Union Wants Safer Farm Tractors

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 12

Union Wants Safer Farm Tractors

The South Island branch of the New Zealand Workers’ Union yesterday asked the Opposition member of Parliament for Riccarton (Mr M. A. Connelly) to sponsor a private bill in the House of Representatives requiring owners of wheeled tractors to fit approved safety cab-frame devices. “I have told the union that I will consider doing that,” said Mr Connelly, when questioned.

The secretary of the branch (Mr W. A. Dempster) yesterday said: “We want action. If we can’t get action through Parliament, we will go further. We will call our farm workers throughout New Zealand to refuse to drive wheeled tractors that are not fitted with safety cab devices Roughly we would call on about 60,000 "agricultural workers in New Zealand.” Mr Dempster said that the union viewed the need for

sa.'et.y devices on wheeled tractors so. seriously that it was now putting the whole issue to tile Canterbury district council of the Federation of Labour with the request that action be taken by the national council of the federation. To the best of his knowledge, said Mr Dempster, there had been about eight deaths in January from tractor accidents. From January, 1949, to December, 1962, there had been 299 fatal tractor accidents on New Zealand farms.

Mr Connelly sadd that, in spite of all the publicity that had been given in the newspapers to tractor accidents, there was probably a record number of fatal tractor accidents last year. “This shows that publicity is not working,” he said. “Something else must be done.”