MEAT STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1668, 7 February 1913, Page 6

MEAT STRIKE.

GEAR CO. & NGAHAURANGA.

START IN A WEEK. ; MORE ON THE UNION RUSE. WHAT IS A "WORKER"? "Worker means any person of any : age of either sex, employed by any employer to do any skilled or unskill--ed mnnnal or clerical work for hire or reward." i This" definition of "worker'- is given in Sub-section F of Clause 2 of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration-Act of 1908. -It has been much discussed by .those, interested in both parties to the slaughtermen's dispute, especially with relation to the application of the Slaughtermen's Unions for "registration. It is being urged, that the men now. on strike aro not workers any longer, in tho meat industry, and that they are therefore not entitled.to have their unions registered. This question has been brought under the notice of.the labour Department, and it will, be' . referred to tho Crown Law Office. / •:■•■.. The. only fresh development in strike tmattcrs in Wellington is that the- two -local companies are this morning, by advertisement offering ..employment to . any persons ready to act as slaughtermen in their works.' It is probable that .the works.will'be running again in the course of a week; and that chough men will' be offering to justify tho companies in resuming. Already therohavo been an enoouraging number, of applications for employment as butchers, and more are -expected, soipe from among those now on strike. by Mr. W. G. Foster.Concerning the. advertisement of his company ottering employment" as .slaughtermen to. those willing to work as such, .Mr. \V. G. Foster (managing director of tho, Wellington Meat, lixport; Company) niado the following statement yesterday.:— "1 think 'tho time has como .when, wo should make it quite, clear to slaughtermen, ■ intending learners, and others tnat; this • company s works are • compulsorily idle, and that, as may bo expected, we are anxious ; and ready to : make'a re-start. Naturally, we;would have preferred such recommencement to be' with trained men,.but this.being 'impracticable at present, wo. are willing,to,provide hooks lor other sections of workers able, to- slaughter, and dress,-and'lor learners.. From this it will be understood that the company, is not. 'as has been stated, lighting unionism. On ;the contrary, lam an advocate of it, provided it is reasonably ! conducted, but in tho present case it has' been conclusively shown • that slaughtermen in tbo North Island have season after season made high wages for a fairly lengthy period, and beyond question relatively: much, greater than members of any other union of workers. If their cessation . from.. work. affected ■ theth only it would bo a comparatively small • matter, :but ,thoy are lotting unemployment on ■probably more than ten times-their, own numbers, and this without the excuse of insufficient pay. "Various reasons are asserted for the registration just (effected, amongst them being the intention to frustrate tho registration of a new union. : From this it is reasonablo to infer that, the formation of such' a' new union is ''imminent. In any case, it would appear that there is lack of unanimity even perhaps in their own ranks. I prefer, however, to think that it rather, indicates a desire, now their tactics h.avo saved them from pains and penalties, to "recognise tho spirit of tho law once more, and I hope that it,is,;tho forerunner of tho' acceptance;'of the suggestion .offered by Sir George Clifford on behalf of all companies' to submit to, arid loyally .abido by the decision of the Arbitration Court. This proposal has never ibeen withdrawn by tho companies,' and is still open to tho slaughtermen's unions. It will be entirely at their door if the present unemployment of large, numbers, of, other operatives continues." ,

/.; CANTERBURY WORKS.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ' Christchurch, -February 6. , A reporter asked Mr. P. C. Webb, president of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, who Was in town to-day, if the Federation had been approached by either the slaughtermen or tho waterside workers on '. the subject of the trouble at present existing. Mr. Webb said that he had been absent:from the';Wellington.Federation's headquarters for some days and "was riot aware that any communication had been received from either body mentioned, and the executive of the Federation had not yet discussed the matter. ■•'•': Whatever may be going on behind the scenes, outwardly all is quiet at tho two local freezing works, and there "are no exciting happenings to record. Following the lead of Belfast, a guard is now stationed, at tho main entrance to the Islington works, and a reporter who visited the place was told that there wns ( no admittance to anybody. The only people who aro allowed within the precincts aro employees actually engaged in the place.'. However, Mr. Leslie (tho manager) came out to tho gate, and in reply to questions, said that'as could be seen, every-' •thing was absolutely tranquil. Up till the present, work had been' found for a fair percentage of men other thnu-slaugh-termen, but it would not last more than another week at the outside, and then every hand would have to bo paid off. Mr. Leslie was bommendably discreet when the question of free labour was touched upon, but said that thcro had been a fair number, of applications from men'who were willing to man\the boards. He would not, iowever, hazard an opinion as to the capabilities of the applicants, nor could he give the slightest indication when there was any likelihood of the works starting again. At present the only, killing that is. being done is for .local consumption, and*tkis, of course, ■is of very small proportions. . Everything about tho township of Tern.pleton is "exceedingly quiet, not to .say •stagnant, and here,-as at Belfast, local storekeepers must feel the' situation considerably, and boardinghouso-keepers also. By far the laTger portion of the siugle men among the butchers'havo scattered in all directions, while-married men have gone,, to their homes; the result being that' usually ..bustling townships have an un-; wonted air ofjlistlessness. At the Belfast works things are even quieter than at Islington, for all'work is at a standstill. The watchman's task is now more or less of a sinecure, and his chief coraolaint is that he has.nothing to do. At no timo have casual visitors been allowed to'wander about the Belfast works at,their own vsweeti will. They must be provided with a proper nass before they can inspect the place. Now the watchman just' asks any" new arrival what ho wants or what- he wants tn see. nnd then he is handed over to Mr. Hopkins, the manager, to deal with'. The number of applications at Belfast for work have just about been up to expectations, and it is said that many of the men who have applied ore very smart, capable-looking tradesmen. . Several .of them have recently come out from Home, whero they have been engaged in butchering, but the total number of applicants for work at the two factories is not sufficient to warrant the supposition that work is likely to start for some timo yet, and if any fresh complication arises (which does not seem impossible), it may' be 'dor laved indefinitely. . The officials at the freezing works' do not seem to be unduly perturbed at the possibility of trouble arising with the slaughtermen's assistants. They say that this labour is not skilled.labour, and is of such a nature that elderly men'or youngsters arc quite capablo of tackling it, A great deal of drudgery is done away with nt the larger works by the installation of u'p-to-dnte machinery, which deals with offal, and what remains of the job could be easily picked up by an ordinary lnl> ourer in a vcry'short time.

Tho Deputy J Mayor of Christchuroh has received a. letter from tho secretary of tho Slaughtermen's Union, enclosing tho following resolution, adopted at n meeting of the union held on Monday night:— "This meeting recommends tho slaughtermen employed at tho city abattoirs not to

kill any stock (or boiling down purposes." The Deputy-Mayor informed a reporter to-day that' no .slaughtering for boiling down was done.at tho abattoirs, nor was there any intention of taking on any such work.. Occasionally,, to oblige tho.butchers, small lines of stock wcro slaughtered at tho abattoirs for boiling down,,but the work at the-abattoirs consisted principally—in fact, almost entirely—of slaughtering for local consumption. ' WATERSIDE MOVE. MAT BE MET BY COMPANIES. Gisborne, February G. ' The possible attitude of the Waterside Workers in regard to the employment of free labour on the slaughtering boards at tho freezing works has been discussed of late, and light is thrown on the matter by the following resolution wkich was carried at a meeting of tho Gisborne Waterside Workers to-night:—"That this meeting accords the Slaugntermen's Union their heartiest support, and in the future ■will give all the support possible without infringing tho .Gisborne Waterside Workers' agreement." This is interpreted to mean that the Waterside Workers may possibly refuse to handle "free labour" meat.

. Tho companies, however; anticipated such a contingency when preparing their plans for the introduction of free labour to the boards, .and a meeting of sheep farmers, held some weeks ago, pledged themselves to stand by the companies right through,' even, it was' -understood, in the matter of shipping the meat should the Watersidcrs- determine not to handle

it. There is every indication that pledged country labour will bo employed for the work. The intention of tho farmers and the companies is to resolutely meet one' 'difficulty after another. ' , v Tho, free labour slaughtermen employed atsKaiti observed a "turf" holiday to-day on account. of the local races, but will resume to-morrow. ■ ...

UNION OFFICIAL'S TRIP NORTH. 'Hastings, February 6. "■ Mr. M. J. Heardon, secretary of tho Slaughtermen's Federation, arrived in Hastings last evening, and subsequently attended a meeting of the Slaughtermen's Union.

Interviewed to-day, Mr. Beardon said that there was no information for the press arising out of the.meeting. Asked if there had been any change in the men's attitude, Mr. Beardon replied in the negative. Ho said that the tallies recorded by the men .who went on the boards yesterday did not affect the slaughtermen's position. At Tomoana, 28 men killed 500 sheep, and at Pakipaki, 0 men managed to put through 1 -143; whilst at the North British works at tho Port, the total tally was 170. At the last-named works there were 10 butchers, including 8 Maoris. So far as he could learn, only one unionist had "caved in" and returned to work. That was at Tomoana. The tallies recorded yesterday did not weaken the position of the strikers, and were quite satisfied. ' In reply to a further question, Mr. Eeardon said that negotiations wero now in progress with a- large buyer in the North Island, who was prepared to grant tho new demands. The gentleman, in question had a number of contracts \to fulfil for the Homo,market, and ho would insist on, tho companies killing tho sheep according to tho terms of tho agreement which ho had with them. ' Ho was~-pre-pared to accept the terms of the agreement entered into at the Waingawa' works, but had not been consulted. The sheep which he had bought would be slaughtered at the works most convenient for delivery. As long as the butchers were prepared to do the slaughtering, he would insist on the companies doing the freezing. ...

The strikers are very reticent regarding what took place at last night's meeting, and no information is obtainable.: It is understood, however, that,the men were unanimously in favour of standing, by their demands, and arc confident that the companies will ultimately ■ agree ■to the new; terms, asked-for.

Twelve men went on the boards atPaki-' paki to-day, and applications aro coming in from outsido districts, but preferencewill be given'to local men. .-■ Twenty-eight men slaughtered 800 sheep in ft' short-day at Tomoana,'and their work is'improving.. '■'. ;,' ; . .LONGBURN. TO. START.! •■' .-'■-' Palmerston, Eebruary 6; The Longburn freezing works start kill-., ing, again on Monday ot 8. o'clock. The company have been advertising for slaugh-, tornien, and havo been successful. ,