MERCHANT SERVICE GUILD.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14327, 12 April 1912, Page 7

MERCHANT SERVICE GUILD.

I NCR EASED WAGES FOR, OFFICERS.

United Picas Association—By Electric Telezrnpli—Copyright

MELBOURNE, April 11

The Federal Arbitration Court award in the case of tho Merchant Service Guild against the steamship owners, provides for an all-round increase of wages for captains and other officers on inter-State passenger and cargo vessels, an eight-hour day, overtime payment, increased holidays, and one month's notice or pay after threo months' service when an officer's articles are expiring.

The President reserved further consideration of the question whether tho award should apply to (or to what extent) boats belonging to the Union Company, the Huddart-Parker Company, and a number of other companies trading outside Australia.

It is proposed that tho award have a currency of five years., operating from May Ist.

The Guild expresses satisfaction with the award.

The shipowners of Sydney question tho power of the Court to deal with vessels trading within one State only. They predict that the increased cost involved will prove tlisastrous to the shipping trade, which, they say, will be driven into the hands of the big foreign companies, otherwise all increases must be passed on to the public, as the shipowners cannot bear them.