Arbitration Court that cost-of-living bonuses should not be incorporated in basic rates of pay.

The parties concerned are the freezing workers, the freezing companies, the Employers’ Federation and the Feneration of Labour.

The Secretary of Labour (Mr H. L. Bockett), who will preside at the conference, said there was no time restriction on the talks. “We expect to stay there as long as negotiations continue.” he said tonight.

of Labour (Mr F. P. Walsh) said he would attend, but he added that he considered the Minister’s intervention unnecessary. “I think the companies would have come to a meeting without it,” he said.

The secretary of the New Zealand Freezing Companies Industrial Union of Employers (Mr J. B. Walton) would not comment beyond saying: “Our attendance is subject only to the overtime ban being lifted and the possibility of our representatives being able to get here on time at such short notice.” Mr P. J. Luxford, secretary ot the Employers’ Federation, who will be present, would not comment

Mr S. Arnst, secretary of the Freezing Workers' Association, said the workers would not, “in the meantime,” apply the ban on overtime due to start at 5 p.m. today. “We will attend the meeting, but I don't feel happy about the Minister’s intervention,” he said “The Federation of Labour twice asked the employers to meet us and we were always ready to meet them. “I don’t like the idea of compulsion if only in the interest of harmony in the industry.” The president of the Federation