WIDE COMBS
I was the Instigator of wide combs finally being accepted and the cause of a big upset in the Shearing Industry in Australia
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through my Business trding name, New Westline Mail Order Company 1968 - 1993 Westline Enterprises
"WESTLINE"
Do you remember the Controversy over the Wide combs in the Shearing Industry In Australia in 1983, New Zealand Shearers were coming to Australia and bringing with them there Wide Combs 2.5inches, as they were used in New Zealand but not Australia at this time, although they were Manufactured in Australia they were banned from the Australian market by the AWU. This was causing a big problem in the shearing Industry as some Australian Shearers were using Wide Combs but most still used narrow combs, they could not get wide Combs easily, although they are banned here, many Australian shearers were wanting to changing to Wide Combs at this time.
A Sheep Shearer is a Man who uses a Hand-Powered Handpiece with a Comb and Cutter attached, to shear sheep and remove the wool.
I was approached consistently by the New Zealand Shearer’s, asking me to import Wide Combs, I considered this request and decided to give it a go, I approached Ian Steel the Manager of Wrightson, in New Zealand, if he would Export the Wide Combs to me in Australia, he accepted my request and this was the beginning of what I didn’t realize at the time was going to create a Major upheaval in the Shearing Industry in Australia, the A.W.U. was narrow minded on this issue and would not accept the fact that the majority of the Shearer’s in Australia were considering using wide combs.
I could see an opportunity to make a lot of money from this upheaval in Australia although I could also see it would be risky to take on the AWU, I will tell you about the problem with the Union later.
My arrangement with Ian Steel manager of Wrightson NZ to export wide combs at a wholesale price continued for about two years, eventually the AWU put pressure on Wrightson’s to stop supplying me with the Wide Combs, sales of wide combs to the shearers in Australia were increasing and I had a backlog of orders, it wasn’t just the New Zealand Shearer's who were now using wide combs, but the Ausi Shearers were also starting to realize how much easier it was to use them, but they couldn’t get them in Australia, at this time Wide Combs were banned by the AWU in Australia.
Eventually the Union put so much pressure on Ian Steel and he stop supplying me, I was worried as I had many orders and some were paid in advance, I had to find a way to continue supplying my customers, with a lot of thought I came up with a scheme how to overcome this dilemma, I phoned John Alan at Sunbeam Corporation, they supplied me with narrow gauge combs, I asked John if he would supply me with wide combs, firstly he could not see how this was possible, so I told him of my scheme, how it would possibly work, I would register another business name, this was NZA Enterprises, this would be the name the payments would be made from, then I would register a name in Singapore called SINGANASHE, this would be used as a decoy, the wide comb orders would be invoiced and shipped to this business in Singapore, the only problem he had with this is he would have to export them at export price, I had no problem with this that’s why I registered a name in Singapore.
How it all happened, I would send money to Sunbeam and telephone john I had sent the money, he would have the order processed and invoiced them as Electricals, delivery address Singanashe Singapore, John would call me and tell me when the Combs were delivered to the Shipping Company, I would call the shipping company’s head Store-man in Sydney and tell him to readdress the boxes of Electricals to their store at the airport in Western Australia as we have a large order going to Singapore from Perth, this was a white lie, the goods would be flown to their office in Perth by covering the address with a sheet of paper and re-addressing it to NZA Enterprises Perth, this is what fooled the Union for two years. The combs were never delivered to Singapore, but Sunbeam and John Alan got a pat on the back from Doug Anthony the leader of the National Party, as he was the Minister for Trade. Unbeknown to them the Goods were never exported. Sunbeam got the Credit for all the extra Export Business that never happened. The reason for doing business this way was not to fool the Government but to put the Union off track.
The Union boys would hang around my Business, I’d see Jimmy Griffin standing outside, others came in and threatened me, but I stood my ground and continued selling Wide Combs, my sales became so great my shop was too small, there would be 80 to 100 shearers go through on a Saturday morning sometimes they would have to wait for a couple of hours, every invoice those days were written by hand. Because we were so busy the Union Boys were not game to approach me, New Zealand shearers would say to me if the Union give you any trouble they would handle them, it never came to that. I do remember telephoning Jim at his Office and saying to him the only way you would be able to stop me was to burn me out, but i know where all you Union Men live and you would get the same, I never had any intention of carrying it through as i didn't know where they lived it was just a bluff. Another day I called Jim and suggested we start another Union just to service the Shearing Industry as I had such a strong following and he could be in-charge. From then on the Union never gave me any more problems or threats.
The dispute was resolved by the decision of the Australian Conciliation and Industrial Commission, to allow the use of the wide comb shears to be used in Australia.
The defeat of the AWU in the wide comb dispute has been widely cited as the cause of a decline in union membership and militancy amongst Australian shearers
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