SHEARERS GRIEVANCE. '" '' ■ '.' ;»;.'

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1623, 14 December 1912, Page 6

SHEARERS GRIEVANCE. '" '' ■ '.' ;»;.'

TROUBLE AT TABLELANDS. Trouble'his - 'arisen;' at TabTe7anus.. ; in xmnection. with the of ''daggy ■'•' $iieep,_for which 25..-6 d. extra' per hundred is provided for.- Mr. Sl.Laracy, the secretary of 'the.: Shearers'. Association, states that the position is not. verj, serious.. The shearers have no intention of striking, and the trouble id a limited one. Most employers dag their own.-sheep.be-, ..'..- fore the.-shearers arrive.. Shearers do; not object,• to'dagging sheep so-long as they arepaid;the extra amount per-hun-dred. The question raised by the Table- ■. lands'dispute is whether.: shearers are '■:'. within their rights in demanding the extra 2s. .Gd.-. per'hundred for shearing • daggy sheep.; The following is the statement of the shearers' representative at the ehed in question. It will be seen that prior to entering the shed the sheep tad been through the dagging pen. Acpordinf'to'the shearers', .however,' the . eheep were not properly. dagged when fhey reached, the shearing-board. (To the' Editor.) . -v ; Siiy- I desire to explain what tho true '■ faots of the-trouble at the above station really are. The roll was called at .the shed on November.l 4, and shearing com- ■-. menoed , on-that date.- The sheep which were put through-up :td the time of the -trouble had been dagged by station ' em- . ployees" at ; the' expense of the employer. iWhile shearing was suspended through ■ ;wet weather, I myself had received payment for dagging, as were other'shearers and station hands. At the time of the trouble dagging operations , were being carried on , inthe yards, but as only two jnen, were employed, and'the sheep were in a bad, condition, they were not able to clean sufficient to supply the shearers. In such cases it is customary to allow the shearers 2s. 6d. %r 3s. per hundred, in. addition to the rate being paid for ■ shearing if they dagged the sheep on tho Acting as representative- ; - for the shearers, I approached the manager, and informed him .'that we were agreeable 'to" dag the -sheep : on the shear-ing-floor if he was willing to grant the usual allowance. This he refused to. do, end as he",was not. prepared; to-pay for 'the dagging as he had previously done, I objected to'doing the work without payment. I continued shearing;-and the ' manager admitted'-that my' sheep were irell shorn, but for the fact that X had not taken the dags off, and'this I refused to do without payment, my.: contention ' being that dagging was not shearing. When reprimanded by the manager, 1 had 21 sheep in my receiving-pen, out of which six had the dags on. The manager requested me to dag these sheep out in tho receiving-pen, which I refused to do and was thereupon dismissed by him. I immediately reported to the secretary of the Shearers' Association in Wellington, and I understand that the case is now in the hands of the Labour Department, whose duty it is to deal with what I claim to be a breach of award. _. . (Signed) C\ M.,MUEPHX.