FORTY-FOUR HOURS A WEEK ON THE WATERFRONT

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22656, 10 March 1939, Page 15

FORTY-FOUR HOURS A WEEK ON THE WATERFRONT

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS Sir, —I read recently in “The Press” that the Hon. P. C. Webb, Minister for Labour, had decided to set up a com-

mission of all parties connected with the waterfront work with a view, I take it, to a better and more contented working of ships in all ports. I also noticed that the Minister was reported as saying when addressing the Auckland waterside workers that he stressed the point of a better understanding between employer and employee, with a view to obtaining better results. Now, as one who has earned his living on the waterfront at Lyttelton for some years, I claim that I offer a suggestion that I consider will be in the best interests of not only the employer but of the employee, and I venture to state that if it were institued it would bring about a better feeling between employer and employee than exists to-day. That is a 44-hour week on the waterfront. I am fully alive to the fact that the answer from the employers will be that it cannot be done, and I also know that certain members of the Waterside Workers’ Union will say that if it were instituted it would reduce the earning pdvver of members, but those members who argue from that _ standpoint in my opinion are unionists from the point of view of £ s. d. only, as I will endeavour to show.

Before the Great War, when ships worked shifts right through from start to finish, it was c - ntendedby the shipping companies that any curtailment of working hours would mean that they would have to go out of business, but this argument was soon shown to be ridiculous. When the watersiders refused to accept work between the hours ot 12 p.m. and 1 a.m. the ahvps 1 still ran, and when the watersiders decided that from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. was a fair day’s work, which are the present working hours, except in exceptional circumstances, the companies still keep the ships going, and are showing big profits. I can remember the day when men were called out midnight on a Sunday night to start work, and when they arrived at the ship rain would be coming down in torrents, and the employer would say, “Back at 7 a.m.,” the unfortunate worker being dismissed until that hour, and he would receive the munificent sum of 7£d for his trouble of travelling all the way from Christchurch and getting wet through in the bargain. But thanks to the old stalwarts who fought hard in those days for better conditions, those days are relegated to the past. It will be said that it is impossible to bring the shipping business under a 44-hour week, but I contend otherwise. I will to the utmost of my ability try to prove my argument. We will take a boat arriving to discharge or load 2000 tons, which means, roughly, 20 hours' work for eight gangs of men. Now, eight gangs mean at least 92 men; that is, men working on board the ship, railway workers in the waggons, and tally clerks. After one hour’s work, rain sets in, and the ship is held up for two days; the men receiving at least four hours’ pay each day for standing by. There is not a word heard from the companies, as this delay is purely of a matter of God’s will; but let the same ship be held up for three hours to settle a dispute forced on the worker by the employer or his representative, and you have a howl from Auckland to Bluff through the press—something similar to this in big headlines: “Trouble on the Waterfront at Lyttelton. Men Refuse to Work. Ships Idle with Great Loss to the Companies,” etc. Now, I contend that if a 44jhour week was worked on the waterfront it would be a boon to the worker; for what is the position to-day? He leaves homo at 6.45 a.m. with no idea whether he will bB home before 6 p.m. or not, and consequently cannot definitely make any arrangements with his better half for the evening. If any prior engagement should be made it has to be broken, simply because the breadwinner has got to start work at any old hour to support his wife and family. Let workers study this question, and . in doing so leave selfishness out of the question, and go for the 44-hour week, always remembering, as did the old stalwarts, a great many of whom look down upon the workers from the hills of Lyttelton, that conditions of work are the first consideration. And when the workers demand and obtain these wages they will and must come on to equal matters. I can foresee my argument coming into effect in the near future, if not under the present system. It will most assuredly come under a system of a waterside workers’ cooperative association, when the employer will cease to have a say what conditions the workers decide to work under or what wages they will receive. —Yours, etc., EX WHARFIE. March 8. 1939.