More Trouble at Westfield

Southland Times, Issue 24648, 21 January 1942, Page 4

More Trouble at Westfield

During the past few days there have been further cases of direct action by workers in essential industries. The dispute at the Westfield freezing works, a place with a bad record in labour stoppages, had nothing to do with works policy or conditions: it was an illegal and selfish type of protest against transport difficulties caused by petrol restrictions. It can be admitted that the men have had to suffer inconveniences; but so have other members of the public. People whose sons and brothers are in Libya are not likely to be deeply moved by reports of “distressing scenes in the vicinity of the works at nights as the workers scrambled for buses.” The restoration of former petrol allowances does not appear to have remedied the position; it has obviously failed to remove the sense of grievance. According to a statement issued by a selfstyled “board of control” set up by workers’ delegates, the men have decided that unless “adequate facilities” are provided they will “notify the authorities of their intention to work shorter hours.” These men are bound by the conditions of their award. In breaking an agreement which gave them their present rights and privileges they are placing themselves outside the law. As workers in an essential industry they are also under the direct control of the Minister of National Service. In the statement issued a week ago by the Prime Minister it was announced that workers engaged in essential undertakings are committing an offence against the regulations if they are “absent from work without reasonable excuse,” if they are “habitually or persistently late or fail to perform work with due diligence and skill.” The workers at Westfield have been told that they will be prosecuted for stopping work

last Thursday; but this has not prevented them from announcing their intention of committing a second and equally flagrant breach of the regulations. Their representatives explained that this was “not a threat or an ultimatum”; they even admitted that “further representations would be made.” These methods would be frivolous and dubious in peace time. Today, with the whole country on a wai’ footing, they are a cynical and impudent challenge to authority. It is more than time that these men were made to realize that, while thousands of their fellow workers are being mobilized for home defence, and while the people are accepting many irksome restrictions, irresponsible minorities cannot be allowed to set themselves above the law.