THE PRESS FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1980. Trans-Tasman industrial knot

Press, 15 August 1980, Page 12

THE PRESS FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1980. Trans-Tasman industrial knot

New Zealand meat exporters must have felt that they were attempting to swim through treacle as they tried in the last two days to isolate the real point at issue in the freezing workers’ ban on meat exports, and as they groped for an idea of how negotiations might be held with the Meat Workers’ Union. The union claimed that the ban was a show" of solidarity with Australian meat workers - who have been attempting to stop the export of live i sheep from Australia, arid a show of solidarity with Australian workers facing court charges after incidents in which attempts were made to stop live sheep going on board a ship in Victoria. Reports from Australia late yesterday suggested that the court charges may be dropped and that New Zealand unionists are being told their support is no longer necessary.

• The links between events in Australia and the widespread industrial action at New Zealand meat works were tenuous, to say the least. Thomas Borthwick and Sons, Ltd, the firm which was the target for industrial action in Australia, claims that it does not itself export live sheep. Borthwicks has a plant at Portland, the port that other companies are using to ■ export sheep. Carriers who broke through a picket line at Portland last Sunday, were “blacked” by the Australian Meat Workers’ Union. Borthwicks’ operations were upset by the ban and the firm took legal action.

The New Zealand unionists claimed their iritehtion was to bring pressure on Borthwicks in -New Zealand to Influence events in Victoria, ; even though the .onlyTink between the firm’s operations op . either side of . the Tasman ,is through 1 the company’s'head office in London. The New Zealand union did not confine, its action to .Borthwicks’ plants .in New .Zealand,, but acted against all meat exports because; it said, some of Borthwicks’ stock was processed ; by other companies and it would not be possible to identify them. Because of aj meat workers’ ban imposed some years ago, no firm in New Zealand exports live sheep, a field in which .Australia has. built up a lucrative trade.

Amid this confusion, it is small wonder that the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, described the ban as “unquestionably the stupidest strike we have ever, had.” The Freezing Companies Association and farmers’ representatives expressed dismay at the ban,, but because there was no action which cotilcF'be taken ‘by the New Zealand Government, or freezing companies, or otlier groups here, to influence events in Australia, there appeared to be no way in which settlement could be negotiated to the ban on loading out in New Zealand. Under the Commerce Amendment Act in New Zealand it can be an offence to strike on a matter •which employers and unions do not have the power to settle by agreement between - them. The act has not been invoked, but if the bam had continued pressure would have grown for legal action to be taken against the New Zealand'union.

. If other reasons for the New. Zealand ban are sought, the Commerce Amendment Act provides a clue to union, thinking.here. The act.is resented and similar legislation in Australia, including that used by Borthwicks in an attempt to have the black ban lifted, is also resented by The live sheep incident last Sunday provided an

excuse for a show of trans-Tasman solidarity against what some unions would regard as “repressive legislation.”

For the union, the timing of the action had its attractions. The New Zealand meat workers’ award goes to conciliation next month. This incident gave an opportunity for a display of union strength after a year in which the meat industry has been relatively free from damaging industrial action; A ban now, with the prospect of union members being laid off while it continued, had the attraction that because of the seasonal lull at the freezing works, relatively few’ workers would be affected. The possible impact on the meat companies was still considerable. Although there is a lull in killing, loading out of export meat from stores is normally a round-the-year operation.

The secretary of the New Zealand union, Mr A. J. Kennedy, suggested that the incident in Victoria provided an opportunity for a display of union solidarity against “multi-national companies and profits,”, surely a curious argument for a. union official-whose members depend on those profits for their wages and their jobs.’ More generally, it- has been suggested that the occasion had value to the New Zealand unionists because .it allowed them to show sympathy with Australian unionists. In return, in the future, New Zealand unionists might be seeking Australian union support in such matters as 4 resistance to technical innovation in the meat industry and elsewhere.

The bah on loading out overshadowed a smaller dispute which interrupted meat exports from New Zealand. Members of the Seamen’s Union had ben picketing a ship loading meat for Iran at Bluff as a protest against the failure to use more New Zealand ships and seamen to move meat to the Middle East. Australian and New Zealand seamen have a common interest in attempting, to maintain, jobs for themselves in international trade. They may also be facing a common threat to introduce crews from elsewhere on ships carrying cargo across the Tasman Sea.

; . New Zealand unionists looking for allies have turned to Australia before. The- temporary ban on meat loading suggests New Zealanders hope to establish “credit” with their Australian counterparts by a show of sympathetic ■ strength. This attitude might not be confined to the meat workers, especially if moves towards more economic cooperation between the tw'o countries make progress.

Consideration of the more general matters which might have been behind the meat workers’ action does little to help ensure that exports will be kept moving. The community can only hope that, having made their point, at least to their own satisfaction, the meat workers retrain from further actions on which no-one has the power to negotiate. The events of the last two days hardly inspire confidence in the responsibility of the meat workers, or of their union leaders, in their attitude to the season ahead. The “stupidest strike” cast a long shadow over the meat industry’s outlook. After what can be rated as a good season on the industrial front, it is to be hoped that the fuss in the last two days is not a foretaste of coming months in the meat works.