WORK ON SHIPS DELAYED

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25248, 29 July 1947, Page 5

WORK ON SHIPS DELAYED

Refusal To Handle Dunnage

AUCKLAND PORT DISPUTE (P.A.) AUCKLAND, July 28. Further delays in the wording of overseas ships on the Auckland waterfront were incurred to-day when waterside workers continued in their refusals to handle dunnalb and were dismissed under penalty by the employers. Six hatenes on three vessels, the Kangiuki, Waiwera, and the Largs Bay, remained idle all day and work in two other hatches came tc a standstill later in the day as further dunnaging became necessary. A further stopwork meeting of the ship carpenters’ section of the Waterside Workers’ Union was held during »he morning and at 1 p.m. the entire union held a stopwork meeting for 50 minutes to consider the position. The usual call for labour to work the hatches which were rendered idle toc’ay by the watersiders’ attitude will be made by the employers to-morrow morning. When waterside workers found this morning that the timbering which they It ad reiused to remove from the cargo on Friday on the liner Largs Bay had teen taken away during the week-end work was reiused. In the two holds concerned discharge of cargo from the third hold came to a standstill at 11 a m. when further timbering required removing. The watersiders refused this work and Were dismissed by the employers.

Hatch Affected Since Wednesday In No. 6 hatch of the liner Waiwera which has been affected since Wednesday by the union’s attitude toward handling dunnage, a few men reported for work this morning but left the snip soon afterwards. Three hatches on the New Zealand Shipping Company’s liner Rangitiki, which is loading refrigerated and general cargo for London, remained idle throughout to-day after gangs had been dismissed under penalty by the employers. After the men’s refusal to lay dunnage, gangs in another hatch in the vessel were suspended at 7 o’clock this evening when progress of the loading made further dunnaging necessary. Members of the ship carpenters’ section of the Waterside Workers’ Union again refused overtime to-night. Referring to the reported statement of the president of the Waterside Workers’ Union (Mr H. Barnes) that the union would not do carpenters’ work, Mr E. C. Buscke, manager of the Port of Auckland Shipping and Stevedores’ Association, said that at no stage had the watersiders been asked to perform carpenters’ duties. All that was expected was for the watersiders to carry out work always performed by them. -