Oyster perk — for private pleasure or profit?

Press, 17 March 1977, Page 7

Oyster perk — for private pleasure or profit?

By

GLENN HASZARD

Bluff oysters are escaping death through dredging by the deadlock between the Oyster Boat Owners’ Association and the Bluff Oystermen’s Society. The oystermen go to sea in all sorts of weather to dredge in Foveaux Strait. The oysters are then brought to the wharves at Bluff and transferred by the sack to the shore, where they are processed or distributed to retailers. One of the effects of the prolonged dispute is that oyster openers and others in the processing plants are having to wait until the dis-

puts ends before they can 1 earn money (as they are paid < by the dozen that they open) but many have already been i taken on. When the oysters < start coming it, they will be I faced with a larger-than- < normal intake. I Consumers are being de- 1 prived of the oysters which ' are normally available at this 1 time of the year. Last year, ' they sold for about 85c a 1 dozen retail. The crux of the present 1 dispute is disagreement about how many oysters the I oystermen should get as 1 “perks.” 1 The present agreement ' says that “each man shall be ■ entitled to open alongside ' the wharf a reasonable feed

for his home consumption only.” It is more like a gentlemen’s agreement than a legal contract, though the legality of the three-page document has never been tested. It is not a registered award or collective agreement under the terms of the Industrial Relations Act, and neither the boat owners nor the oystermen are registered under the act as employers or employees. Oystermen have been getting half a sack a week and are now pressing to have more in the quota. The boat owners say that even half a sack (35 dozen oysters) would be more than enough for home consumption for one family in a week. According to the secretary of the Oyster Boat Owners’ Association (Mr M. W. Christie), the clause in the agreement has been i n existence for several years, but in the last few years has been abused by some of the oystermen. It has been reported that the activity has become an organised business running on both a house-to-house and retail basis. One shop in Invercargill is reported to sell only oysters from the oystermen.

One source in Invercargill said that instead of taking half a sack a week, oystermen in some boats were taking half a sack a night each, which amounted to a loss of about 12 sacks a week for the owners.

The workers have even been selling oysters in Christchurch and the North Island. “We have tried to stop it by getting the police and even security men to keep a watch, but there has always been the problem of identifying the product as a stolen oyster. An opened oyster is an opened oyster — they all look the same,” Mr Christie said. The men were not taking extra oysters because of financial hardship. They were doing it because they could earn big money. The oystermen are paid $1.27 a sack of oysters. Each sack weighs 79kg when full. The Marine Division has limited the catch of each boat to 5000 sacks a season (March 1 to August 31) with a daily maximum of 85 sacks. There are 23 dyster boats, with an average of five oystermen per boat. In an average week, an oysterman would earn about $254 gross, but can earn up to $431 a week gross. The length of the week is usually four days. Of course, the season is limited to six months a year. The oystermen formerly belonged to the Seamen’s Union, but about six years ago formed their own society.

The society says that only a minority have breached the agreement and that it is doing everything it can to stop the abuse.