Meat workers’ talks break off

Press, 19 September 1985, Page 2

Meat workers’ talks break off

PA Auckland The meat workers’ award talks have broken up until the end of the month. The conciliator, Mr Len Fortune, said that he had adjourned the Auckland talks because he believed that the parties had gone as far as they could, and that they would would resume in Christchurch on September 30 and October 1. The union seeks a 30 per cent wage rise. Employers have offered a flat $2O a week, conditional on changes to shifts and the introduction of new technology. The secretary of the Meat Workers’ Union, Mr A. J. Kennedy, said that the em-

ployers’ latest offer would have meant a loss of up to $8 a day for slaughtermen. “It has been made very clear that the employers are acting in a cavalier attitude to our claims and we have said they should consider them seriously,” he said. The Meat Industry Association’s executive director, Mr Peter Blomfield, said, “Unless there is acceptance on the employers’ counter offer there would be no pay offer.” Some workers might be overpaid, he said. Mr Kennedy said that the employers seemed to be reticent about being “up front” before other awards were settled.