200 British Ships Crewless As Strike Begins

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31061, 17 May 1966, Page 17

200 British Ships Crewless As Strike Begins

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, May 16. More than 200 British ships floated crewless at their berths today as 62,500 merchant seamen began a strike which could hit the nation’s crucial export drive, and also bring food shortages.

The seamen stopped I work at ports all over ! Britain at midnight on | Sunday. The walkout —expected to last at least three weeks—came after weeks of abortive meetings between Government ministers, shipowners and the National Union of Seamen. The seamen want an immediate reduction from a 56hour to a 40-hour working week with a £l6 basic wage. The seamen’s leaders, who say they can stay out for up

to three months, ignored a last-minute personal warning from Mr Wilson that the stoppage would stifle the nation’s crucial export driv*. The shipowners have offered a 40-hour week, phased in three stages over the next two years, with an immediate 5 per cent increase in earnings, followed by 4 per cent rises in 1967 and 1968. At present British seamen, who are among the lowest paid in the world, and the lowest paid in Europe apart from Spanish seamen, earn about £6O per month. Today 52 British ships were

strikebound in the sprawling 200-berth Port of London which handles the bulk of the nation's £lO,OOO million-a-year seaborne trade. More than 200 other vessels were strikebound in other major ports Southampion, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol. Food Supplies Most of the seamen involved in the dispute were still at sea when the stoppage began, but 20,000 are expected to be ashore by the end of the month as merchant ships return home. Food supplies, particularly fruit, vegetables and meat, will start to dwindle after about 10 days and importers predict spiralling prices before then as housewives rush to buy up stocks. Mr Wilson will make a radio and television broadcast tonight. The Government is planning to use Navy vessels to

clear ports of ships as they become strikebound, to make room for incoming foreign vessels.

Aden Grenade.—Sixteen British soldiers were wounded by a grenade thrown into a British military camp close to the Yemen Republic’s border with Beihan State of the South Arabian Federation last night.—Aden, May 16.