KAIAPOI STRIKERS

Grey River Argus, 11 January 1944, Page 5

KAIAPOI STRIKERS

RESUME AT MEAT ’ WORKS Prosecutions to Follow CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 10. Slaughtermen who had been on strike at the North Canterbury Sheepfarmers’ Co-operative • Company’s meat works .at Kaiapoi since Tuesday afternoon, resumed work at 8 o’clock this morning, pending the hearing of the dispute by a tribunal which the Minister of Labour (Mr Webb) said would be set up. SLAUGHTERMEN'S DECISION. DUE. TO MAJORITY VOTE. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 10. Following ♦ the slaughtermen’s resumntion of work, an official statement has been issued which says: At a meeting at the slaughtermen, the followin'- resolution was carried unanimously: “We the slaughtermen of the Kaiapoi Freezing Works, have decided to resume work, pending a quick settlement of our dispute through channels offered by the Minister of Labour. We take this action solely in an endeavour to ac-' cede to the wishes of the majority of the members of our branch of the Union, and we are not influenced m our decision in an” way by threats of prosecution or other outside influences.” Cause of Strike MAN FROM CAMP NOW TO BE RETURNED TO , TRENTHAM P.A. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 10. The Kaiapoi meat workers slaughtermen went on strike because they claimed that one of their members had been victimised. This man was in the Army when he was directed to employment in the freezing industry. " '' The man in question was arrested in Christchurch, on Sunday, on the charge of being absent without leave, and he will be taken back to Trentham. He had ‘been ordered by the National Service Department in Wellington to leave camp at Trentham and report at Christchurch for employment in the freezing industry. There was. however, no vacancy for him at the Kaiapoi works, and normally he would have returned to the Army, unless he were directed elsewhere. Slaughtermen to be Prosecuted HON. P. C. WEBB'S STATEMENT. PA. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 10. Thirty-three slaughtermen, who had been on strike at the Kaiapoi works of the North Canterbury Sheepfarmers’ Co-operative Coy., Ltd., since the afternoon of J'anuary 4. resumed work this morning, pending the hearing of their dispute by the tribunal, which, the Minister of Labour, Hon. P. C. Webb, has announced, will be set up. In accordance with the Government’s decision to prosecute the strikers, cases against the 33 men have been set down for hearing in the Magistrate’s Court, Christchurch on January 18. Summonses were served on the slaughtermen at the works this afternoon. The Minister of Labour. Mr Webb said this evening that action would still be taken against the striking slaughtermen, although they had now returned to work. A tribunal would be set up to consider the dispute, and the workers and the employers would be asked to nominate three representatives each. If they could not agree on a chairman, he would probably ask the Conciliation Commissioner, Mr S. Ritchie, to