Container work ‘not racket’

Press, 31 May 1978, Page 7

Container work ‘not racket’

Watersiders are not racketeering on Sunday work at Lyttelton’s container terminal, says the terminal’s man-1 ager (Mr P. J. Morgan). Mr Morgan has objected to! comments by the retiring■ C resident of North Canter-; ury Federated Farmers (Mr P. G. Morrison) which he said implied that watersiders were “working a swifty” on | Sunday work which was i costing New Zealand thousands of dollars in extra! freight charges. Mr Morrison said last! week that on one occasion! watersiders deliberately! worked slowly on a Friday j to ensure that a container; vessel had to be worked on Sunday, then stepped up their work-rate so that they| finished on Saturday but still! got paid for Sunday — ad-1 ding $20,000 to the freight ■ bill. Mr Morgan said that the j bill for Sunday work was! not $20,000. It was between! $ll,OOO and $12,000. “Because we are a six-day facility we work Sunday only at the request of thej ship, and the decision has to i be made by 11 a.m. on Fri-|

■ day, not 4 p.m. as said byj ; Mr Morrison,” he said. jl "This is contained in the! national awa r d and is rea- < I sonable because watersiders, | i t like anyone else, expect a I certain amount of notice if|( j they have to change their i week-end plans.” 4 It Mr Morgan said it was 4 physically impossible forii imen at the terminal to vary! .! the work-rate to any sig-I t ’ nificant degree. !' | "This is a highly mecha- ' nised industry. The men may j work slowly but they cannot ■ < I speed up the work-rate —[s J there is too much machinery is ■involved for that,” Mr Mor-'I Jgan said. > Even if there was a good 1 • run and the men finished on < !I1 turday, they still turned t up on Sunday, he said. t ' “There is always work at .the terminal even if there is!' tij ship — such as handling ' boxes and washing contain- ' ! ers. This work all offsets the s ■(cost of employing a gang for ■ i Sunday and brings the final [coct to the ship to between js6ooo and $7OOO. "Of course, the ship gains: I the advantage of being | icleared a day earlier,” Mr! I Morgan said. 1 i