WHARF WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 74, 27 March 1923, Page 4

WHARF WORK.

IMPROVED ENGAGEMENT SYSTEM. AVERAGE EARNINGS.

(By Telegraph.—Special to "Stat.") WELLINGTON, this day. Mainly at the instance of the Water. side Workers' Union a new system of engaging wharf workers is operathw here with good results. All labour £ paid through a central organisation which has utilised its past year , ! records to ascertain the proportion o{ men each shipping company can provide with fairly constant work. List* were made — men usually en , gaged by these firms, who were "allotted a proportion of men in accordance wiflj their average need. These men secure preference of employment by the finat on whose list they appear, the job| being allocated in rotation, and to givj uniform results.

The manager of the Co-operatrc» Wharf Labour Bureau states that nearly every man of the 300 on the lists was engaged during the first and the total amount paid out in wagei was £4132, or an approximate average of £4 10/ per man. Even if some nen did earn as much as £7, others could not have been making much below £4 10/ because the number earnine the higher rate mentioned would have been very few. In the eecond week ending March 21, 1070 men earned £5237, or an average of about fa. Au extra 175 men called in that week would only have been working from one to three days, consequently the 000 men in the new scheme would each average over £5 for the week, elimkating- the "fringe."

It is further explained that when the lists were completed there remained 204 men who were fairly constant wharf workers. Some have secured employment, but complaints have arisen from this class, and the employers' reply is that it is only to be expected that in a scheme like this someone will suffer, but the new 6rstem has been devUed with the idea of finding employment »t a fair wage for a stated number ef men. Those men who have not been included are to be sympathised-'with, but co far aa the employers are concerned, when they agreed to the limit*, tion of the number of workers to 900, they faced the risk that sufficient labour would not always be available at the busiest times. The new scheme was inaugurated in order to display* a, system whereby birds of passage came on to the wharf, worked for a week or a fortnight and then disappeared. In some years these birds of passage have been known to number as many as 2000 a year. UNION PRESIDENTS VIEW.

Mr. L. Glover, president of the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union, stated that the new scheme had not been working long enough to enable one to form any definite opinion as to how it was working, but as far as he could see the gTeat body of the men would be well satisfied with it after it had a fair chance. Mr. Glover said it was not true that 250 men had been barred from the waterfront, and he proceeded to confirm what had been said about filling vacancies from the ranks of tie 204 men who had not been included in the scheme. This had reduced the balance of the men outside the scheme coneiderably, and a number of others had already left the wharf, ac they saw no chance of being selected for employment there. Everything , being equal the men's averages under the scheme would be made up on the hours worked, and not on the amount of money earned. Men ■whose averages were low thi» quarter would have them levelled up next quarter.