Oyster-Openers Come Under First Award

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31295, 15 February 1967, Page 8

Oyster-Openers Come Under First Award

Canterbury oyster-openers have come under an industrial award. It is their first.

According to the newlyformed Canterbury Oyster Workers’ Union’s secretary (Mr L. Lee) the new award will enable the best oysteropeners to earn from £5O to £7O a week, with overtime.

A top-class oyster-opener would open 2000 dozen oysters a week, Mr Lee said. The award would give the openers a guaranteed wage of £l4 a week, and a bonus rate of 4d a dozen for oysters opened—an increase of jd a dozen. Shed hands would receive a guaranteed wage of £l5 Ils 8d a week.

Mr Lee said that for many years some oyster-workers in Canterbury had been working in sub-standard conditions in small cramped backyard sheds or premises not designed for their occupation. They also had had to work into late Saturday and in some cases on Sunday at ordinary rates of pay. Now an award had been agreed to in conciliation and only remained to be ratified. The conditions included an eight-hour day, 40-hour week, Monday to Friday, time and a half for Saturday morning and double time for Saturday afternoon, Sundays and holidays. The award will come into force tomorrow and expire on December 31, 1967. It was proposed that the oyster workers’ award be renegotiated before each oyster, working season in future.

The new union elected the following officers: President, Mr L. Kendricks; vicepresident, Mr E. Sutton; exe-

cutive, Messrs D. Wilson, A Thomas, B. Shutt, N. Clarke, R. Johnston, S. Rollerston, and C. Goslin. Mr L. Lee was appointed union secretary. The office of the new union will be in the Trades Hall.