FOR HARMONY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 211, 6 September 1941, Page 6

FOR HARMONY

WATERSIDE CONTROL

AUCKLAND AND "SEAGULLS"

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Waterfront Control Commission was criticised in the House of Representatives yesterday when the estimates of the Department of Labour were under consideration. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Holland, fired the first shot by asking whether the commissioners had fulltime jobs. "If not, what other work are they allowed to undertake," he said.

Mr. Lee (Democratic Labour, Grey Lynn) said he was concerned as to how appointments were made. The workers' representatives were supposed to represent the rank and file, but in Auckland recentlv the watersiders had carried a motion of want of confidence in a certain individual. Shortly afterwards that person was appointed to the waterfront control at a salary of £600 a year.

He wanted to know whether that was the way to secure harmonv on the waterfront. It did not read commonsense to him. The person concerned had been president of the union. A workers' representative on the commission—and that was the position that had been filled—should have the confidence of the rank and file of the workers. The president of the union, by accepting the appointment, had become one of the plutocracy, and the fiction was that he represented the workers. Close Corporation Mr. Poison (National, Stratford) said the country was paying over £18,000 a year for the privilege of having the Waterfront Control Commission. The employers had no say because the men who were running the waterfront were Messrs. J. Roberts and Captain Price. As o result of this there was a close corporation on the waterfront. A class of workers known as "seagulls" were called in to assist the members of the Waterside Workers' Union, and as soon as the union could do the work they were pushed out. These men were not permitted to share in the profit bonuses that were distributed among the members of the union. It was almost unbelievable that such arrangements existed.

Mr. Lee: A lot of union men are in favour of the others sharing in the bonuses. Mr. Poison: Never has anything like this occurred in New Zealand before. It is a vicious system.

In the course of a lengthy reply, the Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb, gave a history of the events that led up to the appointment of the Waterside Control Commission. He was revolutionised the work on 90 per certain that the commission had cent of the waterfronts of the country. He had had a recommendation in for months before the former president of the Auckland Waterside Workers' Union, Mr. Solomon, was appointed to a position with the commission. He had been recommended at the time as the best man for the job. Feeling In Auckland He admitted that there was feeling in Auckland. A great' deal of it was based on political grounds. Some had been roused by the Communists, who opposed everything the Government did in connection with the waterfront. The Government had acted fairly with the waterside workers. The Government was anxious to get the ships turned round quickly. He believed that the great bulk of the watersiders in Auckland were in favour of the contract system and would demand its restoration. There was not much between the attitude of the Communist party and the Democratic Labour party as far as the Auckland waterfront was concerned.

The Minister said that the commission had endeavoured to work harmoniously with the union in Auckland. As far as the "seagulls" were concerned, that was a problem for the Waterside Workers' Union.

Mr. Lee: Do you stand for the exploitation of the "seagulls"? Mr. Webb said the commission only dealt with members of the union, and "seagulls" were not members. Some of them went to the wharves once or twice a week, and often when they were wanted were not there. Whatever imperfections the wharf control system had, it was the finest scheme that had ever been evolved to deal with the waterfront problem.