Ban on N.Z. ‘scabs’ sought

Press, 14 June 1983, Page 2

Ban on N.Z. ‘scabs’ sought

NZPA Sydney The New South Wales Australian Labour Party annual state conference yesterday called on the Federal Government to issue work permits to New Zealanders' to halt “scabbing” in the pastoral industries. The Australian Workers Union, which moved the motion, said Australia had become a dumping ground for “scabs” from New Zealand and other countries. The motion follows bitterness and sometimes violence in the shearing industry during recent months because of the dispute over wide combs. In moving the motion, the A.W.U. secretary, Mr Ernie Ecob, said work permits should be issued because of the influx of New Zealanders into the country and the subsequent breaking down in wage and working conditions in the shearing, cotton, and building industries. He said that in recent months hundreds of New Zealanders, had come into New South Wales and had taken the jobs of state pastoral workers. Employers were advertising for workers in New Zealand newspapers saying they could get better wages in Australia and police protection from the union movement, he said. Mr Ecob said New Zealand “scabs” were accepting inferior living conditions and living in wool sheds and filthy catching pens.