SEAMEN REFUSE DUTY ON COASTERS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29913, 29 August 1962, Page 12

SEAMEN REFUSE DUTY ON COASTERS

Banana Dispute Spreads

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 28. Thirty-two loaded ships will lie idle in New Zealand ports by tomorrow night if the seamen’s and Lyttelton watersiders’ dispute continues. By Friday about 90 ships could be involved—the whole of the New Zealand manned merchant fleet, apart from the ferries. Nineteen ships were affected late tonight. A spokesman for the Union Steam Ship Company said the seamen’s decision could have the effect of progressively halting the coastal trade. His company would have 17 vessels involved by the end of the week. The dispute is centred round the Lauritzen line’s African Reefer at Lyttelton with a £50,000 cargo of bananas. Lyttelton watersiders have refused to work the African Reefer which has been declared a preference ship.

Watersiders were put on penalty for refusing to unload the bananas because they considered it wrong for a foreign ship to be engaged in the banana trade when New Zealand seamen are unemployed. Seamen in the four main ports—Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin —today passed unanimous resolutions not to take their ships to sea unless the penalties placed on the watersiders were raised. In announcing this today the president of the Seamen’s Union (Mr F. P. Walsh) said men would only work the African Reefer if the penalties were removed. When a watersider is placed on penalty it means he is denied both work and pay for two days. Mr Walsh, when he announced shipping stoppage today, said that seamen "all over the country” had endorsed the resolution at stopwork meetings this morning “This thing could spread like wildfire,’’ Mr Walsh added. “It's going to be a humdinger.” The stoppage would not affect the three inter-island steamers “We don’t want to inconvenience the travelling public,” he added. Mr Walsh addressed a meeting of 700 drivers in the Wellington Trades Hall today. “It was the most enthusiastic meeting I have ever seen,” he said. “The drivers have already pledged themselves to support the seamen in their present efforts,” Mr Walsh said “Watersiders will discharge cargo from ships in port. I can’t say yet whether they will load it.” Mr Walsh, asked if New Zealand-manned ships in foreign ports were affected, said: “Not at this stage—not in the meantime.” A Press Association message from London says the International Transport Workers’ Federation states that the African leefer dispute is not concerned with wages, but whether the ship should participate in the banana trade in view of unemployment among New Zealand seamen. It was a subject for discussion betweep

the New Zealand Government and the Danish shipowners and the unions. The federation’s cable to. Wellington endorsed that the' ship was under proper Danish agreements and sought information. The federation is now taking no further part in the dispute pending negotiations, presumably in Copenhagen and Wellington. Mr Walsh said to-night he would not take any notice of the federation’s warning of “hands off” the African Reefer. “What do they know about it?” he asked. Mr Walsh said he would examine the ship’s agreements with an interpreter tomorrow morning. Later, Mr Walsh said he would stay in bed tomorrow. He said: “The doctor has ordered me. He said I am over-tired.” “You can say that the Minister is still smiling.” said the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) today when he was asked if he intended to intervene in the dispute. “My colleagues have asked me to intervene. Almost everybody is asking me to intervene,” replied Mr Shand

Asked if he had been in touch with the parties, Mr Shand said: “I have had various conversations." “There are all sorts of plans. You can say that I shall be very busy in the next 24 hours. I shall be unable to make any statement for some considerable time,” said Mr Shand. Mr V. P. Blakeley, deputychairman of the Port Employers’ Association, said today that it was up to the Government to decide whether to enforce the law in connexion with the unloading of the African Reefer. The Lyttelton waterside workers had refused to carry out their lawful orders and had been put on penalty according to the rules. "The question is whether law and order will be observed.” He said he expected disciplinary measures and decisions to be accepted—it was part of the men’s conditions of employment. “I can see no reason why at this stage we could be intimidated out of that course.”