ABATTOIR STAFF STRIKE CALLED OFF

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22656, 5 June 1948, Page 6

ABATTOIR STAFF STRIKE CALLED OFF

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, June 4. Employees at the Auckland municipal abattoir went on strike yesterday as a result of a dispute over the pay and hours of work of labourers who were being trained to be slaughtermen.

The staff of about 60 men, including slaughtermen and labourers who prepare meat for city consumption, ceased work after a ballot had been taken. It was stated at the Town Hall that there was sufficient meat in the abattoir chilling stores to meet the week end demands. Other works, including R. and W. Hellaby, Ltd., the Farmers' Freezing Co., Ltd., and the Westfield Freezing Co., Ltd., also kill for city consumption, but about 70 per cent, of the butchers in Auckland receive then supplies from the municipal abattoir. The strike was called -off this morning following a meeting of the union, the management representatives, and the conciliation commissioner. The men's claim for a minimum weekly wage for “slaughtermen learners” was not upheld by the commissioner.

The ruling is that learner slaughtermen will be classed as slaughtermen, but will be paid labourers’ rates at approximately 33 hours at 3/7 an hour, or a weekly wage of £5/18/- for the time worked on slaughtering. The union claimed that the trainees should work the same hours as the slaughtermen and receive a minimum of £6/10/- a week. Both parties have the right of appeal.