DISMISSALS “NOT FULLY JUSTIFIED”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31306, 28 February 1967, Page 1

DISMISSALS “NOT FULLY JUSTIFIED”

(New Zealand Press Association)

The dismissal of eight chamberhands at the Otahuhu works of R. and W. Hellaby, Ltd., which led to a strike by 6600 freezing workers, was not fully justified, says a decision announced today by the Freezing Industry Disputes Committee which heard the case in Auckland on Saturday.

In its decision the committee said it was not established beyond any doubt that permission to finish early could not have been reasonably inferred by the eight men concerned.

Accordingly, in the opinion of the committee, the dismissals were not fully justified.

The employers’ representative on the committee, Mr L. W. Lane, in a comment on the decision, said: “1 am of the opinion that this decision should have included a recommendation that the men concerned be employed in some other department.” On Stand-by

After the decision was announced a joint statement from the parties concerned said that the eight men would remain on stand-by, as at present, until arrangements were made for their return to work through consultations between the union officials and the employer’s representative.

These would take place tomorrow.

Next Thursday and Friday the committee will investigate industrial relations at Hellabys. This investigation was requested by the Federation of Labour and the Auckland Freezing Workers’ Union when negotiations to settle the dispute were going on.

AUCKLAND, February 27.

The committee consists of Mr C. M. Benney, former Un-der-Secretary of Mines, Mr F. Barnard, the union’s president, and Mr Lane. The employer claimed that the eight men finished work early without permission. The union argued that the men did have permission and that their dismissal was unjustified.