Gear rejects F.O.L. call to reopen

Press, 21 November 1981, Page 2

Gear rejects F.O.L. call to reopen

PA Wellington . The board of the Gear Meat Company has reconfirmed its decision not to reopen ,its. Petone works in a letter yesterday to the Federation of Labour from the secretary of the board, Mr P. B. Smith. In the letter, Mr Smith advised the F.0.L.: “After much thought and deliberation the board asks that I advise that its orginal decision not to reopen the Petone plant has been confirmed.” He said the board had appreciated the sincerity of the F.O.L.’s approach at a meeting on Thursday seeking a reprieve for the works. ■ “It is with regret that this difficult decision had to be made,” Mr Smith said. A company spokesman said that efforts to find work for the staff affected by the closing were going ahead satisfactorily. “Of the staff employed as ; of last week, more than half /have already been offered ijob interviews and we are all • working to make sure every- ’ one is placed as soon as possible,” he said.

Reaction by the Meat Workers’ Union over the confirmed Gear shutdown was to call a special meeting of its national executive in Christchurch next week, probably on Wednesday. The union’s national secretary, Mr A. J. Kennedy, called the board’s decision “despicable.” “The board’s decision is looked at very seriously by our own people and will be treated very seriously by them,” Mr Kennedy said. Speaking in Christchurch, Mr Kennedy said the Gear board had .“scandalised and denigrated” the meat workers by "pulling the carpet from under them without notice.” According to the meeting of former workers he had attended at Taita on Thursday, Mr Kennedy said the Hawke’s Bay Farmers Freezing Company had given an assurance as late as November 13 that G?ar would not close. , r; • ■ . “Yet they pulled the car-' pet out on Monday. That is exactly what happened at Southdown — throwing

people on the scrapheap just before Christmas. That is a most ’ despicable thing for those people to do,” Mr Kennedy said. The president of the F.0.L., Mr W. J. Knox, said yesterday that future moves were over to the Meat Workers’ Union. The F.O.L. had acted in an . advisory capacity. “We are not handling the dispute, and it is over to the freezing workers now to take whatever action they think is necessary to defend the right of employment for their members, particularly those who are not to get redundancy pay,” he said. Mr Knox said he was very disappointed about the board’s decision. "I think the company could have had another look, and. based on the experience of Southdown, it could have responded,” he said. So far 150 staff have been paid off, and of those about 80 have had, ..or have ranged, jot) interviews in (he, ; Wellington:' areia. “ About 50 employees were still in their jobs at Gear yesterday. . '