WHARF LABOURERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 78, 3 April 1926, Page 9

WHARF LABOURERS.

DISPUTE IN AUSTRALIA. NO SIGN OF SETTLEMENT. MELBOURNE, April 2. No settlement was reached at the compulsory conference between the Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association and the Waterside Workers' Federation summoned by Mr. Justice Powers. The registrar of the Court has issued a statement which says all the matters in dispute were discussed at length, but neither side would make concessions. The case was, therefore, adjourned. The employers maintained that the union was committing breaches of the Act and of the award at a number of ports throughout the Commonwealth. The union in reply contended that the men had taken matters into their own hands. Even when the general secretary, who acted for the committee of management, directed them to comply with the award the men had refused to do so. The representative of the union also said that in each case the men felt the trouble had arisen because of the difficulty in holding conferences with tbe employers. The suggestion was made that the conference should be continued outside the Court, but the employers said they felt this could not be done as the men were not complying with the award. A message from Sydney states that the members «of that branch of the Waterside Workers' Federation at their weekly meeting endorsed the action of the seamen in declaring the coastal strike off. The branch instructed its members that they are now free to present themselves again, for employment on the wharves.— (A. and N.Z. Cable.)