Another meat strike imminent

Press, 29 November 1979, Page 3

Another meat strike imminent

Christchurch meat in-1 spectors have voted to stopi work if the State Services! Commission imposes a new! wages benchmark on the i country's inspectors, who! are employed by the Minis- j try of Agriculture. Inspectors throughout | New Zealand will vote in the next few days so that their Public Service Association negotiators can gauge! their support when talks | with the commission resume i next week. About 140 Christchurch | meat inspectors met yester- i day and protested strongly! about the action of the commission in taking three months to consider their group claims before informing the P.S.A. that it wanted to establish a new benchmark or relativity within the industry. The Christchurch inspectors voted to stop work if called upon should the commission insist on the new benchmark. Meat inspectors have traditionally been aligned with meat graders, but the commission now wants to align their pay rates with quality controllers. The P.S.A. fears that this would be to the disadvantage of the inspectors. The Canterbury’ regional secretary’ of the P.S.A. (Mr J. M. McKenzie) said that the commission was using the State Services Conditions of Employment Act, 1977, for “strategic procrastination.”

However, the commission sees things in a different light. Mr H. Philbert, senior advisory officer in the commission, agreed that the traditional link was with salaried graders. He said that when the P.S.A. lodged the inspectors’ claims the commission made a tour of inspection which revealed that the existing linkage between meat inspectors and graders was not necessarily the most appropriate. I The commission has therefore offered to allow , a I movement of meat inspectors’ wages in line with [graders this year if the 'P.S.A. agrees to a joint review of the linkage next year.

| Mr Philbert said the P.S.A. I was actually seeking to I widen the margin that inspectors had over graders, thereby’ varying the traditional relativity. Benchmarks were not fixed, they were dynamic, he said.