WHARF LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 524, 3 June 1909, Page 6

WHARF LABOUR.

DEPUTATION TO HARBOUR BOARD. HARD - LOT OF THE CASUAL: A spocial meeting of. the Wellington Harbour Board yesterday afternoon was attended by Messrs. T.M. Wilford, M.P. (chairman), F. H. Fraser, R. Fletcher, C. B. Daniell, J. G. Harknessj J. W. M'Ewan, C. W. Jones, and F. G. Bolton. , A deputation representing the casual labourers in the employ of the board, and consisting of Mr. D. M'Laren, M.P., secretary of the. Wharf Labourers' Union, and four members of the union, was received by the board. Mr. M'Laren, after referring to the decrease in trade, said the question to bo discussed was the relationship between the casual and the permanent- hands.. The board relied upon the former to be ready for work when called upon, but the men considered that their position as employees was not sufficiently recognised. They :had been sometimes dismissed before the jobs for which they were engaged had been completed, and permanent hands were than put on to continue the work. A number of' instances of this practice had been brought to his notice. . The award under which the casual employees worked did not apply to the permanent men, and they had been excluded from its operation on the representati<m of Mr. Ferguson, ex-secretary to the board, to the effect that they would never com© into competition with the oasual labourers. He now submitted that they had thus been placed in competition, and that this was distinctly. unfair. The samo question had come •up at Gisborne and Napier, and had almost precipitated a strike, which he, as general secretary to the Federation of Wharf Labourers, did his best to avert. If, however, the policy complained of were pushed to an extreme, tho intention of the award would be altogether defoated. Matters had not reached that point. Statistics of Decreasing Employment. During the two months of April and May, 1908, there were 14,168 engagements of casual wharf labourers by the board, and during tho same two months 1 of 1909 there were 10,488, a drop of 3680. The largest number of engagements in eight days of April and May, 1908, was 2821, and the corresponding figure for thisyear was 2351. On the eight days of April and May when there were the smallest number of engagements the figures were 1989 in 1908 and 1210 in 1909. There was thus' a, large falling off in employment. He had learned that .when some of the casual men did work for a, shipping company tie labour foreman called them into his office and lectured them. ■ ' Tho Chairman: You mean that, he insisted that they must stand by? Mr. M'Laren: Yes. > Thero were, added Mr. M'Laren, many who could not earn a decent living.- To take the earnings of a few, there was one man who had been forking five years on the wharf and was now averaging only 15s. 7Jd. a week. Another, who had been three years on the wharf, now averaged less than 13s. 3d. A third, with six years' experionce, was making on an averago £1 18s. Another, two years on the wharf, averaged 19s. 6d. a week. The Chairman: Have those men been earning.anything in other employment ? Mr. M'Laren ; No. They do not work foT tho shipping companies at all. Another man had tola him {hat he-had earned-only 10s. in five weeks, though he had been looking for work.all the timo. Tho board's secretary, Mr. Nicholls, had informed him that out' of 263 men 140 earned under £2 a week.-. Ho believed these were taken from tho top, and wore- hotter off than mostofthe others. There must be' many who were not averaging more than £l_a week. Even if all_ earned £2 a week, it would not be a living wage in this community, and the position of men, with families, earnwg 30s. a week was very hard. 1 The Requests Summarised. Ho submitted that, there should bo 'some recognised system for the employment of peimanent employees, and the deputation wished to urge'that the permanent staff should be; confined to clerical employees and supervising workers; also that some regulations should-bo adopted so as to provide a check on the extreme casualness of wharf labour. ! They wished to suggest, further, that ,the board should estimate, in advance, the'amount of labour that would bo tjsqjurod from time to time, especially in tho dull season of the year. The union was not actuated by any antagonism to tho board, but only wished to work with it, for tho benefit of the employees and the community generally. • < , 7 . Alleged Victimisation. Mr. F. Burton oomplainod that casual hands who had served the board well for years should receive first consideration when vacancies on the, permanent staff were to be filled. The friendly relations between the board- and the union, had become slightly strained, and he would mention in this connection the case of a man who"* had put in ,the best years of his life on the wharf, namely, between the ages of 25 and 30, and had earned'during five weeks an average of only £1 2s. 9d. _a week. This was believed to be a case of, victimisation, as tho employee in question had given evidence 'in the Arbitration Court.. ,

. The; Chairman's Reply. The . chairman thanked the deputation for coming to the board with its grievances, ajid went on to state!that the wages paid bythe board last year totalled £94,094 3s. 5d., in addition to salaries £9500, and tho wages to casual labourers wore £50,612. He'wished to say. at onco that: ho, and he thought his fellow-members also, recognised that £2 was not' a living wage, and nad increased tho wages of the pefmancnt hands to Bs. 6d. a day, with certain advantages. If th'e imports of the port dropped 60 much that the permanent men were not fully employed, aro those men to be fully employed or to bo dismissed? If dismissed, they, would join the oasual hands, and would receive preference .of _ employment. In reference to tlio award, it should cover a class of work in an industry,, and ho believed in theory that the permanent hands should not bo brought into competition with the casuals. H© agreed that the permanent men should not b© given the overtime work. That was due to the casuals, and he believed the board would agree with him. The system of dumping on the wharf was introduced to save time. It had 'been said that the burden tho board had to' record through decrease of imports fell on the casuals. That was regrettable, but how could it be avoided? In all departments of industry the same thmg occurred. -The board was not going to put on more 1 permanent hands, but the question they would have to decide was whether they would discharge some of them. He thought the board might instruct the officials to_ adviso the secretary of the probable requirements of y labour for an. ensuing j day, week, or month, according. as the information was available. He was surprised at the statements as to the foreman putting men off. The board would see that t] ie preference clause of the award was carriod out. It had bcon stated that men who had been blackballed for pilfering. had been employed again. He would ask tho deputation to give him the names, as tho board did not want employees of that kind. Ab to the young man who had given evidence before tho Arbitration Court, ho was sure no member of the board knew anything about it. In regard to_ the unloading of the Maori, if such a thing as described had occurred he was exceedingly sorry, and 'he wished the complaint had been made more promptly. It had been stated that casual men, when not at work for the board, were not allowed to take othor work. If that was so, it had got to stop at once, i Every man had the right to livfc, and that included tho right to work. Any man' not actually working had the right to work whore ho liked in tho meantime. Ho would see that all..the matters raised by the deputation were carefully and fairly considered by the board, and an answer would be furnished on every point. ■ Several questions having been asked of the deputation, Mr. M'Laron replied, and said they were satisfied that the board after fully considering tho position would do justice. They did not wish to get any unfair advantage over the permanent hands. The matter was referred to the Wharves and Accidents Committee to. consider and report to the board.