WORK GOING WELL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16201, 26 November 1926, Page 7

WORK GOING WELL

AT FREEZING WORKS PINE LAMBS COMING FORWARD Everything is going smoothly at both the freezing works in the poverty Bay district. The men have rapidly improved, and all the sheep offering are being handled. This morning there were 32 slaughtermen on each of the killing floors, and all available positions at both works wero taken. Yesterday about 1000 sheep were killed at; each works, and as more slaughtermen will be put on to deal with the larger quantities of stock that will be coming forward next week it is probable the 1500 mark will be reached early in the week. The newly trained slaughtermen are proving adepts at the work, and a feature of yesterday's killings was the clean nature of the "work. At Kaiti works yesterday a line of 800 lambs from Mr. White's Te Puru station were killed, and of the whole line there was only one reject, and this was not because of bad handling by the butcher but because of a deformity. These lambs were in Jine condition and averaged 561 b., and it is expected that other lines equally as good will be coming forward within the next few days. Mr. Roberts, one of the lending officials of the Alliance of Labor, is expected te arrive in Oishorne to-morrow, and according to the statements of some of the members of the Freezing Workers' Union, some pertinent questions will be asked at the meetings he will address. <!£he dissatisfaction which was apparent at the start appears to be growing, and one of the tasks with which Mr. Roberts will be faced is that of gingering the men up to maintaining their present attitude.

AT TOLAGA BAY FARMERS DETERMINED (Special to the Herald.) TOLAGA BAY, this day., A well-attended meeting of farmers was held here yesterday, and a strong determination to see the freezing trouble through to a successful conclusion, was apparent. The question of opening the Tokomaru Bay works early next month was discussed and sufficient names were handed in to ensure the work being commenced when the time for opening arrived. It is considered that there will be no difficulty in operating the works at Tokomaru Bay and in dealing with all stock coming forward.

MEN NOT TO BLAME OPPOSED TO THE HOLD-UP Definite allegations that the attempted hold-up of operations at the Poverty Bay freezing works was being organised by the Alliance of Labor in opposition to the wishes of a large majority of the employees were made to-day by a man who "has been regularly employed at the works for a dozen years or more. This man admitted that he was one of those who had not offered to work "on principle," but he stated frankly that he was not in sympathy with the " strikers." " I'll guarantee that if you got the honest opinions of the men you'd find that eight out of every ten, at least, were anxious to return to work,'.' he said. "The men knowthat the strike is not justified, and they- know that they will gain nothing by it. The.whole trouble is that eome ■ the 'big peas' of the union, who mi their pay whether there is a strike or not come along and talk the men into doing anything. When we hold a meeting the official do all the speaking, and the men don't like to express their opinions. If they do oppose them they get howled down." \ POORER MEN SUFFER. The outstanding grievance, this employee stated, was that the men wiio had started the trouble were those who were already the best paid. The butchers' earnings were two or thrw> times as high as those of most of the other workers, and yet the union officials had nothing to say about improving the lot of those on the lower scale. The position, in effect, was that those who were jnost poorly off were fighting a losing battle solely on hehalf of the best paid sections of freezing workers. "The positiorf is pretty hard for gome of us," said this man. " During most of the year we hang on doing odd jobs, looking for something permanent when the works open, and then, just because some of the heads get a bee in their bonnets, we loso. our chance. It's all right for the officials who have good permanent jobs, thanks to the wages the men pay them—and some of them earn more money in other ways—but its not much good to a man with a large family, who has been depending on a job at the works to see him through." UNIONISTS AS VOLUNTEERS. Another important statement made was that many of the butchers were themselves dissatisfied with the attitude of the Alliance of Labor, so much so, in fact, that some had gone to other districts and signed up as> volunteers under different names. He considered that if a roll call was made of the butchers in the Poverty Bay Union it would be found that one or two, at least, were on the missing list, and it was understood that a similar posttto.. prevailed in other districts. "If the butchers themselves are working," he added, " yoiu can't ex{iect the ordinary workers to hold out ong, especially when they have nothing to hang out for. My opinion, anyhow, is that if the men alone had been left to decide there would never have been any trouble."

WAIROA MEN "OUT" MEETING LAST NIGHT A meeting of the Wairoa branch of the Freezing Workers' Union was held at the North Clyde mission hall last night, Mr. Cameron, president of the branch, occupying the chair. There was a fair attendance, considering the fact that so many at present are engaged in the country. The dispute in Hawke's Bay was discussed in all its phases, and it was decided to support the attitude of the. Hawke's Bav workers. No union labor, it was decided, will be available when a call is made locally on December 1. , Mr. Osborne, secretary of the Wairoa branch of the union, stated that there were a number of union men at present engaged at the Wairoa works, and these would not be interfered with in any way. This is, of course, an ex parte ae- * count of the meeting, as it was not open to the press. Mr. A. G. Nolan, chairman of tho Wairoa Meat Co., spoken to this "mprning, said that killing would proceed at the date fixed, there being ample free labor available among the

farming community, many of whom were anxious to secure the work. The farmers were determined that tho stock would be killed and dealt with in the usual manner, and many of the young men were capable of doing the work. There will be, of course, the usual call for union labor.