STARTLING REPORT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 907, 29 August 1910, Page 5

STARTLING REPORT.

—* — GREAT STRIKE PREDICTED. SEAMEN'S FEDERATION STATED TO BE UNANIMOUS. SHIPOWNERS UNDISTURBED. By Telegraph—Press Assoriation--Copyrii;m. (Rec. August 28, 5.5 p.m.) London, August 27. "The Times" Copenhagen correspondent reports that the International Transport Workers' Federation has unanimously agreed to call an international shipping strike. The reason assigned for this step is that tho shipowners have refused to discuss the proposals ot the European seamen's unions for the establishment of" a conciliation board. The date and time, of the strike are to bo kept'secret. The decision has come as a great surprise. It .affects 135,000 sailors and firemen, including 70,000 Britishers. Many of the newspapers consider the Copenhagen report of a' strike premature, and regard it as furnished by interested parties. The "Morning Post" states the proposals of Mr; J. Havelock Wilson, president of tho National Sailors' and Firemen's Union, who has organised the movement, have been defeated for the present. Tho "Daily News" says the report published.is untrue. , Tho shipowners at the various ports declaro themselves undisturbed. They say the men are divided, and Mr. Wilson's party is without funds.

A WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT.

Mr. J. Havelock Wilson, the wellknown representative of the British ,seamen, has been busily engaged in bringing about the establishment of conciliation boards for seamen for some time. In its issue of Juno 21, the Cardiff correspondent of "The Times" said:— "Mr. AT. Havelock Wilson, president of the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union of the United Kingdom and of the International Seafarers' Union, is engaged in organising a world-wide movement on behalf of seamen which may havo most momentous results. After his tour of America, Mr. Wilson is about to engage in a tour of the ports. As a preliminary tho International Union are inking steps to be recognised by the shipowners and to consent to conciliation or similar boards for tho of wages. The replies of the shipowners are to be received at Copenhagen on' August 20, and in the event of a general strike camps will bo organised outside' each of the great ports. The Demands Made. • "A manifesto has beon issued demanding a uniform, wage at all ports, a minimum living wage, a manning scale, assistance for ships' cooks owing to tho increase of work imposed by the now food scale of the last Merchant Shipping Act, the right of seamen to have union officials present when articles are signed, the right to claim two-thirds of the wages due at. tho end of each month, tho aboli-, tion of medical examinations and tho placing of the doctors' stamp on sailors who have passed. "The Cardiff, Barry, and Newport branches of. tho Seamen's Union aro pushing on tho work of organisation preparatory to a great struggle. Mr. Damm, the Cardiff secretary, states that tho work of organisation is proceeding thoroughly, tho men aro enthusiastic and united, and are waiting for Mr. Havelock Wilson's plan of campaign. ' There is no question of a strike until it is known whether tho shipowners will decline to meet, tho men in. conference as desired. If tried, ho thinks, the proposed conciliation board would prevent strikes as ,lhe similar orgaliisation has done in the coalfields, besides regulating wages and benefiting all concerned. Sailors only want a living wage, decent conditions, treatment as free men, and not to bo' branded as slaves. . ■■' Shipowners Prepared. /'While not attaching much importance to. tho seanion's international movement, tho Shipping Federation are fully prepared for all contingencies. They state that tho men have gained nothing from 'the Seamen's Union during all tho years of its existence, while the federation, even beforo tho Compensation Act applied to, seamen, gavo them accident and other benefits. The question of wages has been left to individual owners, and tho federation have only undertaken to- provide men who would, not object to work beside other men. Medical tests were | for the protection of owners, and there is no _ branding in this country. Tho Shipping Federation now extends to most of the principal maritime countries, and an attack by the Seamen's Union would be met by the employment of men willing to work at the. wages offered at any particular port. The federation will undertake to protect tho nicu who aro willing to work at the rate of wages offered at any particular port. Such i men, the federation state, arc free in the fullest sense, which cannot be said of the union men; the medical examinations are paid for by the federation, and no inquiry is made whether the men are union Jjj[n or otherwise."