HUDSONDEEP MEETING

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32034, 8 July 1969, Page 1

HUDSONDEEP MEETING

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 7. While the Hudson Shipping Company seeks legal means to curtail all picketing of its sugar ship Hudson Deep, the Auckland Trades Council has taken the role of mediator and has called a meeting of the disputing parties for tomorrow.

The meeting will be the first between the company and the Auckland Seamen’s Union since the picketing of the vessel began about 10 days ago.

It was called after an emergency meeting of the Auckland Trades Council this afternoon. The union claims that New Zealand seamen should replace the British crew of the Hudson Deep. Until Friday it pressed the claim by picketing the vessel, half-way through an annual survey at the Western Viaduct. But since a Supreme Court injunction forbidding union picketing of the ship was issued, the men say they are acting as individuals. Tonight the company solicitor was considering what action could be taken against the individuals. Nine Days Work The survey of the Hudson Deep, which involves engine and hull repairs and general maintenance at a cost of about $lOO,OOO, still needed about nine days work when the pickets were mounted. Since then no engineers or boilermakers have crossed the picket line to the vessel. About 70 seamen and other trade union members met on the viaduct by the boat this morning.

According to a spokesman, the men unanimously passed a resolution stating that “any crossing of the picketing line would be against the traditional rights of all trade unions.” Enough Seamen

The spokesman added that the men also agreed that interference with the picket line would mean that trade unionists in New Zealand were no longer a serious force. A unionist denied that there were not enough unemployed seamen in Auckland at the moment to man the ship. “At this moment in Auckland there, are 30 or 40 sea-

men available for . the Hudson Deep,” he said. The complement of the ship is 28.