PLAIN WORDS

Evening Star, Issue 24103, 26 January 1942, Page 4

PLAIN WORDS

LAW WILL BE ENFORCED PREMIER ON ABATTOIR HOLD-UP (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 21. “The Government takes a very serious view of the situation whicn has arisen at the Westfield abattoir,’’ said the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, in a statement this after, noon. “ Under the Strike and Lock-out Emergency Regulations, 1939, any discontinuance or partial discontinuance of employment, or any reduction of normal output, or any action intended or having a tendency to interfere with the production, supply, or distribution of commodities or services is a grave offence. The law will be enforced. In addition, the National Service Emergency Regulations have been invoked, and the men concerned have been ordered to resume work. Again the law will be enforced. Illegalities will not be tolerated, and all the power and authority of the State will be used to enforce the law whatever the consequences may be to individuals or organisations.

“An industrial strike of the kind which has caused a hold-up in the supply of meat to the people of Auckland is simply treason at a time when the enemy may be contemplating an attack on our shores, and must be treated accordingly. An action of the nature taken at Westfield under war conditions, when New Zealand is faced with an actual threat of attack which is daily getting more ominous, is not against an individual employer, or a group of employers, but is definitely a hostile attack upon the people of the Dominion as a whole.

“ The Government asks for the support of all citizens who are alive to the country’s grave danger to whatever action is necessary to combat and defeat any and every effort of any particular section of the people to interfere witli the essential industries and services at this critical time when our fate as a nation hangs in the balance.

“ I believe the men who are involved in the Westfield abattoir dispute are just as keen to serve New Zealand l in its hour of need as any other section. It may be that there are legitimate grounds for complaint on their part. If so, then the machinery provided by the law should be used for reasonable adjustment of such grievances if they are proved to exist, but work must be resumed. I am sure that as reasonable men of goodwill, who want to help rather than injure this country, they will recognise the extent of the mistake they have been misled] into, and will assist the Government to restore normal conditions.

“ Every member of the Government is a believer in trade unionism,” Mr Fraser concluded. “ There will be no attack on trade unionism, which has been of such inestimable benefit to the workers of New Zealand, as elsewhere ■throughout the world, and which has been encouraged and strengthened by the present Government. It will be protected from the disastrous results of those who are perverting its purpose and betraying it. Trade unionism was intended to assist the mass pf the people, not to injure them. The perversion of trade unionism, which is responsible for internal turmoil and strife likely to endanger New Zealand, ought not, and will not be tolerated.

OBEDIENCE EXPECTED SUMMONSES ISSUED (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 25. The employees of the Auckland municipal abattoirs at Westfield, who have been ordered by the Minister of National Service, Mr Semple, to return to work to-morrow, met yesterday, and it is understood that they will meet again at the abattoir in the morning. The expectation is that they will, obey the Minister’s order. Too Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, left Wellington to-night for Auckland. His visit is understood to be associated with various aspects of the unrest in some industrial labour circles in the city. Summonses totalling 190 were sent out yesterday for service, some upon Westfield workers and some upon abattoir workers, following the recent disputes. The first of the defendants are called upon to appear on Wednesday of this week, others on Thursday, and the balance on Tuesday of next week. Each of the abattoir workers concerned is charged that on January 19 at Otahulm he was a party to a strike in that being in the employment of the Auckland! City Council he did with other workers in the same employment partially discontinue such employment, contrary to the provisions of the Strike and Lock-out Emergency Regulations, 1939, and the Emergency Regulations, 1939.

BACK AT WORK MEN COMPLY WITH ORDER (P.A.) AUCKLAND, January 26. Complying with the order of the Minister of National Service to return to work to-day, 60 employees of the city abattoir resumed' work this morning. The men held a meeting at 7.30, and delegates subsequently met the management and reported back to the men. Work was resumed at 8.25. The manager stated later that the dispute had been satisfactorily settled.

MR WEBB DELIGHTED The Minister of Labour (Mr Webb), who arrived in Auckland this morning, expressed his delight that the men had resumed work. He hoped that common sense would prevail, not only in this industry, but throughout the Dominion. If the workers in any industry had complaints to ventilate the Government would be pleased to meet them at any time. Ample machinery was provided for settling any problems that arose, and there was no necessity for direct action. “ The law must be complied with,” he declared. “ Any violation of the law will meet with 100 per cent, opposition.