Higher Wage Claims By Freezing Unions

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32381, 21 August 1970, Page 12

Higher Wage Claims By Freezing Unions

(By Our Industrial Reporter)

Wage claims of up to $1.82 an hour were presented to freezing companies this week by representatives of six trades men’s groups. In the case of painters, the claim amounted to 49c an hour above the recently-negotiated national award.

Horrified by the size of the claims, the companies repeated a proposal first made on July 22 that the unions should present “concrete propositions” for a composite award or agreement. The employers declined to negotiate on any other basis.

This eould lead to a deadlock and to widespread stoppages of whole freezing works The unions consider a composite award to be impracticable, and they see the employers’ reply as an outright rejection of their claims. For their part, the union leaders appear anxious to avoid a direct confrontation, and it is likely that their claims will be modified at a combined union meeting next week, probably on Tuesday. The national secretaries of two of these unions told "The Press” yesterday that they would try to initiate another round of talks with the employers.

But the employers seem determined to hold freezing works’ tradesmen’s rates close to national award rates, and unless they in turn are prepared to modify their ideas and enter practical negotiations. the North Island bobby calf season appears certain t» be badly disrupted. Substantia! Margin

Until late last year, the freezing companies' awards provided their tradesmen with a substantial margin—mostly

27 per cent—above the national awards, to compensate for the difference between those national awards and the actual rates of pay in other industries.

Since then, agreements between the freezing companies and their tradesmen have contained provisions that as nding rates came to be written into national awards, these freezing industry margins would be largely or completely eliminated. The union leaders say that the new awards—such as the contractors’ electricians’

! award—certainly incorporate , ruling rates, but that these ' rates are national averages ' and not the top figures being i paid in the main centres. As an example of this, the ’ new national rate for a reg- ; istered electrician is $1.40, but electricians employed by one ' large firm in Wellington are , about to go on to $1.61. Further to this, the union ■ leaders say that tradesmen employed at freezing works have two grounds for claim- ' ing extra payment One Is that the work is often done in unusually unattractive conditions, and the other that the maintenance staff need a margin to reduce the gap between their wages and the high incentive payments to piece-rate freezing workers. The present union claims represent about 20c an hour above the top pay for electricians in other industries, perhaps 30c an hour above the top pay for Carpenters and locomotive drivers, and probably 35c above the top rate for painters. Leaders of the tradesmen's unions agree that these claims are wildly optimistic, and one of them remarked that the employers would have to be crazy to meet them. On the other hand, the employers would appear most unwise to persist in not mak ing some sort of a counter offer. The reason for this is —as the employers know—that there is considerable

pressure on the union leaders from some of their rank and file, especially in the Auckland district Unsigned Circulars Unsigned circulars from a militant element in Auckland have been circulated through freezing works throughout the .country, calling for a minimum of $1.68 an hour for unqualified maintenance men and correspondingly more for tradesmen. In response to these circulars, stop-work meetings have been held in a number of freezing works and telegrams have been sent from these meetings criticising the union leaders.

Unless further negotiations result in an offer from the employers, the union leaders would seem to have little chance of preventing direct action in individual works and may well be forced to call for action on a union basis.

Even when settlement is reached on increases for the freezing works tradesmen, the employers will still have to face further claims —this time from their slaughtermen, boning room hands, chamber hands and general labourers. National representatives of the freezing workers’ unions gave notice last week of their intention to seek increases, and are expected to lodge definite claims within the next month.