FREEZING WORKERS’ AWARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 13 January 1938, Page 13

FREEZING WORKERS’ AWARD

FAVOURABLE RECEPTION LIKELY | By Telegraph-Press AssncialiunJ CHRISTCHURCH. 11th January. The opinion that the award would be very favourably received by the men in the industry was expressed this evening by the secretary of the Canterbury Freezing Workers’ Union. Mr H. G. Kilpatrick. Naturally the employees were pleased that the Court had given wage increases, specially to the lower-paid hourly workers. Another important point of the new award was that it raised the guaranteed minimum wage for assistants in the killing chamber, slaughterhouse. and gut house from £2 Bs, where it had stood for many years, to £3 6s. Employees would be disappointed that they had not received a 40-hour week, but they would be pleased the Court had decided to apply shorter hours to female workers in the industry. A feature of the award was that the increases given the lower-paid workers were relatively greater than those given those on higher wages. One of the most pleasing things in the award was the provision made for dressing and drying rooms, which was revolutionary in the industry in New Zealand. Mr Kilpatrick said. There were some things the men would be disappointed at not receiving, and among them was the recognition of the claims of shepherds, but as a whole the award should be very favourably received by all those in the industry. ADDITIONAL WAGES COST £IBO,OOO CHRISTCHURCH, 12th January Commenting on the new Dominion award covering the freezing industry, Mr C. G. Wilkin, secretary of the North and South Island Freezing Companies’ Associations, said he estimated

that the increased wages and extra payments, etc., granted by the court amounted to more than 11 per cent, over the last award and were equal to an increase of .08d a lb on all meat exported. On the total wages bill of the Dominion industry this represented an additional wages cost of approximately £ 180.000. which would be a further heavy charge on the meat export industry.