HARBOUR BOARDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 280, 26 November 1941, Page 10

HARBOUR BOARDS

WELLINGTON MEETING CLAIMS BY EMPLOYEES There was a brief discussion at a meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board yesterday afternoon when a letter was received from the secretary of the New Zealand Harbour Boards' Industrial Union of Employers, convening an urgent special general meeting of the union to consider matters in connection with claims submitted by employees for work performed on Sundays and holidays, and a motion to be proposed by the Wellington Harbour Board in connection with members' subscriptions. The board was asked to appoint delegates to represent it.

The superintendent, Mr. D. Holderness, in a report, said that a fair basis of contribution of fixed annual amounts for the various boards had been assessed, and the Auckland and Wellington boards would each pay a fixed sum of £500 a year. The chairman, Mr. Hendry Luke, said that the basis of contributions was the trade of ports and tonnage.

Mr. E. J. Phelan said that £500 was a very big contribution. Mr. J. Sayegh said that the Auckland Board was paying £500 for four representatives, and the Lyttelton Board £120 for three. He said that

it did not appear to be a fair proposal. It seemed that Wellington and Auckland were bearing the brunt of the whole thing. Mr. H. R. Mackenzie said that the smali boards looked to Auckland and Wellington to protect them. The board decided that the chairman and superintendent should be its delegate's, with power to act. Messrs Sayegh and Phelan recorded their votes againsi the motion, on the ground of the amount of the Auckland Board's allocation.

It was stated, subsequent to the meeting, that the claim throughout the Dominion involved about £30,000, and that the amount in dispute in Auckland was some £11,000. The employees were claiming back pay extending to the introduction of the award three and a half years ago.