A DEFIANT UNION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26214, 26 July 1946, Page 5

A DEFIANT UNION

BRISBANE MEAT WORKERS APOLOGY TO COURT REFUSED (Rec. 7 p.m.) BRISBANE, July 25. The secretary of the Meat Industry Union, Mr A. J. Neumann, refused lo apologise to the president of the Industrial Court, Mr Justice Matthews, for disobedience of the court by his union which culminated in the disastrous Queensland meat strike. He also refused to give an undertaking for obedience in the future.

Mr Neumann has referred the matter to the executive of the union, and said it might call for a referendum of members.

The court was hearing an application by the union for re-registration after its deregistration during the strike. Mr Justice Matthews asked for an assurance that in future the union would abide by the law. Mr Neumann: We have been punished for what we have done. Mr Justice Matthews: Your men punished themselves and they also punished thousands in the community. We want to avoid that in future. We cannot allow such a lapse to pass unnoticed. You brought everybody you could possibly get into the dispute. Mr Neumann: That is nothing new in an industrial dispute. Mr Justice Matthews: So far as I am concerned that will be stopped. If you give that apology it will go a long way with me. We regard de-registra-tion very seriously, and it is also a, very serious matter to re-register a union. The hearing was adjourned until August 20. ‘