MEAT STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1666, 5 February 1913, Page 5

MEAT STRIKE.

LATEST MOVE BY THE MEN,

>ASK TO RE-REGISTER.

" SAVES THOUSANDS IN FINES."

'Throe of tlic Slaughtermen's Unions of the Dominion which recently cancelled their registration under tho Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act havo applied for re-registration. The other three- unions of slaughtermen will almost immediately do tho same and the reregistration of the Slaughtermen's Federation will follow in due course. Before many days havo claused, unless somb totally unexpected hitch occurs, tho whole body of slaughtermen' in New Zealand will bo once again fully 'bound by tho provisions of tho Arbitration Act.

The results of this latest move may bo far-reaching, but. tho position briefly is that tho slaughtermen hope, without/sacrificing any important advantage, to 'block'tho formation of now unions in tho districts affected by the strike now in pro-

gress. . ' , * i When inquiry was made at the Labour Department yesterday tiny information in regard to tho application of the'slaughtermen was refused. As to tho general' however, tho official who was questioned was moro communicative.. Ho stated that when an. award relating to an industry had' expired and a union had cancelled its registration, all obligations previously imposed'by tho award tcrmin'ntcd. So much is common knowledge.'But in addition, although the members of the late union havo followed up the cancella-. tion of; their registration by instituting a strike, there is notning to prevent them forming a new union and seeking registration afresh, Tho strike.; may • continuo after the. new union has-registered, but the workers'concerned retain.tho immunity from strike penalties which .they gained by cancelling tho registration of their former organisation. , K is truo that the .employers can institute arbitration proceedings and' obtain an award which will bo binding oil tho i i'it- hl °" " aml CTfotceablo bv penalties, but this takes time. Just how'long it will tato cannot stated." but in tno.case of the slaughtermen it is extremely unlikely, that a new award can Do obtained before the present strike has run its full course and lasted as long as 't ™«lu be-likely, to last in any case. iTio unions which.have already anfllietl for. registration are: Tho-Gisborne," Canterbury, and ■Wellington organisations, the ;Auckland;.;Otago, and Southland slaughtermen's/unions are all'but ready' to tnko.simijar action.' Tho Canterbury and Wellington unions have each a mem'-' bership of nbont'2so men. The other four unions Share amongst them in about even proportions about 375 members.; As stated 1 thoregistration; of the individual unions will be followed immediately by the re-' gisfratipn. of; the. Slaughtermen's Fcdera T

h?'i5 e en! n , ls ; th!it '' ns far as strateer ; ioes tho.buteherWnd their leaders nrVsrfe Ucllinrton. Unions sent in their npplica-' tions to the. Labour Department on Feb-' , r S i <loerimeitts-lmd been ■S, I " nd '<»S'required by. the Act,: copies of the rules .signed bv tho presil' aem.and secretary, wore (passed in-■-' The special,.mcetinKs■.which must legally: pre-' <**> the formation'"of a union had been' ■ir i a dll ° n SMi for secrecy; : ~'Mr. M. J. Reardon, secretary of the Maughtermon's . Federation, expects to {"Mr .from tho Labour Denartroent to-day ! that the registration: applied for by the three unions, has been granted. "All necessary formalities have been complied with, h? told a Dominion reporter. tps,terday.v"and I, see no reason why.'the : Department; should refuse ' to -. 'register. Aotiucation that the apnlicat'ons liavo been, granted, should.be forthcomi.ni' tonwrrnw. I have never laboured under the delusion," added Mr. Keardon, "that the slaughtermen n're.srrom>er than tho law, .and I simply; had to, devise- a way round, ..instead of buttine into tho low. I believe that,! have saved the slaugbter-' men of New Zealand, between three 'rind four thousand pounds in fines." .••■ , . ■ One other pointmontionedby Mr. Roar,don was that he was 'well 'lawafe that' the moat companies could institute' proceedings, to, obtain rin award. : In. his opinion, however, even if there is a special sitting of the Arbitration Court to deal with the. slaughtermen's disputo no award can bo framed in less than three, months from.tho present time. It was thus extremely : unlikely. Mr. Poardon remarked in conclusion, that arbitration ■ proceedings would.'affect.'in any way the result of the. present; strike.'

Free men on the boards.:'•;, . ''~,'■; ;. start;at. napier, .;.; .. (By.Telegraph.—Presß Association.)' , 1■...I■... '.' ,/•.• Napier,.February i., • , As had been arranged,; slaughtering at the North British Freezing Company's works was resumed to-day by the nidi of -free .labour; There was practically ,ho demonstration, on tlio: sart of the displaced' strikers,'who took tho .'matter-.very quietly, and,; indeed, ' it' is said' that 'many of 'the single men nre preparing to leavo the district to'seek pastures new. No admittance to tjie, works could be gairied.'but a reporter was informed by the managing director to-night that more applications for work' had been received than tho company oonld grant, mid that 'no/difficulty anticipated in being nblo to continue operations,on,a' satisfactory basis.-, ;•■' .'■.'.■."■'.'.-. ' : '■■■•■;

A full' staff was not employed to-day on account of the fact that the overseer'had to instruct a number of the men, but what work, was done was done very well, ; although porhops not so quickly as,by more experienced butchers. : ■ v s ," THE.'TOkOMAfijU BAY WORKS; ' :. 'FREE MEN DOING WELL. •.. •. ,Gisb6rne,iFcbruhry 4. Tho Tokomaru Freezing Works resumed work at 8 o'clock this morning with' free labour, on tho boards,, including three Natives. By noon the Natives had been increased to eleven. The management is quite satisfied, and expects to liavo'a full board in the course of a day\ or two. There has been no trouble with the strikers. The new .men are killing at the rate of from: seven t6 ten sheep per hour, w'hich is considered satisfactory. . At tho Kaiti works, ho less than 2ijmen wefo working on the'boards this'afternoon, including learners, tad moro tiro expected to-morrow.' '~....'•',!.;, It is stated that although a/fair'number of the sheep slaughtered on, Monday were rejected for freezing,, tho number to: was. very small, and thdt tho slaughtering was quite up to.tho standard of rocent days with the old slaughtermen. The company expects to be turning out its usual output in about a fortnight. THE SKILL OF THE FREE MEN. . ■ ONE FIRM SATISFIED. Hastings, February 4. The Tomoaha works will reopen tomorrow. Tho firm had: no difficulty in obtaining free labour, and slaughtering will bo resumed with a full board. Those men who hnvo come to the firm's assistance will' bo allowed to retain their hooks as long as they desire, and overy reasonable opportunity will be nllowod theni to become expert slaughtermen. In tho event of vacancies occurring, on tho boards tho strikers will be allowed to go back to work should they feel inclined to do so.

,• With reference to tho remarks of one of tho strikers, reported in tho "Tribune," to the effect that .tho work done by 'inexperienced Hands "might be satisfactory to tho firms, but it was doubtful if tho farmers would put up with it for very long, etc.," Messrs.: Kelson Bros.' opinion is quite the reverse. They, anticipate that the slanghrerin; work will be done very much better by the new boards of men than it has been for some time past. If it is worse, then it will bo very bad indeed.

With regard to the Pakipaki Freezing Works, no information was ascertainable to-day, but it is uudonstood that, os yet, Messrs, Boithwick and Sons havo not

obtained a full board, and tho works afo ffyll closed. Tho Freezers' Union arc holding a meeting liero to-night. AT WANGANUI. Wanganui. February, i. With the exception of tho fact that the slanghtermen have ceased killing abattoir meat thero is nothing fresh Uj record here. The men ngrced souio days ago to slaughter for local requirements, but the terms now advanced are not acceptable to tho directors of the company. Arrangements have already been made,' and so tho prospects of a .meat famine are remote. The company has received several.offers of assistance, and hopes soon to commence operations again. The freezers are adopting n neutral attitude. A. number of men have already had their services dispensed with, and about 150' employees outside of the butchers will bo affected. . .•'•.• ■ iN CANTERBURY. . Christchurch, February 4. There are no developments to record in connection with tho tronblo with tho slaughtermen in Canterbury. Each side is waiting for the other to capitulate, nud, as far as outward appearances go, capitulation is tho idea farthest from the intention of cither. Inquiries at tho offices of the freezing companies tins morning, as to the number of applications received in response to the companies' advertisements calling for tho services of expert slaughtermen, wero productive of no result except a statement tint tho dato when the works'will bo reopened will be duly announced. TIMARU POSITION. ■ , Timaru, February 4. ■ Some applications for "hooks" at tho local .freezing works have been received. Tho number so far is /not ■ stated.