The Press THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1961. Idle Freezing Works

Press, Volume C, Issue 29702, 21 December 1961, Page 14

The Press THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1961. Idle Freezing Works

By taking a fortnight’s holiday at the peak of the killing season Canterbury freezing-workers are again damaging the national economy at a time when New Zealand can ill afford the loss. They should at least be willing to minimise the damage by allowing those of their number willing to work to load out meat fcr export, and so avoid the costly delay to four overseas ships. Presumably some would be willing to work, because it is hard to believe that all members of the union are so prosperous that they can afford to do without the money, particularly since employment prospects for the off-season are less attractive than they have been for several years. If the union persists in the loading-out ban it will do more than add to the

national freight bill. The union will also add to the ill-feeling caused by the closing of the works for a fortnight when drought is increasing the number of stock to be killed. Freezingworkers cannot be sure that they will always have the whip-hand over their employers, the farmers, and the people of New Zealand generally. The time may come, as it has come for other unions, when they will want the goodwill of other sections of the community, some of which work cheerfully not only between Christmas and New Year but sometimes on those days to meet the public’s convenience. Ordinary wage-earners (including the watersiders who will be denied work next week if there is no meat to load) may begin to wonder why freezing-workers should be such a privileged group.