WESTFIELD STRIKERS

Grey River Argus, 1 December 1938, Page 5

WESTFIELD STRIKERS

TAKING A BALLOT

Conferences Fail

[Per Press Association.] AUCKLAND, November 29

Conferences between representa- ( fives of the men and the management of the Westfield freezing works today failed to bring about a settlement of the men’s grievances, and no work was done in the slaughtering or other departments during the day by the usual staff. Hopes that an adjustment would be reached were nullified by a deadlock that ensued in the talks'between the parties. A mass meeting of 850 men, boys, and girls, employed at the works, was held at 8 o’clock, and representatives of the workers and the president of the Freezing Workers’ Union (Mr. G. Baker) were appointea to confer with the management. Pending the result of the conference most of the workers returned to their homes, on the understanding that another mass meeting would be held at mid-day. The conference extended for fully three hours, and the workers’ dele-

gates reported the trend of the talks to a mass meeting held shortly before 1 o’clock. They stated that no definite progress had been made, but that the conference would be resumed at 2 p.m. Several of the porkers called for a more detailed report by the delegates, but met with the reply that the workers would require to repose confidence in their representatives. The workers dispersed and left for their homes, after a resolution had been adopted calling a further meeting for to-morrow morning at 8

o’clock to receive further reports on negotiations. Proceedings in the afternoon were comparatively brief, and the conference ended without any progress having been made in the talks which lasted for about 45 minutes. No official statement was made for the workers; but one was issued by the management. It stated that no settlement had been reached.

EXTENT OF DISPUTE. It is stated that the issue in dispute concerns only a small percentage of the 850 workers involved in the stoppage. Several of the workers said that they would suffer by the stopand any concessions gained would not bring them any compensating benefits or increased remuneration.

The appearance of numerous mo-tor-cars, obviously from distant country places, gave rise to a belief that farmers were arriving to offer their services in slaughtering and other work. No confirmation of this was available, although a considerable number of farmers made calls of inquiry throughout the morning. During the day staff employees and several of the office staff assisted in killing and dressing fully 100 bobby calves and a number of pigs held over from Monday. That class of stock could not be held over indefinitely. Fat lambs were not handled, and are being fed at the works.

Staff hands also carried out the loading of chilled beef from the cool stores for shipment by the Port Townsville now taking cargo at Auckland in preparation for departure on Saturday. Serious effects of the hold-up of slaughtering were admitted by the management, although it declined to comment on suggestions that an early endeavour would require to be made to handle the large numbers of fat lambs being held on farms. The capacity of the works plant is fully 9,000 lambs daily, and the peak of the' killing season is almost at hand. One of the visiting farmers said that lambs had to be handled at specific times otherwise the weight and bloom of the carcase would not be of the quality and grade desirable for the Homemarket. Even a few days’ delay would substantially affect the selling value of the carcase. AUCKLAND, November 29. Stating that they are tired of losing pay from disputes in which they have little interest and from which they stand to gain nothing, many labourers at the Westfield freezing works favour breaking away from the Freezing Workers’ Union , and forming a separate union, according to a statement made to-night by a delegate of one of the departments at the works. Meetings had already been held at which this action was supported, he said.

Under the present system the labourers were being frequently called upon to stop work in sympathy with the butchers who were on much higher rates of pay, he said, 'yet the labourers were gaining nothing. A large proportion those who voted at the meeting on Monday did so out of a sense of loyalty, and did not know what they were voting about. absolutely sick and tired of the petty grievances that the chain has caused, and we want to break away from it,” the delegate said. “Four or five men are at the bottom of all the trouble at Westfield, and we are convinced that with a union of our own we could carry on much more smoothly.” After the meeting on Monday the men in the department he represents held a meeting, at which a proposal to break away was favoured, he added. A further meeting was held at the works to-day, and was attended by labourers from several other departments. Nearly 100 were present. The scheme was further supported, and many of those present said the workers in their departments were of the same mind.

The idea was to form a separate lalabourers’ union such as had existed in pre-war days. A meeting of la* bourers would be held at the works to-morrow, when the proposal would be further discussed.

AUCKLAND, November 29.

A statement on the conferences between the management of the Westfield Freezing Works and the men’s representatives, was issued to-night by the management as follows:— “The management met representatives of the Freezing Workers’ Union at the works this morning, but was not able to come to any settlement. The discussion centred upon the ‘ring’ system of killing and certain suggestions in regard to the distribution of operations were made. Some of these the company agreed to, but after an adjournment at lunch-time,