Ships’ officers to take strong stand on carrier row

Press, 7 June 1983, Page 8

Ships’ officers to take strong stand on carrier row

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney

Australian ships’ officers will be taking a strong stand on the manning of the new bulk alumina carrier TNT Alltrans when the issue is thrashed out in talks within the next two weeks.

The Federal secretary of the Merchant Service Guild of Australia, Michael Fleming, said yesterday that he expected to be involved in the talks on the Tasman union row.

Although refusing to comment on what would happen if the dispute was not settled by the July 20 deadline, Mr Fleming said; “There is a very strong feeling over here that the ship is Australian registered, Australian owned and it should have Australian officers.”

The officer-manning dispute which saw the TNT Alltrans marooned in Bluff harbour for 19 days, and the ageing Bulknes kept in Bris-

bane in retaliation, has become a big issue for the Australian Guild.

Mr Fleming said the issue went back to the days when Comalco, looking for a ship to take alumina to the Tiwai Point smelter, considered hiring a flag of convenience vessel, but was stopped by union pressure. “They then proposed putting on a British-manned ship, and that led to political involvement, which led to them chartering the Bulknes and putting on a half-Australian, half-New Zealand crew,” he said. With the need to replace the Bulknes, Comalco entered an arrangement with Thomas Nationwide Transport which had the TNT Alltrans built to take over the run, and it was registered in Sydney.

“That is one of a number of substantial reasons why we consider it should be manned by Australian officers,” he said.

Talks on the issue went on for 18 months without agreement and the new ship was locked in Bluff on her maiden voyage.

He said the crew of the TNT Alltrans was 50-50, as was that of the Bulknes, which had two more voyages to make, and the Bulknes officers were also drawn from both countries. The officers of the TNT Alltrans were being paid throughout the latest row because the ship was being held up by New Zealand tugmasters refusing to work it.

But Mr Fleming said the officers of the Bulknes were not being paid while they kept the vessel in Brisbane, because they were deemed to have been on strike. With the New Zealanders calling off their ban and the Australians releasing the Bulknes on Sunday evening, the issue has been taken off the boil until the middle of next month.