Easter Meat Supplies Threatened By Strike

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31028, 6 April 1966, Page 1

Easter Meat Supplies Threatened By Strike

Normal supplies of beef and pork to Christchurch butchers will be cut by about 80 per cent, and mutton and lamb by 50 per cent, by a strike over pay rates that began at the Christchurch city abattoirs yesterday morning.

Killing is not expected to resume before next Tuesday morning at the earliest.

The strike is expected to cause serious meat shortages for the Christchurch public early next week and possibly late this week unless supplies can be obtained from other sources or unless butchers kill their own meat.

The abattoirs over the last two years i have lost £24.000. This year the losses have been reduced by increased killing fees. The 115 slaughtermen andi labourers employed at the) abattoirs began their strike after a meeting at 8 a.m. yes-1 terday. The fantastic pay claims of] the abattoirs section of thej Canterbury Freezing Workers’; Union would not be met by[ the abattoirs company, even if it meant that the abattoirs never started work again, said the company’s managing director (Mr J. H. Sproston) yesterday. Mutton slaughtermen who were at present earning £32 for a 32-hour week, he said, were seeking a pay rise of £1 a day. The abattoirs section of the Union decided at yesterday’s meeting not to report back till 8 am. next Tuesday, but would not necessarily start work then, said Mr Sproston Appeal To Minister Yesterday Mr Sproston sent j a telegram to the Minister of! Labour (Mr Shand) saying that freezing workers' union representatives had announ ced to freezing companies their intention to prevent supplies of meat to retailers to make up for that previously killed at the Christchurch abattoirs. Mr Sproston told Mr Shand tha* the Christchurch public would be unable to purchase their meat requirements for the coming Easter period “owing to the illegal act ofi abattoir workers.”

Mr Sproston “strongly and urgently" requested that the Labour Department invoke section 126 of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act and proceed against every striker for the maximum penalty under this act. The public of Christchurch, said Mr Sproston, would be the real losers. The striking workers would lose only three days' pay if they returned to work on Tuesday morning after the Easter holi-

day break. But the public would have their entire Easter meat supply disrupted unless alternatives could be found. Earnings The average earnings of pig slaughtermen at the abattoirs, he said, were about £35 fo™ a 32-hour week. The average earnings of beef and mutton slaughtermen were from £3O to £32 for a 32-hour week. Mr Sproston said that a conciliation council meeting over pay rates held in Christ church on Monday before the South Island Conciliation Commissioner (Mr S. W. Armstrong) failed to reach any agreement. Mr Armstrong adjourned the council sine die. “The correct procedure, of course, from that point is to go to the Arbitration Court,” said Mr Sproston. “We (the employers) were quite happy to do this. It is the law, anyhow. Our workers don’t recognise the law’. They went on strike. “Intimidation” “In my opinion, the onlylanguage they know is the language of intimidation. Although we have had an easy time these last few months, 1 think it (the abattoirs) has been the biggest hotbed of industrial trouble in New Zealand.”

“We rejected their claims because we feel the peg has to be put in,” said the company’s assistant managing director (Mr K. Churchward). “The escalation of wages has been ridiculous. “We can’t agree to an increase in wages to increase losses —that is what it boils down to—especially when the workers are being paid what they are.” Mr Churchward and the abattoirs manager (Mr L. Neale) were the company’s representatives in conciliation council.

Mr Churchward said that most of the abattoirs slaughtermen were getting more pay than Mr Neale. But now the union was asking for all weekly rates to be increased

by £1 a week and for all beef classifications to be increased by a further £2 a week. Union Reply The secretary of the Canterbury Freezing Workers’ Union (Mr S. Arnst) said that Mr Sproston talked of intimidation. “But it is quite obvious to anybody who is endeavouring to do the intimidation when Mr Sproston asks for penalties and clauses to be invoked against the workers,” said Mr Arnst. “As far as we are concerned. the employers never endeavoured to negotiate. They just said there would be no wage increases. They wanted the present award to run, exactly the same, for another 12 months. This is a complete break from previous methods of negotiations with the abattoirs company." Mr Arnst said that the size of claims was merely a subject for negotiation. This applied to both employers’ and employees’ claims in any conciliation. Mr Arnst said that, in conciliation, Mr Churchward immediately told the union about the abattoirs’ losses, and said there were to be no wage increases whatever. “Workers Incensed” The workers, Mr Arnst said, were incensed by the action of the employers in not endeavouring to discuss the claims as submitted. Mr Arnst said that yesterday’s meeting of abattoir workers unanimously decided to go home and to report for a further meeting next Tuesday. The president of the Canterbury Meat Retailers’ Association (Mr B. M. Owens) yesterday said that he did not see any reason why the public should have to suffer so much inconvenience simply because unfair demands of the abattoir workers were refused in conciliation.

“We feel it is wrong when a union can intimidate other freezing companies into not supplying meat to the retail trade for distribution to the public,” said Mr Owens.

Mr Owens said that he hoped the Government would

take steps to rectify this seri- ’ ous situation. Stocks Of Meal I He said he thought that butchers were going to have difficulty in supplying sufficient meat for the Easter period and the following week. “I can’t really quote from day to day at this stage,” he said. “I don’t know how much meat various butchers had in store before the stoppage. It is very difficult to comment at this point.” Mr Owens said the strike would also inconvenience farmers and transport operators. It would have wide repercussions in many associated industries. At yesterday’s Addington stock sale buying for abattoirs killing was affected by the strike. Normally on a sale day, according to Mr Sproston, about 4000 sheep, 300 cattle, 400 pigs, and 100 calves are bought for killing at the abattoi ;. Cattle Prices Cattle prices at Addington yesterday were down £1 or 30s a head. When it became known that Associated Meat Buyers, Ltd., would not be bidding, a number of cattle were withdrawn from the sale. Butchers with holding pens near Christchurch made restricted purchases, but most butchers did not buy lamb, beef, or mutton.

Pig prices at Addington were down 4s. However, high export prices kept values from falling appreciably.