MORE SUGAR TROUBLE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 159, 5 July 1916, Page 2

MORE SUGAR TROUBLE.

-■ i» — - STRIKE AT FIJI. LOCOMOTIVE DRIVERS OUT. WANTING SHORTER HOURS. AUCKLAND LABOUR BEING DISPATCHED. No sooner has the sugar shortage been temporarily dealt with by the Gov-

eminent than the supply is again threatened by labour trouble at Fiji, the island headquarters of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. Precisely what the nature of the trouble is it is difficult to ascertain at this stage, but the locomotive drivers, supposed to be some twelve in number, have left their jobs to support a demand for shortor hours. Local labour opinion inclines to the view that the big demands made upon the resources of the company during recent months may have entailed much longer hours for the men, which are not defined by agreement. The information available as to the demands of the men is conflicting. According to the cable received by Mr. W. J. Philson, Auckland manager of the company, the men have torn up their signed agreements and have gone on strike for a nine-honrs' day and overtime allowances. On the other hand, Mr. T. Cain, secretary of the Auckland Certificated Engine Drivers' Union, has received the following cable from the strikers: — "Warn men against accepting employment for Fiji. Men here on strike for eight-hours day." A CURIOUS POSITION. The position at the present time is inexplicable. The information received

by the Sugar Company apparently makes the men's demands more modest than those mentioned in the wire received by Mr. Cain, while it is also remarkable that the men are Teputed to work considerably less hours than those for which they are asking. Sometimes, says Mr. Philson, they only work six hours per day. According to the information received by the local Engine Drivers' Union from a member who has been employed in Fiji, the men arc working under a nine-hour day system— the very thing for which, according to the local manager's wire, the men arc striking. However, apart from this discrepancy, it is clear that the men have repudiated the twelve-months' agreement under which they arc individually engaged as they enter the employ of the. company. In "this there is no stipulation as to hours to be worked. The men are paid £4 10/ weekly. Of this amount £3 is paid in cash, and the balance handed over to them in a lump sum at the end of the season, together with £15 bonus. The agreement guarantees the payment of passage money both to and from the island. The men affected arc believed to all come from Sydney. The conditions of their employment are not governed by any labour award, and. as far as is known," they are not attached to any labour union either here or in Sydney. FINDING FRESH LABOUR. Prompt action was taken by the company on receipt of the information that: the men were on strike, and head-, quarters wired to the Auckland office asking.them to supply twelve men for;

Fiji. These have beun advertised^for, I and all the necessary men obtained. They will be shipped to Fiji at an early date to take the places of the strikers. Mr. T. Cain, secretary of the Auckland Engine Drivers' Union, told a' ' Star" reporter this -morning that the union had very little information about the strike beyond tbe cable from the i men, who were not attached to the; union. The men were not governed by labour conditions, and as Fiji was a Crown colony, there might be considerable difficulty in the way of Government intervention to define the hours of the men, even if that were desired. The Auckland drivers, added Mr. Came, were only working eight hours a day, with overtime rates and an allowance for getting up steam. MANAGER'S STATEMENT. Mr. Philson, the Auckland manager of the company, informed a "Star" reporter that the men were working under precisely the same hours and conditions as lad governed employment on the company's engines for years. Twelve men had been engaged at £4 10/ a week plus house accommodation and £15 bonus payable in Auckland, and would soon bp shipped to the works. The only reason for the strike that suggested itself to him was that the men, being fully aware that New Zealand and Australia were absolutely dependent upon the Fiji works for the sugar supply, and that arrangements had been entered into •with the Governments, thought they had only got to state their demands to get them conceded.. The men were all

Australians. With regard to the reported demands of the men. Mr. Philson added tHat he had information from one man who had been engaged to take up the work ttiat when he was previously employed by the company tbe drivers worked exceedingly short hours —soTneimc3 only six per day. Against these short days tbe men were expected to make some sacrifice when thierc was a bigger rush of work. EFFECT ON OUTPUT. Mr. Philson. replying to a question, said there might be some temporary embarrassment in regard to the dispatch of sugar, for obviously if they could not get the canes in from the'plantation, they --could not crush them. Some of the other employees, however, were capable of driving engines. The new party would arrive somewhere about the 14th or 16th. of the month, and he did not anticipate any trouble at the other end. The strikers would probably be quietly slripped off. Tn any case they were liable, to an action for breach of agreement. Mr. Philson added that he did not contemplate any difficulty in regard to the passports of the men who were

going to fill the vacancies, for sugar was a vital necessity «f the country, and tbe Government would recognise the necessity for the continnanee of the output.