BUTCHERS' STRIKE ENDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17337, 8 December 1919, Page 6

BUTCHERS' STRIKE ENDS.

SHOPS OPEN THIS MORNING. TERMS OF THE SETTLEMENT. FRESH MEAT TO-MORROW. The butchers' strike has been settled, and work in the shops will be resinned this morning. An agreement was reached at a final' conference of representatives of the two parties held on Saturday morning, and the terms of the settlement were at once reported by the union's delegates to a meeting of about 200 membep in the Trades Hall. The men unanimously approved these terms, and within a few hours they reported back at the shops from which they had been absent for three weeks. Yesterday the delivery horses, which had been turned out when the strike Commenced were brought back to the stables, the slaughter yards were filled with cattle and sheep, and the shops were cleared in readiness for the resumption of ordinary business this morning. It is expected that if the slaughtermen resume work to-day fresh meat will be obtainable at all the city shops to-morrow morning. The terms of settlement are : ■ —Wages as in the Wellington —First shopmen and small goodsmen, £4 12s 6d a week; second shopmen, £4 2s 6<i; general hands, £3 17s 6d; drivers one horse, as in the Auckland general drivers' award, £3 6s, and two horse, £3 10s 6d a week of 48 hours. Any time worked between 48 hours and 52 hours will be paid for at ordinary rates, and any further time will count as overtime. Christmas holidays this year will be from December 25 to 28 inclusive, New Year holidays from January 1 to 4, inclusive. The Master Butchers' Association has agreed to allow a. week's holiday on full pay to any worker who has bean in their employ for twelve months on October 7, 19£0, the time to be at the discretion of the employers. An Imputation Withdrawn. In announcing the agreement to the meeting of the union, over which the president, Mr. H. Lee, presided, the secretary, Mr. W. E. Sill, assured the men that there would be no victimisation. He said he considered the terms satisfactory, and stated that this, the first protest the butchers had ever made, though belated, had had the desired effect. " And now that we have been successful," he continued, " we do not intend to follow up that success with efforts to gain further points; not, at any rate, until another adjustment of the rights of the worker is demanded." "I unreservedly withdraw any imputation I may have cast on any of the employers," continued Mr. Sill, referring to an incident at a recent conference, "and I say this now as they have not given me an opportunity of doing it personally." He then paid a tribute to the work of Mr. G. F. Lane, president of the Master Butchers' Association, and to Mr. S. Wing, one of the association delegates. He proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. T. Harle GUes, the Conciliation Commission, and this was carried by acclamation. "And now that we have reached an honourable settlement," the speaker concluded, "the best thing we can do is to go back to our jobs, and do our best to show our employers that though while on strike we were loyal to ourselves, while at work we are loyal to them." With cheers for the secretary, the slaughtermen, and the freezer hands the strike terminated. Hope for Resumption of Good Feeling. Referring to the employers' view of the settlement, the president of the Master Butchers' Association, Mr. G. F. Lane, stated last evening that they were glad the strike had terminated without bitterness between the parties. "To my mind," he said, "the strike has been a grave mistake. It was unnecessary and unlawful, and has caused serious loss and inconvenience to the trade. The stoppage of stock sales and of the export of meat, the enforced usage of meat already packed, frozen, and sold to the Imperial Government, and the anxiety caused to fanners through being forced to retain fat stock on scanty pasture have caused serious loss to the public generally. The union has not gained anything that could not have been gained by constitutional methods. A conference in October, either before or after the sitting of the Arbitration Court, would have been equally effective and less costly. Failing that, the union could have made fresh demands to the Court in February. However, in the future I hope that before any drastic measures aTe taken by either side there will be a representative conference appointed to discuss any differences of oginiop. The employers, I am sure, will accept Mr. Sill's unreserved withdrawal, and we hope the employers and the workmen will regain without delay the good feeling that existed between them before the strike commenced."