PAY DAY IGNORED Crew’s Sit-in Continues

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31235, 6 December 1966, Page 1

PAY DAY IGNORED Crew’s Sit-in Continues

(New Zealand Press Association* DUNEDIN, December 5. The sit-in by seamen on the Waihemo continued tonight at Dunedin, and the owners of the ship, the Union Steam Ship Company, also made no move.

The seamen began the sit-in at midnight on Sunday to protest against the company’s withdrawal from the North American route and the inroads being made by foreign lines on shipping routes to New Zealand.

Although the seamen’s pay was ready for them yesterday morning at the Government Shipping Office in Dunedin, they refused to leave the Waihemo to collect it.

Instead, they passed the time on board by reading, playing cards and scrabble and doing housekeeping duties assigned to them on a roster. They were also able to watch television last night on the ship’s set in their quarters. Six of the original 25 seamen, however, were working yesterday because they were

assigned to duties connected with the unloading of the cargo. The unloading is expected to be finished today. Two Leave Ship Two others left the ship—the deck boy was sent home and another seaman left to be with his sick wife. The Seamen’s Union delegate on the Waihemo, Mr D. J. Morgan, said the seamen had told the captain on Sunday about their sit4n plan. They did this as a matter of courtesy so that the company would not make unnecessary travel arrangements for the men. The protestors now have all this week, he said, but no decision had been made yet. The protecters now have no legal right to be on board the Waihemo. The Waihemo arrived in Dunedin after making its last run on the route to North America. It has been sold to the Pacific Trade Navigation Company, of Manila. A replacement crew for the ship is expected to arrive in Dunedin on Friday. Not Taking Action

In Wellington today the general manager of the Union Steam Ship Company, Mr A. T. Waugh, said the company was not taking any action at present about the sit-in. He did not wish to comment on the protest. The Union Company decided to withdraw from the North American route because it had been making continuous heavy losses, Mr Waugh said. “We carried on for some time in the hope that the situation would improve, but we reached the stage where it was imperative to withdraw,” he said.