Pelt machine pact ‘urgent’

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 7

Pelt machine pact ‘urgent’

PA Auckland The Auckland Freezing Workers’ Union predicts serious problems in the approaching killing season unless a national agreement relating to new technology in the freezing industry is reached quickly. The union’s president, Mr Frank Barnard, said “If something is not done soon we will have serious problems. “We still want a national agreement, otherwise some companies will be quite prepared to put in (automatic pelting) machines and say to us, ‘Here it is, now work it’.

“To avoid trouble we are saying that it is imperative that unions and the companies get together and make an agreement,” he said.

At least four plants are believed to be planning to install automatic pelting machines for the new season, which is little more than a month away. No agreement to cover their use has been made with unions, after the collapse in April of a joint

industry consultative commitee that had been meeting for two years. The national secretary of the Meat Workers’ Union, Mr A. J. Kennedy, echoed Mr Barnard’s call for urgent talks. He said that he had raised the matter this week with the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Maclntyre, and was awaiting a reply. Three Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating plants — at Nelson, Blenheim, and Wairoa — are expected to be using pelting machines this season.

One is being tested at Nelson and others are expected to be ready for trials soon at the Blenheim and Wairoa works. It is believed the Westfield freezing works in Auckland is testing a machine and expects to take delivery of it soon. The Westfield general manager, Mr G. T. Taylor, declined to comment on that possibility, saying, “We want to keep the whole thing low-key at this stage.” Mr Taylor said the company was keen to see a national agreement signed.