DAIRY FACTORY HOUSES

Southland Times, Issue 25746, 9 August 1945, Page 7

DAIRY FACTORY HOUSES

RAISING OF RENTS OPPOSED

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, August 8. “Any proposal to raise the rents of old houses in the industry will be fought to the better end,” said Mr L. D. Robertson,'general secretary of the Dairy Workers’ Union, when referring to a suggestion made at the recent Dominion Dairy Conference that a tribunal with authority to raise the existing low rentals in order to reduce the anomalies between employees who occupied existing houses and those who occupied ones erected at a higher cost be setup. In the past, said Mr Robertson, dairy companies had in the main ignored the necessity of providing adequate and suitable accommodation for the dairy worker. Now that one of the major problems facing the manning at the factories was lack of accommodation, the industry was building accommodation in an endeavour to rectify the position. Due to high building' costs, however, and- the inability of the workers to pay higher rents, it was proposed to lower these rents, but to rase the rents of older houses. Mr Robertson added that there would be serious- trouble if any attempt was made to step up existing rentals, as many members were protesting at the already high rents paid for the class of house now provided.