OTAIHAPE FREEZING WORK STRIKE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3475, 1 May 1920, Page 4

OTAIHAPE FREEZING WORK STRIKE.

————--v—:*' —...-,,,-;_>_ .e THE SEQUEL. ' ’ Q‘ The Sequel to the alleged strike which occurred at the Otaihupt-. Freezing Works on January 17th last, Waee heard in the SM. Court ‘before Mr..WyVex*nn Wilson, S.M., at Taihape on; Thursday, when 52 men were proceed~ed against by Inspector Gohns, who claimed to recover £lO fiom each oh‘ the defendants for an offence under; Section _5 of the Industrial Conciliae tion and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1908, in that on January 17, 1920;. while in the employment of the Otai» hape Meat and Produce Company; . Limited, they did take part in a strike at the works of the, said '.ompa.n.y. ; Inspector Gohns appeared for thei‘Depart_ment, and Mr 1.-lussey for the E defendants. It was decided to take the cases in globo. Inspector Gohns outlined the case for the prosecution, stating that '3. di‘.=.= pute arose between the menu and theo'ompany with regard to the conduct‘ of the cookhouse, which was under the control of a. man named Hannnan. A conference was arranged between the men and representatives of the company, at which th men asked to have the cookhouse conducted by the company, and refused duty until this lwas done ’

D, Rutherford, engineer in charge of the works, said a deputation represfenting. the butchers. waited upon him: and made complaints about the cookhouse arrangements, and asked "that it should be taken over" and run by the company. They alleged that the food was insufficient, and there was a loss of time at 51388] hours. ’ Certain terms were submitted by the company and agreed to by the ,men. The men held a meeting at 8 am. and demanded a reply as to change of cookhouse management. All hands ceased work on Saturday morning, 17th January. Cross-examined: There were about 120 men working at the time. _There had been complaints of the-cookhouse previously Heard afterwards *of compiaints of maggots‘ in the food and safe

Re-examined: Did not see the maggots. The dining room ‘was clean‘

when he saw it

. D. J. Gordon, chairman of directors‘ .oft the Otaihape Freezing Works, corroborated previous Witness ass- ‘tomeeting the men. ‘An increase to 37/6 per 100 was granted conditional on the men working honestly and conscientiously through the rest ofrtiie‘ season. The men went out on Saturday morning. A freshoffer was made at a meeting on Saturday e.ven—ing provided the men went towvork on Monday morning. Heard no complaints about the cookhouse relative to Mr Hannan. The company coll lected aibout one-third of the sheep ’handled,_and it was probably five days before they reached the freezer. Cross-examined: There were complaints about the Wash—basins_ Accommodation was provided for the freezing hands in order to keep them on the spot '

P. S. Carroll, managing secretary, said Harman left on February 21st, 1920, of his own freewill. He was indebted to the company to the extent 0-f £3B.

For the defence. J. Bourke said complaints were made to the manager; the hands were leaving on account of the“ food, Mr Rutherford‘ said he would -have the state of the food remedied. Complaints were made lastlyear as well. The food was crawling, and the soup had dead‘ maggots at the bottom. The w;c’. was blocked. and one was“ 9ft, away‘ from the safe and the other 13ft’ could not get breakfast on the morning of Saturday, 17th January. We were to start Work at 7 a.m. Had we got breakfast We would -have started. Mr Rutherford {when field about it said he would see about it.

3 R. W. Hooper, a. freezer, said a lit~ ttle after the deputation waited on Mr Carroll, -he said he could’ aud.would have Hannan put out at a.- monlent’s notice Mr Carroll was interviewed again on the boards about the cookEhouse food Witness saw Mr Rutherford mt one occasion, and‘ as a. result three men left It was impossible to get accommodation on -his job at or in Taihape because they might be called away at any time ' Geo. Button deposed that occasionally he cleaned out the lavatory: it was kept clean; the basin was filthy. There were maggots about the safe.

Jn'o. Hawke. said he used to cut up Ha.nnan’s beef; he used to go to the safe and always found it dirty, the door open. and flies in and" ouf. The meat. at meals was small in quantity, and the bread always sour. There Were about 70 men there, and onry accommodation for 40. Last year a deputation waited on ‘the manager with regard to ‘Hnnnan, asking that He he ordered to leave The reply v.j!l".- if ‘was hardly fair» to Harman He was there agein at the"beginn_jng cot‘ thfs season K ‘ " E“! . . "' T-Ml4 ‘Hussey said a technfeal Yn-ea<-‘.~’a-A

jot Section 5 of the Act was -admitted.‘ His remarks were substantially intended to mitigate the penalty which ' might be inflicted. The person who was undoubtedly to blame was the cookhouse keeeper, and he should xhave been put out by the company. " Mr Gohns contended that the law had been broken, as the men did not liut the complaints by the -delegates before the company until -the night before the strike. The S.M. said the contract with the cookhouse keeper had nothing to do with the company. The food was undoubtedly unsatisfactory, and was the cause of a certain amount of provocation. There was also a certain Want of management on the parth‘of the company. They should have seen that the cookhouse conditions were remedied. A fine of £5 each would ,he imposed on Duncan, Watson. «vchristoff, R. 'l‘. Hodgson and R. B. ‘Hodgson, while the other defendants wouldhbe fined £1 each