WORK PLENTIFUL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 294, 11 December 1943, Page 4

WORK PLENTIFUL

BUSY WATERSIDERS

COMPETENT MEN LIMITED

"Plenty of work is offering to-day for aU hands," said the president of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union Mr H Barnes, this morning. ine competent labour available to he unTon is, however, limited. For the las two years, despite constant criticism, work has been Pncttagy non-stop on the waterfront The majority of our members are not young men. No single man called for military service and no married,. man without children was appealed for It was only when married men with children were called that the union put in appeals."

Mr Barnes was discussing recent reports to the effect that waterfront work and work in American stores and dumps had been easing off. There had been few occasions when work was slack, he said. Perhaps that would apply to three or four davs in the course of the whole year, ami one or two of them had been of recent date. For 18 months the American establishments had about trebled the normal work of the port. Nearly 1000 new members had joined' the Waterside Workers' Union since February of last year. On the register to-day there were 1960 members.

Xo Membership Limit

"There is no limit to union membership at the present time," he said. "We are not a closed union to-day, but there is a limit to the numbers that can be put in. That statement can be regarded from two angles. It has to be borne in mind that there is a big difference between occasional work with men picking their jobs, and the work of the port taken as a whole. The latter includes work in the freezers, unloading phosphates, coal, guano, sulphur, cement and other cargoes which take the maximum of endurance. The arduous work of the port goes on constantly."

Referring to casual labourers known as "seagulls," Mr, Barnes said that while they could do some of the work some of the time—and that applied especially to the older men—they could not do all the work all the time. As competent labour was limited, it had been found from practical experience that with few exceptions the most capable of the extra men employed were returned soldiers. Some 80 or 90 of the furlough men had been engaged, and they had turned out splendid workers.

"Where can we get competent men fit for the work?" he asked. "With few exceptions they are already in essential jobs," he said, replying to his own question. "The union cannot get them." Many men had joined the "seagulls" induced by the work offering through the advent of the Americans, and they had been employed on wharves and in stores. "I have seen reports of complaints from men who say they cannot c;et regular work, and I know a bit about that aspect too," continued Mr. Barnes. "The obvious thing for the National Service authorities to do is to direct the men complaining of insufficient work to employment at Westfield. None of the men in the union complain-about work being slack. Their only grumble is that there is far too much work."

Mr. Barnes said that members of appeal boards were always "tilting" at the waterside workers. On a recent occasion at an industrial appeal board sitting a National Service Department officer had said that work at Westfield was No 1 priority. "My reply to that," MiBarnes said, "is, what is the use of making Westfield a No. 1 priority for men if there are insufficient men to load the produce from Westfield into the ships? They should turn their attention to the men who complain of lack of work and direct them to Westfield and leave the genuine waterside worker alone."

Use of Defaulters Urged The defaulters' camps were mentioned by Mr. Barnes, who said that New Zealand was the only country he knew of that had not directed defaulters to productive work It would be of benefit to the 'community and the men themselves if they were made to carry out useful work. Industry was "howling out" for men, and hundreds were doing nothing in those camps. S

The necessity for men on constant waterside work "spelling" at periods was emphasised by" Mr mousands of workers are livine- at a standard to-day equal to that of hear s e r,v eS m yea^"s - You never