MEAT STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1656, 24 January 1913, Page 5

MEAT STRIKE.

THE DAYS OF GRACE AT AN END,

• DEADLOCK STILL.

SWAY OF THE AUSTRALIANS.

IN BUTCHERING

HANDICAPPED LOCAL MEN.

To-day is tho last day on which tho freezing companies' offer to the slaughtermen 0f,275; Gd. per 100 sheep or lambs remains open.

No steps have been taken by the union hero in the direction of accepting that offer, and, so far as can bo learned, nothing has been done in any of tho other sheds.'

■* After to-day tho fight between the two parties begins in Teal earnest, and it is understood that tho employers are a,united body. What the unions in various places will do remains to be seen. No test of their staying power has been made yet, for the employers have been merely passive resisters—have even been conciliatory to the extent of offering to concede a portion of what tho slaughtermen asked. ■• Now it' will bo for the companies to take what steps they deem necessary to man their slaughter-houses; with workers, not necessarily new men, but men. who are not under tho dominance of the Slaughtermen's Union. It will be a comparatively easy matter for some of the country works, such as those at Wanga-' nui or Napier, to find men ready and willing to do the work for the rates now paid —men now employed in tho country who kill occasional sheep—but in \Vellingtou the men may not be quite so easy to find nt first.. When the strike is successfully broken elsewhere, workers may be offering here readily enough.

•_ The weakness of the companies' position is that they are liable to be pressed to resume work at any cost by farmers who find themselves with a lot of fat stock and diminishing supplies' of feed. The rain of Tuesday appears to.hav<s been fairly general in this disti'ict, and.it must have tho effect of saving a very great deal'of grass and' rapo intended for "freezers." Also it is believed that very many of ,the farmers are with the companies ju.st now.': l ''; '.',.: i Several. Wairarapa farmers in town for tho races stated yesterday that the general feeling amongst growers'is that tho time has arrived when the companies must make a firm fight, and that a considerable number of them are willing to make considerable sacrifices to help the companies in tho fight. ■' Tho companies would have a great deal to gain by success. They would, presumablyl, rid thcnisclves of the .troublesome clauses of the awards or agreements restricting to too low a. limit the number of learners to be employed. Tho object of restricting tho number of apprentices' to bo employed in any industry is, of course, to prevent under-paid : boys ■from doing what should bo the work of trained men. In this trade the work can ,bo done only by men, and all the work is paid at piece rates./ The present position is very unsatisfactory for. New Zealand workers and New Zealand employers. In- Australia the frozen meat industry, • though big in volume over a period of years, suffers in bad seasons, and there is less continuity and regularity about tho running of tho works. : Men seem to bo' ablo to i qualify for a clearance from tho Slaughtermen's Union these without very much experience, and they come over here, join the New Zealand union, and apply, for a . hook at some of the works. .Usually a man who so applies gets 'work, and it is often discovered later that he cannot keep up to the shed tally, and'that he does not know his work. - . ■ •

No New Zcalander hns a chance to get into the industry, on such good terms. However well a New Zcalander knows the work of slaughtering, he cannot got work as a slaughterman unless first takes distasteful work as a labourer—cleaning up after, the butchers. And the number ol learners, is so restricted that ho may no get to the highly paid work perhaps fo tomo years.' .-'■'' • .'•'

The preference clauses help the union, uuds, mid help tho Australians, who, hough not a. majority, really dominate aostof the unions, but it retards the New Zealand 1 workers, It might Jie assumed, also, that the restriction of learners, and the increase in the rates payable, would produco;better workmanship,.but those in a.position 'to know say that the work is not nearly so well done now as it was ten years ago.

Tho manufacturing departments, except the manure departments, in both the local works will" all be closed down to-day or to-morrowj and this will mean that about COO men'will be out of employment. They will lose in wages some JC2500 or more every week. This number takes no account of the rnen in the country, who usually work at this season droving and trucking sheep for export, who now, by no fault: of; their own, and very much against their will, find themselves without work. ■' . ".'•.:; '''•.''■■. v'-

Potone continues' quiet and a stranger entering the place would not know that any thing, unusual had occurred.. Some of the slaughtermen' on strike havo betaken themselves to fishing to while away tho time, and others'spent yesterday at tho races.: ■ ,1 .....;..' ~!'.■-",

At!tho Gear Company's works the preserving department closed down yesterday afternoon, and the felliuongery will close down torday. Tho manure- works alone remain in operation and they aro not likely to shut down for some timo. An informant having largo.interests in the meat export industry stated in con. versation the : other day that the companies were prepared to face a strike of two months' at the.very least and that even at the end of that period they would not give in..."■-' : M.P.'S ASKED TO STEP IN. . / (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) . Christchurch, January 23. A meeting of the Slaughtermen's Union was held to-night, but no information was available as to the decisions arrived at. Messrs. Davey and Witty, M.P.'s, who, on a previous occasion, intervened'successfully in! a dispute several rears ago, havo been asked by private individuals to do tho Bamo on this, occasion! .

Mr. T. Wilford, M.P., asks us to state that he intends to tho slaughtermon at Petono on Saturday night.