STOP-WORK MEETING

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32164, 6 December 1969, Page 14

STOP-WORK MEETING

Workers Keep Allowance

A stop-work meeting which lasted most of yesterday morning won • continued concession for rubber workers employed by Skellerup Industries, Ltd. The meeting was held at the Canterbury Trades Hall and was attended by considerably more than SOO members of the Canterbury Rubber Workers’ Union from Skellerup’s and other Christchurch factories.

For the last 19 years rubber workers at Skellerup’s have been paid shift allowance and other allowances while on holiday. The company proposed to incorporate this with the holiday payment of average overtime, up to 30 per cent of the baric pay, which was recently negotiated by the Federation of Labour for all industrial unions.

The union members’ attitude was that this would reduce their pay in relation to that of other workers and that this would not have been foreseen or accepted by the federation at the time of the negotiations. The secretary of the union (Mr B. F. Dacre) said yesterday that under Instructions from hi* members he could not give any information to the press. Last evening, however, a company spokesman confirmed that Skellerup’* had at first decided to incorporate the previous holiday allowances with the 30 per cent overtime allowance, but had decided yesterday to pay both.