3000 meat workers in Canty suspended

Press, 11 February 1986, Page 3

3000 meat workers in Canty suspended

Almost 3000 meat workers in Canterbury have been suspended already, and more could follow, as stock killing grinds to a halt because of the shift engineers’ dispute. Shift engineers throughout New Zealand have been suspended after giving notice they would turn off cooling systems to storerooms for freshly slaughtered carcases.

The dispute concerns the engineers’ claim for a wage increase of at least 15.5 per cent. None of the four plants run by the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company had killed since Friday, said Mr Richard Allan,

the company’s operations manager. ;

The company employs about 2400 workers at its four plants, which include the Belfast plant near Christchurch and the Fairton Works, Ashburton. Most workers had already been suspended and others would follow as their work ran out, he said.

Mr Allan said some of the workers had been suspended after they refused to work because of the use of non-union labour. Management staff were maintaining the temperature in storerooms, but there would be no attempt to resume killing until the dispute was settled.

Mr Allan was pessimistic about the chances of an early settlement, and said that export orders could be affected by a prolonged strike. Mr Max Willyams, the Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating Company’s operations manager, said his company’s nine ; New Zealand plants had killed yesterday, but what would happen today was uncertain.

Meat workers at Islington walked off the job at lunch-time yesterday because of the use of nonunion labour. They might return today to kill stock in the yards, he said. The company employed 759 wage-earners at its

Islington plant, but not all will be suspended if killing ceases.

The Kaiapoi plant of C. S. Stevens suspended 357 meat workers and labourers yesterday because there was no killing. Another 60 workers and 30 tradesmen could also be suspended soon if work is not available for them.

Ashley Meat Processors, Ltd, which also is owned by C. S. Stevens, reported a normal day’s killing. The company said yesterday that it was not affected by the dispute as it was a semi-automated plant which did not employ shift engineers.