Brewery workers likely to be back on job today
Brewery workers are expected to resume work todav after being suspended or on strike for the last 10 days. |
The president of the Canterbury branch of the Brewery and Related Trades Workers’ Union (Mr M. M. Hurring) said last evening that the brewery workers would meet this morning and he was sure they would return to work. Many were suspended by the breweries on April 5 and 6, after a strike by boiler attendants in support of a “disability” allowance allegedly caused a lack of normal work for brewery workers. The workers not suspended walked out on April 6 in support of their colleagues and have remained out. The boiler attendants could have returned to work last Tuesday when their union, the Engine Drivers’ Union, agreed to have the dispute settled by arbitration, but because of the brewery strike they had no work to return to. Most hotels fared reasonably with the supplies they had in their tanks or in stock, but by the weekend some were feeling the pinch. The West Coast appears to have been worst hit. The Greymouth reporter of “The Press” said that draught beer had disappeared from all but a handful of hotels and clubs, and bottled beer stocks were dwindling quickly yesterday. Only two Greymouth hotels had a small amount of draught yesterday, while at least two others
had neither draught nor bottled beer for sale.
Greymouth brewery workers met last Thursday and have agreed to return to work today, according to the manager of the West Coast branch of Dominion Breweries (Mr T. R. Maguigan). By late yesterday about six hotels or taverns in Christchurch had run out of draught beer or were “critically short,” but checks by “The Press” disclosed that some earlier reports by hotel managers were exaggerated so that readers who were not “loyal” drinkers at the hotels would be deterred from making “raids.” The manager of the hotel division of Ballins Industries (Mr A. L. Reddiford) said that three or four of the Ball ins chain of 21 outlets in Christchurch had run out of draught by late yesterday, and by closing time he expected five or six would be out. Many others stopped selling flagons last week. Mr Maguigan said that on the West Coast a “crash” programme would be introduced to have draught deliveries resumed as quickly as possible to the hotels and clubs. The brewery' supplies all the West Coast, plus Nelson and Marlborough outlets. “We will endeavour to see that they get at least a tank full as. early as possible to keep them
going. We will be flat out for at least three days,” Mr Maguigan said. A spokesman for Lion Breweries said that it would take about two days for the beer tankers to get supplies back to normal. The drivers who work for Lion own their vehicles, and have not been on strike. They are paid according to the terms of their contracts, most of which are based on commission sales, but they'’ also get a guaranteed minimum wage. Soft-drink workers, who went on strike for three days last week in support of brewery workers, who are in the same union, will also resume work today. However, workers at the yeast factory of Mauri Brothers and Thomson in Moorhouse Avenue will strike from today for three days and at the Canterbury New Zealand Malting Company tomorrow for three days, also in support of the brewery workers.
The brewery boiler attendants will resume conciliation talks today to settle their agreement on matters other than the disability allowance, which will go to arbitration.
It is not known whether the suspended brewery workers will be paid. The breweries are not legally bound to pay, but the union might press claims for payment. Meetings at the breweries will probably consider this today.
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Press, 17 April 1979, Page 1
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645Brewery workers likely to be back on job today Press, 17 April 1979, Page 1
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