Use made of surplus labour

Press, 4 August 1977, Page 2

Use made of surplus labour

Parliamentary reporter Considerable use has been made of an agreement to transfer registered men from ports with surplus labour to meet temporary peak demands at other ports, the Waterfront Industry Commission says in its annual report, tabled in Parliament yesterday. The biggest transfer was of Mount Maunganui men to help cope with extra work created by the loading of windthrown logs at Timaru.

As many as 41 men were on transfer from Mount Maungenui at one time, and the commission chartered a jet aircraft from Mount Cook Airlines to facilitate the monthly replacement of these men.

“On one occasion the aircraft was used to transport men from both Opua and Mount Maunganui to Timaru. The direct costs of the National Administration Fund of inter-port transfers are almost always higher

than would be incurred by leaving the men to be paid the guaranteed wage while without work at their home port. “The fund does not benefit directly from the savings in cost which result from avoiding delays in turnround. “However, these transfers provide the men with productive employment and enable temporary peaks to be met without resorting to the recruitment of additional men to the register . ..”