WESTFIELD WORK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23124, 24 August 1938, Page 14

WESTFIELD WORK

AGREEMENT PROBLEM

POSITION INDEFINITE HEARING IN ARBITRATION NO FIXTURE MADE YET Although official confirmation is lacking, it is understood that an agreement was reached on Monday by the disputes committee which conferred on questions afl'ccting dressing room accommodation and tho size of lockers, which was the causo of tho strike at tho Wcstficld freezing works last week. At first, .it is stated, the employers agreed to all proposals made by tho men with tho exception of one concerning tho distance between lockers but this also was subsequently conceded.

That some hitch occurred later is apparent. According to reports current yesterday it is said that while the men's delegates reached agreement with the employers they later insisted that the agreement should bo ratified by tho men, an unusual course in such a comparatively minor dispute. As far as can bo ascertained no meeting between tho delegates and tho men occurred yesterday. Plans of Lockers On Monday, tho day of the sitting of tho committee, . tho Minister of Labour, tho Hon. H. T. Armstrong, issued a statement to tho effect that tho Department of Labour had previously drawn up plans of lockers of a specified size which it thought would bo suitable for requirements. The companies, he said, did not agroo to this, and in spito of tho protest and recommendations of tho department, went on building smaller lockers. Mr. Armstrong added that tho Court of Arbitration had agreed to take tho dispute to-day.

When asked yesterday whether or not it was true that a settlement of the dispute had been arrived at by the disputes committee as reported, both Mr. T. H. Bowie, secretary of the Westfield Freezing Company, and Mr. C. G. Wilkin, secretary of the New Zealand Freezing Owners' 1' edcration, replied that they were not prepared to make any statement for publication. They returned tho same answer when further asked whether the Department of Labour had ever recommended plans for lockers to the companies as suggested by the Minister. Statement Contradicted

A contradiction of the statement by Air Armstrong that the Arbitration Court had agreed to hear the dispute to-day wag made by Mr. Justice O'Regan during tho sitting of the Court yesterday. Tho statement, said His Honor, was quite incorrect. "Tho first wo heard of it was when wo wero sitting in Court last baturdav," bo said. "Wo gave a conditional promiso that wo would them Tuesday or Wednesday, provided tho case then proceeding did not continue. I hat is the most we have done. I have made that clear since. Nevertheless, we saw that definite statement in the P3 "I havo heard a whisper that the negotiations that have been proceeding havo broken down because it is assumed wo aro going to take tho case to-morrow. Wo aro going to do nothing of tho kind. Wo cannot interrupt the business of tho Court." Urgency Not Mentioned

Mr. W. E. Anderson, secretary of tho Employers' Association, said ho did not know "who was responsible for the message. It did not come from the employers' sido. His Honor said thero was no chance of tho case tho Court was engaged on being finished that day. Tho Minister was said to havo expressed surprise that the Court did not make an earlier fixture. "Wo mado the fixturo in tho ordinary way," ho said. "Nobody told us a single word about urgency. Apparently neither. of tho parties regarded it as urgent. If wo had been told about tho urgency wo would havo mado an earlier fixture, but wo could not know anything about that until we were told."