WHARF WORK HALTED

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28010, 3 July 1956, Page 13

WHARF WORK HALTED

Five Ports Idle In Australia (Rec. 10 p.m.) MELBOURNE, July 2. Watersiders walked off ships in five Australian ports—Melbourne. Sydney. Newcastle, Brisbane and Port Adelaide—today, when a new loading order came into force and shinowners began their wharf “speed-up.” A drive for uniform practices in cargo handling and for higher wharf efficiency was launched throughout Australia today. The new loading rule enables shipowners to reduce the number of men on a job and increase the size of a sling-load. In Sydney, watersiders refused to work seven ships when instructed to use fewer men in the holds. In Brisbane, men walked off all 23 ships in port, and in Port Adelaide they left 19 ships. Five ships were without waterside workers in Newcastle, and in Melbourne 36 men refused to work a coastal freighter. Shipowners have referred the disputes over the new order to Mr Justice Ashburner, of the Federal Arbitration Court. The chairman of the Australasian Steamship Owners’ Federation IMr P. W. Haddy), said today: “In no instance in any port today where stoppages occurred was there a case of undue strain on the men or of danger. The employers asked only for what was a reasonable standard of cargo hand- ■ ling.” , A new Arbitration Court order, | which took effect today, empowers I employers to decide how many men should be employed on a job and to ' vary the size of a sling-load “consist- | ent with strain and safety.”