Cooks’ double-pay issue

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 17

Cooks’ double-pay issue

Cooks on new Pacific Islands vessels owned by the New Zealand Shipping Corporation will each receive the wages of two men because there is neither accommodation nor the need for an extra cook. The general manager of the corporation (Mr C. H. Speight) offered this explanation to a correspondent who wrote to “The Press” asking why the corporation did not reduce the manning of its vessels to a “realistic” level. The correspondent, Mr A. E. Baldwin, a retired Marine Department employee and a former chief engineer in the merchant navy, said that a recent news item had revealed that a cook on some of the corporation’s vessels might soon be earning more than $20,000 a year.

“It is well known that New Zealand vessels are overmanned due to union demands,” he wrote. “For instance, the Coastal Trader was operated by her previous owner with a crew of 20; now it is 32, a 60 per cent increase.” Mr Baldwin said that the corporation was unable to accommodate a second cook on its vessels after it had modified the crew accommodation to allow for manning in excess of the original Scandinavian requirements. Mr Speight said that the corporation was obliged under a special clause of the Maritime Collective Award, “which we believe was never

envisaged as becoming a problem,” to pay one cook the second cook’s rate of pay in addition to his own rate. This obligation arose because it was “neither possible to accommodate another cook in this vessel nor is an extra cook warranted with such a small increase in crew.” A crew of 20 had been agreed on because of an. increase in cargo-handling equipment (including side doors and a greater variety of cargo gear) and because of the dissatisfaction of the Seamen’s Union and Cooks’ and Stewards’ Union with existing conditions and the managing of similar small vessels. This meant that more than one cook was required under the award.

“The matter, however, is under active negotiation with the Cooks’ and Stewards’ Union, who are equally concerned at this anomaly, which gives one of their members an unrealistic payrate,” said Mr Speight. It is hoped to reach agreement on a more ,reasonable arrangement. Mr Speight agreed “in essence” with Mr Baldwin’s views.

“The Shipping Corporation of New Zealand, together With other New Zealand shipping companies, has negotiated hard for a reduction in the current manning requirements.

. “However, such a.. reduction to a more realistic level needs the strong and collec-

tive support of ail companies. It also needs the appreciation of seafarers’ unions that, only by accepting a reduction in the manning, will it be possible to reduce the rate of contraction of the New Zealand fleet and expand job opportunities.” Mr Speight said that the problem was a long standing one which required a realistic understanding by all the parties concerned. It also re-

: quired a trend towards -mailer' crews, which had been achieved overseas, in(eluding in the British Mercantile Union. Mr Speight questioned the accuracy of Mr Baldwin’s comparisons of the manninu of the Coastal Trader. He said that her crew had been 122 on overnight sailing in the Baltic, while it was 28 in (New Zealand.