NEGOTIATIONS REVIEWED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 30 November 1938, Page 11

NEGOTIATIONS REVIEWED

STATEMENT BY MANAGEMENT AUCKLAND. 29th November. A statement on the conferences between the management of the Westfield freezing works and the men’s represen- ' tatives was issued to-night by the man- | agement as follows: The management met representatives ‘ of the Freezing Workers’ Union at the ‘ works this morning, but were not atfle , to come to any settlement. Discussion | centred upon the “ring” system of . j killing, and certain suggestions about i ! distribution of operations were made. Some of these the company agreed to. : but after an adjournment at lunch time i the delegates returned to the position that the ring must be operated with ’ the same number of men as a “chain,” namely 35, and would continue discussion on no other basis. The company pointed out that the ring is three times the length of a chain, and in other countries is considered from the point of view of convenience to workers and also as mechanically an advance on the chain or any other method of handling the large numbers of sheep and lambs which it is necessary to kill at the peak of the season Specially is it so for the rush iof bobby calves, often up to 9000 or i more a day in the calving period. ! The union has called out every j worker in the factory, approximately i 733 men and 134 boys and girls, though | there are only 70 men involved in the I operation of the ring. The compayy j offered to facilitate the setting up of | a disputes committee or reference of j the matter to the Court of Arbitration.