Dairy Workers’ Union to present case

Press, 30 March 1985, Page 16

Dairy Workers’ Union to present case

PA Hamilton The Dairy Workers’ Union intends to present a case for a national technology agreement at a meeting with the Dairy Board next week. The union’s national secretary, Mr Bob McMillan, said the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company had already taken a leading role in technology talks. He said two Auckland branch officials of the union had joined company representatives on a tour of Australia recently.

Mr McMillan said the Manawatu Dairy Company had also promised talks with the union’s Palmerston

North based secretary. He said these initiatives were helpful to both parties. Mr McMillan said there had been a 7M. per cent reduction in industry staffing over the last year. He described last December’s troubled pay talks as the most complicated settlement the union had made. Mr McMillan said there was a prospect of further staffing reduction.

“It is still going on. Other companies have not yet gone through changes.” He said the union would press its case for a national agreement covering further technological changes at next week’s meeting with the board.

Late last year millions of litres of milk were spilt when dairy workers struck over a breakdown in award negotiations. The negotiations included a complicated job-evalua-tion exercise and ended with most workers receiving pay increases from 10 to 12 per cent, Mr McMillan said.