Waterside benefits

Press, 19 October 1976, Page 1

Waterside benefits

Staff reporter Nelson American longshoremen (waterside workers) have a guaranteed wage annually of $12,000, an average wage of $14,000 a year, and 3 to 4 per cent of them make $27,000 and more a year if they have specialist skills. These figures were quoted yesterday afternoon by Mr Harry Bridges, the president of the powerful International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, from San Francisco. Mr Bridges was in Nelson attending as a guest the biennial conference of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation.

All the figures quoted above apply to the 55,000 members of the Longshoremen’s Union, which has jurisdiction over ports along the West Coast of

the United States, Canadian ports, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Mr Bridges, who was born in Melbourne and settled in San Francisco in 1919, has held the position of president of the union since 1937. Now, at the age of 76, he is still working full-time as its organisational head.

Asked to compare conditions of work and pay scales in the United States with New Zealand, Mr Bridges said he hadn’t had a real opportunity of making a fair comparison. However, it appeared that United States workers had better conditions in some areas and New Zealand had better in others. He said that no member of his union could be laid off without the consent of the union, and the compul-

sory retirement age was 65. At this point the worker woulc 1 get. $4OO a month pensior from the union and the Federal pension could be as high as $5OO or $6OO a month more depending upon the workers’ marital status and other factors. Retirement at an early age was possible, but the pension was lower. To qualify for retirement at 58, a worker would need to have given 13 years service as a longshoreman. A worker’s weekly wage, before payment of overtime, was based on a 30hour week, said Mr Bridges. Every hour over that, including Saturdays and Sundays, was at time and a half. If he did not work in a week, he was guaranteed a wage of $270, said Mr Bridges.