Another stoppage in meat works looms

Press, 17 May 1986, Page 3

Another stoppage in meat works looms

PA Wellington The third big industrial stoppage in meat works this pay round loomed yesterday, with shift engineers threatening action which could eventually bring killing to a halt over much of the industry. Stalled pay talks led the

engineers to give notice of work bans in four northern killing plants. The notices expire at midnight tomorrow. The national secretary of the Institute of Marine and Power Engineers, Mr Glen Harris, said yesterday the industrial action would probably spread. The plants to be hit

next week are the Horotiu, Moerewa, Westfield and Otahuhu. Mr Harris said these four had been chosen because they employed the most shift engineers and were areas where it was believed industrial action could be most effective. The institute believed engineers imposing the bans would be suspended, Mr Harris said. The bans involved refusing to handle any fresh-killed meat. The only way the meat could be chilled was through using non-union labour. A similar dispute in February resulted in the close-down of three-quar-ters of the nation’s meat works, with freezing workers being suspended for refusing to work with non-union labour. Only fully automated plants without shift engineers continued to run. The dispute between the 130 engineers and the meat companies focuses on traditional pay relativity with fitters.