250 Sacked At Westfield Works

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31016, 23 March 1966, Page 1

250 Sacked At Westfield Works

(New Zealand Prete AMoeiation)

AUCKLAND, March 22.

A stop-work meeting of 1400 freezing workers will be called at Westfield tomorrow morning, after the walk-out on Monday of 16 beef butchers, and the dismissal of more than 250 freezing workers.

The general manager of the Westfield Freezing Co., Mr J. A. Holland, said the 250 men had been dismissed because the walk-out of the beef butchers left the other workers with nothing to do.

The beef butchers, also known as beef dressers, were demanding increased safety measures in the operation of the new rail dressing plant which began two months ago. The company agreed to the installation of the safety measures, but the butchers refused to kill beef cattle at more than 70 an hour until the measures were in place. When the company demanded a normal killing rate of 100 cattle an hour, the butchers walked off the job, and did not return today.

Mr Holland said the 250 dismissed men were boners, knifemen, offalmen and labourers. Their employment was entirely dependent on the operation of the rail

dressing plant by the 16 beef dressers.

The men not working today normally killed 750 beef cattle a day, and represented about one-sixth of the company’s staff at Westfield, said Mr Holland.

Union Support

The walk-out of the beef butchers had the full support of the Auckland Freezing Workers’ Union, said the union secretary, Mr T. P. Kelly.

“The beef butchers were definitely working under unsafe conditions,” said Mr Kelly, “and there was nearly a serious accident on Monday. “We believe we were absolutely correct in advising them to kill no more than 70 an hour until the safety factors were improved.” Mr Kelly said the mass dismissal of workers because another section of a plant was was unproductive was unusual. Such men were normally informed that no work was available, but were not dismissed, given holiday pay, |or asked to hand in their , equipment, as the 250 men lat Westfield had been.