MOVE FOR DE-RATEMENT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 9, 24 September 1943, Page 5

MOVE FOR DE-RATEMENT

MILL FOREMAN'S ACTION

EMPLOYERS CASE FAILS

SEQUEL TO PAPER MILLS DISPUTE

The sitting of the Industrial Manpower Committee in Whakatane last Tuesday afternoon provided the scene for yet another test of strength between employer and' employee under the essential industries regulations and after a three and a half hours legal battle resulted in the management's move for the de-rating- of one of the ground-wood foremen N. S. Major, being dismissed.

Mr E. B. Brown presented the complaint from the employing comipany and Mr B. S. Barry defended. .The committee comprised Messrs J. O. Liddcll (chairman), Simpson and OVlackie. The District Manpower Of--iicer, Mr McCllone, Avas also present. Law Into Own Hands "This is a case .of a departmental foreman taking the law into his -own hands and by liis action Avillully prejudicing the very condition -of things in his department Avhieh Uiis position as foreman demands should be liis particular care," said 2\lr Brown introducing his case. Major had been a foreman for a Very considerable period, he said, his .duties being to .see to the smooth Tunning of the Groundwood Mill ■and to maintain by all means Avithir his power full production of .-groundwood pulp of such types as the particular grade of board being anade, demanded.. His duties also embraced inspections of the. storage vessels,' (called .stuff chests), the screens and the grindstones. Generally speaking, except Avhen he reSieved a grindcrman to enable the latter to have a meal, or at smoko ti,me., little if any manual labour fell to his lot—but if such was ne-

-cessarv" to maintain production Without, slackening or reduction, then as foreman he Avas expected to take his own coat olf until othei .arrangements. could be made. He Avent .on to say that because of his action in slowing up the grinders on' the night ol' September 2nd Avithout • permission the company felt that he lacked those: qualities of; ihitiatiA'C, .-adaptability and leadership which, were requisite in a foreman. Duties Defined He explained further that in the groundwood mill there Avere normally employed 2 stackers AVhd received the barked wood as it came, from the barking drum, 2 grindermen, who filled the pockets of the two., grinding units arid, one foreman Avhcr supervised the work and watched the machinery. '

The grinders governed by "three speeds which were operated tin accordance with the grade of pulp . The ..range was. over 3, 4 and notches, the number 5 notch giving the maximum pftnluction. When reduced to No. 3 notch it was recognised that one man -could feetl both grinders at the reeduced speed. One Man Short •On the evening named one of the : stackers were absent without having previously given warning. AVl)en Major came oh at midnight lie endeavoured. to replace the man by iborrowing from the Beater department, but without success. Despite the fact that he was told to carry .on Avithout. a man by the Mill Forejnan, he had immediately stated that i9ie would either shut down one grinder or at least reduce, speed to No. 3 notch (only GO jjer cent reduction). He had reduced the speed to the No. 3 notch and recorded the fact •i his production record, only returning to maximum speed at 3 a.m. .During this period he had 'cruised' round the mill spending long periods in conversation in other departments;,

His action declared Mr Brown, liad had the effect of directly torpedoing the very purpose for which Sunday grinding was carried out, .and was in effect a direct blow at the War ElTort., both in the matter • of tonnage and insofar as inspirational leadership of his team was concerned. Duty to Fighting Forces The management felt that every ■man retained in New Zealand in essential industry owed a d,uty to the fighting services overseas, to do his job 100 per cent and for his unauthorised action, which lexl to a

serious fall in*production, it A\as l'elt that Major \va.s no , longer a

I suitable person to act as foreman. Permission was therefore .sought to de-rate him as it was felt that the loss of position coupled Avith reduced pay would have the effect of reminding all employees that while Avar continued nothing less than their best efforts were good enough. Superintendent's Evidence In evidence Mr E. 15. Eras tad,, mill .superintendent, said that. instructions had been given to keep the speed of both grinders up to No. 5 notch. He estimated the loss in groundwood at something between I*2 to !2 tons —or sufficient to make 8000 cartons. He admitted to Mr Barrj', that it was not the first time that the grinders had been put back when the mill was short-handed, but on those occasions it had been with authorised permission. He could not say whether entries in the log to this effect had been done Avitli permission. In a long period of crossexamination Avitncss failed, to throw any light on the method employed in gi\ r ing the requisite permission. He also agreed that he had not mentioned the incident, to Major, but had merely reported him direct to the Manpower Officer.

It was the first occasion to liis knowledge*' that Major had done such a thing and he added further that the mill foreman had given him a written report of the incident, which he had not brought to the hearing. There had, he agreed been a lot of dissatisfaction about the groundwood mill staff lor some time owing to continual staff shortages. Men had been borrowed from the Beater-room, where the practice was also giving rise to complaints. He held no personal enmity against Maj.or, Cross Questions Mr Barry: Do you think it a fair thing, that without, warning of any sort you should seek to derate a man after 2% years service for doing a thing Avhich other foremen have, done before ? Witness: We have to be particm lar about, our foremen doing these things without permission! Mr Frastad added that the management objected strongly to the principle of a foreman pleasing himself as far as production Avas concerned and. then proceeding to Avander round in other departments. Mr Liddell. the chairman, interposed to ask Avhy had nothing been said to Major if it Avere such a serious offence. Witness: It avouUl be useless. We cannot get any further by doing that. The cha-irman: Have you ever tried getting your foremen together for a heart to heart talk, in order to impress upon them the fact that they are in a position of leadership and trust ? Witness: No! Mr Simpson then asked of Avitness, Can any foreman at the Mill be expected to take an absent man's place whenever that occurs, attend to his own 'duties and still maintain full production ? Witness: Ye.s quite easily. Mr Simpson: Then it looks to me that your .Mill is wasting a io f of money somewhere ! Mill Foreman's Version Robert Brown, Mill Foreman, related how when Major came on at midnight, he had approached him

lor a spare man to replace one of liis own who had failed to turn up. As he. himself was short, he could not oblige and to.'d him so, telling him to 'carry on.' He had no- doubt in his mind as to Major's interpretation of what he had said and. expected him to do as- other foremen did in times of emergency—to get busy himself and take the. missing man's place. He had made out tho report lor Mr Frastad. To Mr .Barry lie agreed that Major had acted openly and above board and also that the foremen generally were in the. habit of moving about one department to the other. There had also been a lot of. trouble about the grinder mill being short handed and he fully realised that Major's action in slowing up the. grinders had been done to bring matters to a head; so as to have a policy defined by the management,, as to what, to do when a man was away. Reasons for Slack Periods All reel Larsen, groundwood mill superintendent, sought to throw some light on the reason for the previous decreases in the grinder production as shown by the 'log.' He stated that on those occasions there had been a boiler shutdown which cut back the speed. He could not however explain the reason for the entry which read—'one man absent/ He recollected discussions- with Major when the latter had said that

lie intended taking the matter of staff shortages up with the Management, He had himself with other foremen fed the grinders under emergency conditions, and no one but. Major hart reduccd. the speed of the grinders without permission to his knowledge. To Mr Barry lie admitted that he had hart nothing in writing from the management as to what his authority in connection with the foremen under him ontailed.

Defendant's Case Mr Barry speaking in defence said that the main points raised Ave re not disputed, except the remarks made by the mill foreman Avhen approached. by Major regarding the shortage of hands in the ground mill. Prior to the midnight shift a man had been borrowed from the beater-room but Avhen Major's shift commenced he couldn't lie spared. He Avent to the .shift foreman and stated that he either had to

have a man or Avould be forced to gear the grinders back to 3 notches In this, Brown had more or less acquiesced, and it had been done., Brown not. mentioning the matter again.' At 3 a.m. the stackers had got ahead Avith their work and a man Avas borrowed to feed, enabling the grinders to be put again on to full normal production. Not British His ; client had not heard another Avord about the incident until the A'isit of the ManpoAver Officer, some three wcc'ks later Avhen he. visited the mill in connection Avith other matters. Such methods, contended Mr Barry, Avere. not in tune Avith British justice. A man Avho had Avorked for the company for nearly three years, giving every satisfaction, had done something Avhich had been done previously when faced Avith the same circumstances, Avitli the idea of bringing it under the notice of the management, and then without, a Avord to him, had been made the subject of a serious complaint to. the Manpower Officer.

Norton S. Major in evidence described the incidents leading up to his action, stating that he was- the oldest employee in the grinder mill and also that he had no objection whatever feeding in when a genuine emergency occurred but he did object in common Avith the other foremen to having to do it continually. Labour Shortage Problem He followed out his regular routine when lie came on shift and his conversation Avith the beaterroom foreman, Avhich had been alleged as wasted time was. in . connection Avith the very incident on which the complaint av;is founded. He Avas seeking a solution to a very trying situation. Mr Brown had given him c\*ery sympathy. ll' lie bad been definitely ordered to feed the grinder himself by Mr Brown he would have done so, but under protest. No such order had been given. The. pulp chests Avere full in any case and he could not have fed for another hour had he wanted to. HoweA'cr he had urged the sawyers and stackers to speed lip and at 3 a.m. Avas able to take a man into the. mill and resume normal crushing. To Mr Brown, he said that he had no objection to feeding in the event of a man being ill or being called away urgently. He had done so for three hours hist week. He did not want it to become a regular practice that was all. He agreed that the company could not be expected to put off permanent experienced hands Avhere medical certificates were forthcoming and that therefore it AA*as inevitable that certain periods would occur when the mill Avas short handed and such a position could not. be avoided. He had always been willing to pull his weight under such circumstances.. The committee after a brief adjournment decided to dismiss the petition for derating submitted by the company.