Spree delays ship

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34046, 9 January 1976, Page 9

Spree delays ship

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) NEWCASTLE, Jan. 8. The sailing time for the Cypriot bulk carrier Uniluck was delayed 30 minutes in the port of Newcastle, New South Wales, while its 15 Filipino crewmen went on a shopping spree with some of the $40,000 back pay secured by Australian union action. Waterfront unions boycotted the ship last Monday, claiming that the crew was not receiving wage increases due under the International Transport Federation agreement. The boycott was lifted

after the ship’s Japanese operators, the YamashitaShinnihon Steamship Company, Ltd, brought pay and conditions up to I.T.F. standards, said union leaders.

The local secretary of the Seamen’s Union of Australia, Mr J. Brennan, said that the men received between $lBOO and $4500 each in pay backdated to September. 1975. The crew of a second ship detained in Newcastle after its Filipino crew walked off in protest against low wages and overtime restrictions, is expected to receive a total of $65,000, in back pay, said Mr Brennan.

In Sydney, the latest counting for the Australian Senate poll indicates that the Liberal-National Country Coalition Government will win 35 of the 64 seats, a comfortable majority that could last for six to 10 years

The likely outcome when the final results are declared within the next two weeks is: Labour 27, Liberal 27. National Country 8. Liberal Movement 1, Independent 1. Major assistance to the rural sector is being treated as an urgent priority by the new Australian Government, as part of the Coalition arrangements between the Liberal and National Country parties. Farmers were the loudest group in opposition to Labour throughout its three years of Government, and they clearly expect their party, the National Party, to fulfil its many election promises without delay Assistance to the value of s2oom per year has been promised. Early matters likely to come before the Cabinet should include the reintroduction of fertiliser subsidies, stabilisation and reconstruction for the fruit industry, short-term assistance to the beef industry, and action on cattle diseases such as brucellosis and tuberculosis.

In Tokyo, the outcome of discussions on a planned Japanese-Australian venture to build car engines in Australia hinges on the attitude taken by the new Australian Government to the project. The project was originally conceived during the previous Labour administration. Represented at the meeting, which is due to last three days, are Chrysler Australia, Ltd. the ?ustralian Government and Japan’s ' Toyota Motor Company and Nissan Motor Company.

In Canberra, a four-man delegation from a visiting party of United States senators who met the Prime Minister (Mr Malcolm Fraser) said they thought that Australia now welcomed the presence of the United States in the Pacific Ocean and on Diego Garcia. The former Labour Government of Mr Gough Whitlam had opposed any expansion of United States “naval facilities on Diego Garcia and called for a zone of peace in the Indian Ocean. In Hobart, police and private security men have tightened the guard on the Domain Centre Court, where the Australia-Indonesia Davis Cup tie starts tomorrow. The president of the Tasmanian Lawn Tennis Association, Mr Viv Holloway, said that he had had a tip that a Fretilin official, Mr Chris Santos, would arrive in Hobart today. T.L.A.A. officials have heard from sources in Canberra and Melbourne that a protest against the Indonesians could be held on Saturday during the doubles. Cairo visit The British Conservative party leader, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, has arrived in Cairo from London on a two-day fact-finding visit to Egypt. — Cairo.