DAIRY INDUSTRY AND LABOR LAWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8099, 2 May 1906, Page 4

DAIRY INDUSTRY AND LABOR LAWS.

The following petition is being for. warded to all tlie dairy factories for signature, and will be presented to the Kight Hon. K. J. Seddon, P.C., Premier and Minister of Labor, Wellington : "We, the undersigned, being porrannt employees in dairy factories in New Zealand, pray: . That the dairy factories' employees be exempt by law from the provisions of the Industrial Arbitration and Conciliation Aft on tlie following grounds: That the operation of tlie Act would cause tlie closing of a large number of the smaller creameries altogether, and would cause the dairy factory companies to close other creameries and factories for a longer period in winter, and many of us would be compelled to relinquish our present occupation; that no hardship has been occasioned by the exemption of dairy factories .• •> IHe operation of the Factories -ic,., and. we are of opinion that, owing to the nature of the dairy business, it is vital to the success and even existence of the industry that we should be exempt from the Arbitration Act; that owing to the nature of tiie business, the long hours we are required to work in the Hush of the season are counterbalanced by the shorter hours and. lighter service during the remainder of the year; that owing to the fact that the bulk of dairy produce has to be exported and sold at the market value, there is no chance of i Jg the increased cost of production on the consumer; that owing to the distance from the market and the cost of reaching it, the industry here is at a disadvantage in competition with other countries where freights and cost of production are less, and that the operations of the Act would unduly increast the cost and hamper production here ; that if at any tine circumstances (at present unforeseen) should compel the dairy factories employees to form themselvv- into an industrial union, they may, as a Dairy Factory Employees' Union, have a right to apply to the Court in the same manner as any other industrial union.