Inter-union row: threats to ban hide deliveries

Press, 20 February 1979, Page 7

Inter-union row: threats to ban hide deliveries

A freezing works shutdown from Tuesday has been averted but the interunion row that led to threats io ban deliveries to hide stores is still on. Lnion coverage of hide store workers is at the centre of the argument between the meat workers’ and storemen and packers’ unions.

Meat workers threatened to ban hide stores run by Collier, Watson, Ltd. The storemen said they would retaliate by banning all hide deliveries. With nowhere to send hides, most freezing works and abattoirs in Wellington, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, and Manawatrj would have had to stop killing. The threat receded when the secretary of the Meat Workers’ Union’s Taranaki branch (Mr L. R. Potroz) said there was no ban.

It was only talked about. We are looking at other methods of taking action. There are two or three other options open,” he said.

Storemen and packers working in the Hawera store of Robert Hill and Son, Ltd, a Collier, Watson subsidiary, have Joined the Meat Workers’

Union and want to resign from the Storemen’s Union.

Mr Potroz said the six men involved were unhappy because their employer was still deducting dues for the Storemen and Packers’ Union.

The national secretary of the Storemen and Packers’ Federation (Mr P. J. Mansor) says the men were covered by the federation in the Wool, Grain, Hide, and Manure Store Workers’ Award. “If they want to fiddle about they can join the Musicians’ Union, too, but they are still covered by us,” he said. “If the meat workers think they have a case for legal coverage, they should take their case to the Arbitration Court under section 119 of the Industrial Relations Act.”

The argument is the latest outburst in an ongoing dispute between the two unions. They are still waiting for ' the recommendations of a mediator, Mr F. M. Gerbic, who chaired a compulsory conference in November after an argument over coverage of cool store workers at Timaru.