NEW WATERFRONT SYSTEM

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23043, 11 June 1940, Page 8

NEW WATERFRONT SYSTEM

♦ Men to be Paid On Results FASTER WORKING OF SHIPS [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON. June 10. Finality has at last been reached in the long-standing dispute, between employers of waterside labour and the Waterside Workers’ Union. An order providing for the wages and conditions of employment of workers engaged in the industry has been, issued by the Waterfront Control Commission, recently appointed by the Government. “This order can rightly be regarded as only a temporary measure,” said the Minister for Labour (the Hon. P. C. Webb) to-night, when making this announcement, “for the commission has already introduced a new system in connexion with the loading and discharging of vessels. The new method will be known as the operative contract system, under which the men will be paid by results; but because the hourly wage system has been in operation so long, and as the parties had partially agreed in Conciliation Council that this system should continue, an order has been issued by the commission to apply in the meantime.” For a considerable time past there has been discontent on the waterfronts of New Zealand as the waterside workers have not been able tq obtain a new agreement or award of the Court of Arbitration, said Mr Webb. As it was imperative that vessels trading between Great Britain and New Zealand should be discharged and loaded with the greatest possible efficiency, the Government appointed a commission with full powers to deal with all questions involved. The investigations of the commission had proved that the system which had obtained up to the present was not satisfactory, and it had been decided to inaugurate new methods by which the work would be performed on a co-operative contract basis. Earnings Increased This system had been In operation at the port of Patea since November 1, and had proved successful in every way. The earnings of the men had been substantially increased, and in addition vessels had received better dispatch without any increase in costs to the shipowner concerned. “At the. port of Wellington during the last week the discharging and loading operations of two vessels were carried out under this method, and the results have been eminently satisfactory,” said Mr Webb. In the present emergency the main efforts of the people of New Zealand should be to supply all foodstuffs and raw materials possible to the people of the United Kingdom. Overseas shipping space was at a premium, and if the number of trips a year of vessels trading to New Zealand could be increased, New Zealand would be carrying out one of the main essentials of New Zealand’s war effort, for it had to be remembered that, owing to the military situation in Europe, markets from which Great Britain was able to obtain its foodstuffs had been limited, and it was the Dominion’s duty to help fill the gap which had been created by the war. It > had also an important bearing on the economic life of this country. Large stocks of its products were held in store in New Zealand, and it was of the utmost importance that these stocks should be cleared before the produce of the new season was ready. Satisfactory Trials “Under the hourly system of handling cargo which has obtained up to the present time, there has been no incentive to speed up the loading and discharging of vessels," said the Minister. “The fact that when a ship was discharged or loaded, as the case may be, the men would then probably experience a period of unemployment, was not conducive to efficient work. Under the system which has already been in operation the men will be paid a certain rate a unit or a ton of cargo, and they will receive the full results of the work they perform. In other words, the men employed will be paid on the results of their efforts, and wherever this system has been tried, it has proved to be satisfactory to the men employed and to the shipowners.” For more than half a century, the problem of casual waterfront labour had occupied the attention of governments in many countries, and numerous commissions had been appointed to submit recommendations to eliminate the evils of this system of employment, Mr Webb said. The Waterfront Control Commission appointed by the New Zealand Government was of the opinion that the order issued to-day, together with the proposals for co-oper-ative contract work, would not only eliminate many of the evils of casual waterfront labour, but would also ensure better dispatch for ships trading to and ‘from New Zealand, and at the same time give to the men engaged in the industry more regularity of employment, and a fair living standard. The commission had appealed for the co-operation of all the parties concerned, and trials which had been made up to date indicated very clearly that vessels could be discharged and loaded with greater dispatch and with no greater cost to the producers of the goods which were shipped overseas.