MEN CEASE WORK

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20625, 28 November 1941, Page 2

MEN CEASE WORK

BOX-MAKING PLANT

CITY FREEZING WORKS HIGHER PAY DEMAND (T’l'i- Promt Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. Thirty men employed in the boxmaking department and timber yard ot the Westfield freezing works ceased work yesterday when their demand for an increase in wages was not immediately conceded by the management. The men sought to obtain an extra 3d an hour and, when early negotiations broke down, they stopped work at noon, and were idle for the remainder of the day. The men are paid under the timber workers’ award and the secretary of the union, Mr. F. ( Craig, and an officer of the Labour Department took part in the negotiations, which were continued until well into the afternoon but without any agreement being reached. It is expected that the position, which is now in the hands of the Labour Department, will be further considered to-day.

The management, in a statement, said that the men ceased work at 10 a.m. and presented their demands. The firm offered a partial increase in wages, but this was not acceptable to the men who, however, resumed work at 11 a.m. while the conversations proceeded. No settlement having been reached by noon, the men refused to continue work in the afternoon.

The management stated that the action of the men would hold up the manufacture of boxes required in connection with the canning of meat under Government orders and the casing of certain frozen products.