Cool store ban may stop butter

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33532, 13 May 1974, Page 2

Cool store ban may stop butter

WELLINGTON, May 12.

lhe Meat Workers’ Union, which has 15,000 members, would definitely refuse tomorrow to load out of freezing works any meat intended for cool stores manned by the 250 members of the Cool Store Workers’ Union, the secretary of the Meat Workers’ Union (Mr F. E. McNulty) said tonight.

The Secretarj - of the Cool Store Workers’ Union (Mr P. J. Mansor) said his union would not take any action until the meat workers began their ban.

“Frankly, we think they are calling everybody's bluff,” Mr Mansor said. Mr Mansor said any action his union took would affect every cool store south of the Auckland province. “We will regard an attack on one branch of our union as an attack on the whole union,” he said.

Mr Mansor said his union did not want to penalise housewives. “But if we have to, the ban will go on stores serving the local market as well,” he said. That would mean no butter or cheese would leave stores south of the Auckland province. “If the thing blows up

.then it is also possible some [members of the Storemen I and Packers’ Union might join us. At Napier they are very keen to help us, and lif they did that would stop any woo! leaving the wool I stores,” he said. I The situation is complicated |by the unusually large amount of meat in store at present. The Dairy Board appointee to the Meat Board (Mr F. L. Onion) last week said 40,000 tons more meat was in store at present than at the corresponding time last year. Mr McNulty said that the meat workers’ action would affect almost immediately coo! stores at Bluff and Timaru.

These stores feed the streamlined meat loaders installed at both ports, which in 1972 loaded 311,000 of the South Island’s 335,000 tons of meat exports. Because of the unusually high pressure on storage space, freezing workers are relying on high throughput

If the throughput is not maintained the freezing works could run out of storage, and thus have to cease killing.