Aulsebrooks takes on schoolgirls before jobless

Press, 22 August 1978, Page 1

Aulsebrooks takes on schoolgirls before jobless

Schoolgirls who were taken on by Aulsebrooks, Ltd, at its Christchurch biscuit and confectionery factory yesterday should be sacked and replaced by registered unemployed, according to the Canterbury Trades Council.

It is believed that about 24 schoolgirls and female university students were employed by the company yesterday. The Trades Council will ask the company today to replace them with registered unemployed from the lists held by the Labour Department; and if the department cannot find enough workers the Trades Council would take it upon itself to find them. According to the managing director (Mr R. J. Binning) the company has orders especially for

Christmas tinned biscuits, but because a number of factory workers had left in the last few weeks the company had vacancies. The Labour Department was approached to fill the vacancies but was not able to keep up with demand, said Mr Binning. Therefore the company had taken on some schoolgirls and female university students. But according to the district superintendent of the department (Mr W. T. Holland) the department has filled the vacancies notified to it by the factory. Mr

Holland said that the department would be “quite happy” to send more from its list if requested. It was the prerogative of the employer to fill vaqancies from whichever source the employer chose, he said. “The Press” reported on Saturday that workers at Aulsebrooks were leaving for other jobs because of job insecurity. Unconfirmed reports were that 15 had left in the last two weeks. Mr Binning said yesterday that 48 had left in the last two weeks.

There have been no fresh developments in the fight by the Canterbury Trades Council to save the jobs of 250 Aulsebrooks workers whose jobs will be lost at the end of October. The council told the company last week that it had a prospective buyer for the 72 per cent of the shares of the holding company held by Food Holdings, Ltd, but declined to name the buyer. The chairman of directors of A.B. Consolidated, Ltd (Mr B. R. Judge) rejected the proposal.