Specific Objects Of Sharemilkers' Section Explained

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 62, 9 March 1949, Page 6

Specific Objects Of Sharemilkers ' Section Explained

According to Mr D. Turner, Dominion president of the sharemilkers’ section, and Mr R. Woolerton, chairman of the dairy section of Federated Farmers of New Zealand (Waikato Province), in the interest of sharemilkers, publicity should be given to the relationship between sharemilkers and employers. It had been brought to their notice they said in a joint statement issued to the Beacon, that subtle interferences which have been made by a smaller organisation of sharemilkers could do untold harm and cause this type of potential farmer still further to reduce its ranks and automatically bring about a drop in production. Messrs Woolerton and Turner proceeded to explain exactly what the sharemilkers’ section was. . A sub-section of the dairy section, they said, had full power of autonomy in that it elected its own officers and conducted its own affairs. Its purpose was to look after the interests of sharemilkers —to attend to disputes, to look after agreements and to attend to any other matter that affected sharemilkers. The set-up of the sharemilkers’ section was the same as the other sections of Federated Farmers, they added. It had a Dominion executive consisting of representatives of each type of sharemilker from each province where there was a sharemilkers’ section, provincial executives on the same lines as the Dominion ,and sub-provincial executives. It also had a representative on the Dominion dairy section council and one on each provincial dairy section executive of Federated Farmers, also delegates to all sub-provin-cial executives. It would be seen that it was in touch with all matters connected with the federation and with farming in general. Dispute committees had been set up by the section in each district, and in the case of a dispute arising these committees met corresponding committees from the sharemilkers’ employers’ section, no interference from any outside bodies being ne- | cessary in the settlement of any dispute. It was claimed that this set-up would lead to a better understanding between sharemilker and employer and it was pointed out that the section had been successful in negotiations with the empoyers’ section where other bodies had failed. The claim was made that it would be to the advantage of all sharemilkers to join the section, as in doing so they would keep all farming matters inside Federated Farmers which was, after all, an organisation established for the sole purpose of protecting the interests of the men on the land.