NON-UNION SHEARERS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29931, 19 September 1962, Page 14

NON-UNION SHEARERS

Warning To Farmers

If farmers continued to employ non-union shearers the New Zealand Workers’ Union would refer the question of handling and carting wool shorn by them to the Federation of Labour, said the national secretary of the union (Mr H. J. Allen) yesterday. “We are concerned at the prevalence of certain farmers employing non - union shearers,’’ Mr Allen said after a meeting of the combined executive of the Christchurch and Dunedin branches of the union. Last season, the South Island secretary of the union (Mr W. A. Dempster) said a farmer in the Marlborough district had employed nonunion shearers. Mr Dempster said at the time that if further instances of this occurred the union would ask the F.O.L. to declare offending farmers’ wool “black.” If this occurred, drivers and watersiders would refuse to handle the wool. Mr Allen said yesterday farmers had continued to use non-union shearers. He took the opportunity to advise farmers who did this in future that the matter would be referred to the F.0.L., and that the consequences could be serious for the farmers. Payment nt Shearers The union had also repeated complaints from shearers who had not received payment for shearing under contract. The award stated clearly that a farmer who employed a shearing contractor was responsible for seeing that the shearers were paid their wages. "The union on several occasions has had to put the matter in a lawyer’s hands before a contractor has paid money owing to shearers working for him,” said Mr Allen. “The award makes it very clear that the farmer has the first responsibility of paying the shearers. If he paid money to a contractor, who did not pass it on to the shearers, the farmer could be sued and have to pay out a double sum.”