MEAT STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 6

MEAT STRIKE.

THE BOARDS ALL BUT FULL,

CONTENDING UNIONS,

Tho Petone and Ngahauranga ex-slaugh-termen, it is' understood, decided at their meeting on Thursday evening not to go back to work, but 110 oflicial intimation as to the result of tho meeting is yet available. . Ho far as can bo ascertained, tho local companies are not at all concerned as to tho lino of action that the ex-slaughtcr-men may decide to take. "We have very little room tor additional slaughtermen now," one company representative remarked yesterday, "and our boards will bo full on Monday. The men at work show a marked improvement every day, and outputs are steadily increasing in volume.. If need bo we can get somo men up from Canterburv, but indications are that this will be' hardly necessary." As showing how'tho free labourers are improving ill skill and speed, tho same authority mentioned the case of a man who killed 14 sheep on the day when ho joined tho board three or four "weeks ago. Yesterday this slaughterman killed and dressed G3 sheen, completing his task in a thoroughly workmanlike manner. It is stated that this is tho typical case, and that the progress of the free labourers in general is equally satisfactory. Available indications suggest that the strike has brought out a contingent of new slaughtermen who will continue m tho industry, and not merely a body of men willing to tide tho companies over a difficulty. Not a few of tho freo labourers, it is stated, h'avo been waiting for vears for a chance to get on to tho slaughtering boards, and gladly jumped at tho opportunity to do so when it came. Many of them were experienced killers, though in a comparatively small way, employees of country butchers, and so forth. Tho new slaughtermen's union, formed by the freo labourers at Ngahauranga, has been refused registration by tho Labour Department, and has intimated that it will lodgo an appeal against this decision with tho Arbitration Court. Tho cas9 will be adjudicated upon, it is expected, at tho sittings of the Court in Wellington next week. Mr. 31. J. Reardoii, secretary of the Slaughtermen's Federation, sticks to his contention that, as secretary of tho existing union, he should have been notified by tho Labour Department of tho, proposal to form a new slaughlterriien's union in tho local district. Tho. Department, it was stated in reply to inquiries made yesterday, takes another view of tho legal provisions relating to tho matter, and holds that it is the duty of the Registrar of Awards to notify tho secretary of an existing union only when 'the registration, of' a proposed new union has been 'refused.

Wne of those interested in the_ formation of the new slaughtermen's union submitted yesterday, in conversation with a reporter, that it had a much better title to official recognition than tho existing organisation. The new union, ho said, represented a largo body of working slaughtermen pursuing their calling, whereas tho mombers of the old union were at present working as waterside workers, road-menders, and all sorts of occupations as different as possible from slaughtering. Many of them had joined unions representing tho occupations in which they were now engaged, and why, he asked, should this mixed body of outside unionists bo permitted to hinder the registration of a union of slaughtermen engaged in their regular calling?

BAREFACED PROPOSAL. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Gisborne, February 28. The striking slaughtermen held a meeting last night, and decided- to approach the companies, applying for reinstatement on the condition that present free labourers are discharged.. There is no likelihood of the condition being conccded.

RESUME ON MONDAY , (By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

Timaru, February 28. 1 It is expected that tho local slaughter men will offer to resume work on Monday.