UNIONS PROTEST AT RELIGION IN ADVT.

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30481, 1 July 1964, Page 6

UNIONS PROTEST AT RELIGION IN ADVT.

“The Press” Special Service DUNEDIN, June 30.

The Otago Trades Council has protested against “what appears to be a means of discrimination on religious grounds” in an advertisement for apprentices for the South Otago Freezing Company. The council’s secretary (Mr W. C. McDonnell said the advertisement called applications for apprenticeships with the company for electricians and carpenters. In the information required from applicants was “church affiliation” and a testimonial from a minister of religion, he said.

“The Otago Trades Council has pointed out that a person is surely entitled to practise his religion or not to practise any without endangering his right to employment,” Mr McDonnell said.

Such a departure would be “dangerous not only to the well-being of the individual but also to the nation,” he said.

The council had sent a letter to the company, but it had not been answered.

The general manager of the company (Mr A. C. Stewart) said the board of directors had considered the letter and a reply was being sent to the council.

“The company has found from experience that lads with a Christian upbringing are more stable in character and accept the disciplines of apprenticeship much more readily than lads without this kind of training," Mr Stewart said.

No discrimination against any branch of religion or anyone who was not religious was intended by the advertisement Mr Stewart said.