EXTRA PAY OR NO MEAT

Chronicle (Levin), 31 March 1947, Page 2

EXTRA PAY OR NO MEAT

-Presz Associction

STRIKE THREAT BACKS WAGES DEMAND

8y TelearcuDhi-

CllllIS'.^LURCH, Marcli 30. Altliougk rqp'r'eacntativcs of tlio froezing . compauyes ' and Cantorbury Ereezing Workc.rs ' Cnion will meet tomorrow niorniug at a conference in an endeavour to ..settle* -tlie strike wliicli will be in its tenth day in seven works, the serious'ijossibilitiy -exists. that unless a demand ' for* increased wages by butchers and othfer .lvands at the cily abattoir at Sockburn, is met tomorrow, the supply of fresh meat to Christchurch will suddenly cease. The lirst warnxng that the Christchurch City Council, which owns the abattoir and has the city 's meat killed there under contract, had ot' tli'e threatened strike was on Saturday. It eame from representativcs of tlie Master Butchers' Associatiou- wh.i, having beeu giveu an ultimalum on Friday morning, asked the council foi its assistance. Confirmation that the abattoir workers had made their de mands, was given to the Town Clerli (Mr. II. S. Feast) when he tnet Mr. 11 . G. Kilpatrick (necretary of the Freez ing. Workers and Related Trade.-. Union) at the Trades Hall on Saturday afternoou. A deadline for au ansvver to their demands, was fixed by tlie workers for 7.45 a.m. tomorrow and they have inforined the master butchers tliat they will not begin killing at h a.m. unless their demand for a wage i n crease to all workers of £1 week, is made. The nathro of the reply and its consideration by the workers will dic tate the developments.

"We are going to do our best to lix the matter up, " said Councillor j. N'. CJarke (chairman), when he said tlus evening that the Citv Council 's abat toir coniniitlee would meet at S a.m. tomorrow to discuss the situation. The wages' question at the abattoir where the -nien are employed on a weekly wage, has, it is reportod, been coming to a liead for some -time. Tlie award tcrm lnis expired but the con tractor was unable to accede to any requcst for higher pay. It Was only on Friday that the contractor met the abattoir conimittee- "which decided t-i support an application to the Price Investigation TribunaJ for an increaso in killing rates of 10 per cent. Tlie wages issue was immediately raised by tlie workers when tlie master butchers asked tliem oii Friday to lull t'or butchers selling about one-tliird of the city's meat, who had lieen shut out of the Islington freezing works through the strike there. ' The conference of the freezing works strike will be presided over by Mr. A. B. Rigg, Coneiliation and Wages Com inissioner. t Au eariier proposal during the weck-end by the companies tliat u tribunal be set up with Mr. Rigg as chairman, was rejected by the union. The motorsliip Brisbane Star at Lyttelton has been dela.yed because of the liold.-up in tlie loading of meat. The vessel was to have taken aboard 75,000 carcases of mutton but so far only a small . portion of this has been loaded. A furtlier eomplication is a dispute about loading wool, the watersiders re fusing to load double dumps although prepared to handle single dumps. The Brisbane Star was to have ,sailed this week for London and Liverpool but now probably will go to another port to com•lete loading. j