FREEZING WORKERS "OUT"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 136, 4 March 1919, Page 6

FREEZING WORKERS "OUT"

A STOPPAGE AT PETONE.

The hands employed in the freezing chamber at the Petono works of the Gear Meat Company 6topped yesterday owinß to a dispute regarding payment for certain lost time. They did no work during the day; but it is possible that thev will return to duty tins morning. The men concerned went on duty at i a.m. yesterday to load meat for a steamer, and they finished at 6 a.m. Thev were then sent away for breakfast until 8 p.m. They complained that there had been enough work to keep them going until 7 a.m., and that they had lost' an hour unnecessarily. A request for payment for the lost hour was made to the foreman, who referred the men to the manager (Mr. Lodder). The hands did not return to. work pending an interview with the manager, who saw them at 10 a.m. The manager then stated that the claim was a fair one and that wages would be paid for th' lost hour. But the men made a further claim for payment for the two hours they had spent waiting for the interview. The manager refused to accept this claim, and the hands announced that thev would not resume. They left the works in a body. There were no further developments during the daT- _