KILLING BY CONTRACT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 947, 14 April 1930, Page 16

KILLING BY CONTRACT

BUTCHERS’ UNION OPPOSES ABATTOIRS’ MOVE MR. W. E. SILL EXPLAINS “ ' " * % The introduction of the contract system of slaughtering at the municipal abattoirs. as proposed by the City Council at the latest meeting, will be opposed by the Butchers’ and Slaughtermen’s Union. Mr. W. E. -Sill, secretary of the union, in making this announcement, said that at a meeting of members last week, they decided not to tender for the contracts to be offered. The union believed the conditions under the contract system would be one-sided and that the change was dictated by collective bargaining. He considered • the proposal was to invest the manager with control which he could not ob- . tain in any other way. He added that men, who had had experience under the contract system, would not take i another contract at any price because the conditions could not possibly be carried out. i Under the award the men had a cer- > tain amount of protection, but under the contract they would have none, said Mr. Sill. A contractor should have the right to employ whom he • wished, but the last contractors had i to secure the approval of the man- | ager before they could employ any j man. ! Criticising the proposal, which he ! said was to obtain three teams of six j contract slaughtermen, Mr. Sill said ■ that teams or* twelve would be more suitable, each to consist of six slaughtermen, and a similar number of I labourers. The latter were not ini eluded in the contract proposals, and ' apparently the council considered that plenty of unskilled men could be obtained outside the unions. About , thirty slaughtermen were now engaged at the abattoirs, and the idea of the l present move appeared to be to have a nucleus of IS contract men who would be tied in the event of any t trouble developing. j In the event of contracts being let . for the slaughtering, contrary to the r desire of the union, the contractors . would not be able to employ other j slaughtermen from the ranks of the t union. —-