Strike call defied by Canty meat workers

Press, 3 June 1983, Page 1

Strike call defied by Canty meat workers

Industrial reporter Meat workers at four Canterbury freezing works have voted by secret ballot to defy their union management committee’s directive to strike on Tuesday in support of the Federation of Labour campaign for a $2O a week wage rise.

They are the Pareora, Belfast, and Canterbury works of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, and the N.C.F. Kaiapoi works.

However, the workers at the Canterbury works, at Belfast near Christchurch, voted instead to strike today. No ballot was held at the Fairton works, near Ashburton, because the season has already finished and only the freezer hands and a few others are left.

The national secretary of the Meat Workers’ Union, Mr A. J. Kennedy, had no comment when asked about the ballots. Asked if he knew of any other works which had voted against Tuesday’s strike, he said that he had not heard of any, but that the works in the big West Coast North Island (including Wellington) branch would observe the call from the national management committee to strike on Tuesday. Workers at the Islington works of Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating will also strike on Tuesday. It is thought that although the workers at the four works in Canterbury voted against observing the directive to strike on Tuesday, they are sympathetic to the reason for the call to strike.

The Press Association reports from Timaru that the majority of Pareora workers felt that a strike would not have the desired effect of breaking the wage freeze, according to the subbranch secretary, Mr B. J. Dorgan. “At the same time, they were very critical of the ineffectiveness of the Government in implementing a farcical price freeze,” said Mr Dorgan. Belfast beef plant freezing workers might have been influenced in their decision by the difficulties which the plant has faced in recent years with the falloff in beef stock numbers. The workers have had to take a but in bonus payments, and redundancies.

Workers at N.C.F. Kaiapoi are not noted for their militancy. Many of them live in the area with their families, and some are farmers or farmers’ sons. In other industries in Canterbury, the F.O.L. campaign is only just starting. Most unions are leaving decisions on action to their members on each site. . One union secretary said that Canterbury and the South Island had been hit hard by unemployment and the downturn in the economy. Many workers felt that it would only make

matters worse for themselves if they took industrial action.

Most workers are prepared to endorse verbally the F.O.L. resolution passed at its annual conference in May, but there are mixed views about taking any form of industrial action that will deprive them of payThe secretary of the Canterbury Carpenters’ Union, Mr Jack Clough, said that job meetings were still being held, but it was becoming apparent that various types of action would be taken on some sites, while on others there would be none.

Any action taken would be because the workers realised that if they took no action the Government would “keep on bashing them.”

“They have been hit by the actions of this Government and they know what it’s all about,” he said. The Labourers’ Union has lodged claims with all employer bodies in Canterbury; and the Canterbury subbranch secretary of the union, Mr R. A. Lowe, said that a number had replied that they were willing to discuss the claims. “I believe it’s because they are sympathetic to the plight of the lower-paid workers which this union represents,” said Mr Lowe. The secretary of the Canterbury branch of the Engineers’ Union, Mr R. J. Todd, said that it would be “a week or so” before any indication could be gained of the type of action which would be taken by members of the union, which is the biggest union affiliated to the F.O.L. The union has sent each member a letter explaining the reasons for the campaign, and the union is now organising site meetings.