FREEZING INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 119, 15 February 1944, Page 4

FREEZING INDUSTRY

Use Of Territorial Force

Labour

COMPULSORY REST PERIOD

The Minister of .Supply, in commenting upon an interview with a representative of the freezing industry, published in “The Dominion,” staled tjiat no territorials were .placed with the freezing companies pribr to the holidays. When interviewed 'today, the representative of the freezing industry stated that the Minister hud apparently only extended his inquiries to the \\ cllingloii district. In northern districts, which were under much heavier pressure of work prior to Christmas, there were certainly directed to the industry a lot of civilian shortdate, inexperienced categories, some ol whom were said to be territorials, along with students, teachers, etc. At other points, it was .lelinitely arranged with the manpower officers that territorials would not commence till January 3. He added that the Minister’s complaint was that the men were taken on "in dribs and drabs,” but inquiry throughout the Dominion showed that in most areas the men could only be found in dribs and drabs till the body of unskilled territorialk and soldiers were released around the holiday period. “The freezing companies’ representatives,” he said, "are anxious to make it clear that this is not a criticism of the work of the manpower officers; they have been making a remarkably good job in an extremely difficult situation, but what they could do was very limited till the belated decisions were made about army men. The manpower officers can also supply Mr. Sullivan with lots of evidence where freezing companies have continued to take as offered, unskilled men whom they could not employ usefully and have kept them weed-cutting and other stopgap jobs while they trained skilled men at the slaughtering end of the business in order to build up the volume necessary .to absorb the variety of unskilled labour directed to them. It is only fair to mention that the Rest Period Regulations did leave some latitude for transferring the rest period to a later date, but it must be known to the Ministers how quickly the pressure was put on and steps taken by the officials of the Freezing Workers’ Union to ensure that freezing works were closed down between Christmas and New Year and the period was not carried forward. Illogical Government Action. “The Minister in his public statement asked was it suggested that the freezing workers were the one body, of workers w”ho should not particapate in the benefits granted under the regulations. Has not the Minister missed the point?” replies the freezing companies’ representative. “The freezing industry is wellknown to be a seasonal one and on that account the Arbitration Court has always granted the workers in that industry a premium over similar categories of. workers in other more regular employment. To legislate a compulsory rest period upon a seasonal industry, and just after the three months’ idle period, is, to say the least of it, illogical, and had the Government taken the trouble, to make some inquiry into the position in December last, they would have known that the conditions caused by the dry weather in many parts of the North Island were forcing the farmers to hurriedly relieve their pasturage of lambs, many of them held back on the advice of the Meat Board and the Government, and the shortage of milk was forcing the killing of baconers. “The difficulty of getting skilled slaughtermen, upon whom ultimately depends the, volume of unskilled labour which can be employed, was very great, and the skilled men who had been hurried back into the industry were literally just getting their hands in, when the break came; well they knew that this would mean extremely heavy pressure immediately the holidays were over, and perhaps that was partly the reason for the abnormal amount of absenteeism of the skilled men which took place at most works after the compulsory rest period, and which still further aggravated the inconvenience and loss to the producer on both lambs and pigs, caused by the holdup. The Lowest-paid Producer. “In conclusion,” said the freezing company’s representative, “I would like to point out that the Minister has carefully avoided the stabilization aspect of the rest, period regulations; the freezing industry has to work very closely with the producer, and the holiday period cannot be a rest period for anybody associated with the dairy or the fat lamb production period. Apart, from subsidized cereals which cannot, be grown in New Zealand nt a reasonable cost, on account of the high labour charges, the New Zealand producer is now the lowest paid producer in the whole circle of the Allied countries, and it was therefore adding insult to injury to aggravate his difficult position with such arbitrary legislation, involving not only extreme inconvenience but loss and increased charges upon his products.”