A CRISIS REACHED

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 124, 18 February 1921, Page 5

A CRISIS REACHED

WATERSIDE WORK TO "CEASE EMPLOYERS MAKE A MOVE IRRITATION TACTICS MUST STOP ' NO EMPLOYMENT UNTIL GUARANTEES GIVEN

The waterside dispute reached a crisis in Wellington yesterday, and the work ' of the port is at a standstill now until the waterside workers give the employers satisfactory guarantees that normal operations will be resumed and maintained. Tho announcement of the intentions of the employers in this respect followed the refusal of the majority of the men to work after 5 p.m. yesterday. The stoppage of work does not necessarily .apply to all the chief ports, but it will apply to any port where the waterside workers resume the irritation tactics that have been pursued in recent weeks. The decision of the employers of watetaide labour was announced in the following statement issued last evening by the manager of the Wellington Waterside Employment Association (Mr. W. H. G. Bonnett): —

“On December 20 last the representatives of the employers of waterside labour throughout the Dominion met those of the Waterside Workers’ Federation in conference on the subject of wages, but the claims of the lattei' were so far in excess of anything the shipowners could grant that they could not bo entertained. After a full discussion tho employers announced that under all the circumstances they could not see their way to advance the wages of the waterside workers to any greater extent than the equivalent of tho bonus granted by the Arbitration Court to workers iu other industries, which in the case or the waterside workers amounted to Id. per hour., on the basis of an average of 36 hours per week, making 3s. per week. It was made quite clear that this offer was final, and was the absolute limit to which the employers were prepared, to go. Despite this unequivocal intimation of. the views of the employers, however, the Waterside Workers’ Federation, after submitting the offer to the consideration of tho various waterside unions, announced on January 18 to the employers that it had been rejected, and made a request for another conference on the subject. As it was impossible for the employers to reconsider the offer they had previously made, it wae felt, especially after the clear definition of their attitude on the question given to the federation representatives at the conference in December, that no good purpose would be served by calling together again the delegatee from all parts of the Dominion, and tho request was therefore declined.

"Shortly afterwards a system of pinpricking tactics was adopted by the waterside workers at various ports in flagrant contravention of the spirit and letter of the. industrial agreement, to which, in common with the employers, the federation, the unions, and the individual members of the latter are parties. The line taken by the men was: (a) To refuse to transfer from one job to another in accordance with

• clause 15. (b) To refuse to work meal hours ns provided by clause 13 (c) of the

agreement. (c) To refuse to work at all on Saturday afternoons or after 5 p.m. on other days, although clause 41 of the agreement specifically provides that 'no restrictions relating to overtime work shall be permitted to be made during the currency of this agreement and that every member (of the union) shall carry out his obligations to the employers.’’ or (d) To, so arrange that while some' men in each gang agreed to work overtime others refused to do so, the net result being that owing to the breaking up the gangs in this manner work was rendered impossible—rhe evidence that such a course is by concerted 1 action being incontestable.

"Tho detention to ships in various ports of the Dominion caused by this Irritation policy (which is ascribed to the refusal of the employers to hold another conference regarding wages) was so serious that it was deemed advisable to explicitly notify the Waterside Workers’ Federation, and also the unions concerned, both by letter and by telegram on February 10, that the employers could not put up with such conditions, and demanded that instructions should be issueci that the terms of the agreement were - to be carried out, otherwise tho employers would be forced to take steps to -protect their interests. “The intimation to the president of the federation, who is in Auckland, has been entirely ignored, no reply having been received from him, while that from the secretary of the federation, who is in the South Island, is of an entirely unsatisfactory character. The Wellington Union, in reply, states that: So far as the union is concerned

there is no concerted action. thus throwing upon the individual members of the union the responsibility of the course which is holding up ships am? causing serious loss to all concerned, including the waterside workers themselves.

Clause 45 of the agreement provides, inter alia: . The essence of this agreement being

that the work of the employers shall always proceed in the customary manner, and shall not on any account

whatsoever be impeded. So that whether or not the action complained of by the employers is by the instruction of tho union, the fact remains that flagrant breaches of tho agreement have been or are. being committed by the waterside workers at Auckland, Now Plymouth, Wellington. Lyttelton, and Picton, the. policy quite evidently being to carry on a course of sectional .irritation with the object of bringing the employers to their knees. (It should be mentioned that in compliance with the terms of the agreement the employers have hud the position brought before the Disputes Committee without any result.) "This position of affairs has become so acute that the employers have now finally decided that they can no longer tolerate it, and instructions have been issued to-day to the ports at the moment concerned that if the refusal to work in accordance with the terms of tho agreement is persisted in. no further engagements of labour will be made until a satisfactory guarantee is given by the federation and the unions that the normal conduct of the work of the ships will be resumed and maintained. This is a drastic remedy, which, if carried into effect, will entail very serious delay to ships, and throw a very large number of waterside workers out of employment, but the men themselves, and their unions, will he solely responsible for the bringing about of such a situation.” A FINAL WARMING. The Wellington watersiders did not ladk a final warning. The manager of the Waterside Employment Association (Mr. W. 11. G. Bennett) went aboard the steamers Durham, Karori, and Ngakuta in the afternoon and addressed the men working these ships. He explained to them that their union had stated it had no knowledge of concerted action to re- > fuse work after 5 p.m. The employers were absolutely convinced that there was concerted action on the part of the men.

and unless work was resumed after five o’clock that night there would be no fresh engagements made in the port until assurances had been received from the men, the union, and the federation of a nature satisfactory to tho employers, that the irritation tactics would ceasn.

Mr. Bennett informed the men that they could have ten minutes to make up their minds. At the end of the’ten minutes he repeated what he had said as to the course of action to be taken by the employers if the work was refused. The men indicated in reply that they would not work after 5 p.m .

Tho stoppage of work on the Wellingtonl wharves last evening was quite uneventful. Nearly all the men employed on the ships now in port had refused to continue after 5 p.m. .and evening work had been refused at file afternoon call. The men who were leaving work, however, were not aware definitely of th? intentions of the employers, though several of them indicated in conversation that thev had a fairly good idea of what would be the result of the tactics pursued by their executive. The executive of the Waterside Workers’ Federation will consider the situation within the next day or two. The stoppage of work in Wellington is th 6 immediate concern of tho Wellington Union, but the fact that the tactics objected to by the employers have been employed at ports throughout New Zealand indicates that the federation, which is the national organisation of tho waterside workers, has been moving in tba matter.

Tho Waterside Workers’ Federation is' associated with the seamen, drivers, and tramwavmcn in tho Transport Department of the Alliance of I,about. This alliance includes also the miners, and is connected with the freezing workers and other labour groups. THE VIOLATED AGREEMENT SOME OF ITS TERMS. The agreement under which the waterside workers are employed was made last year and. will not expire until the end of this year. Clause 45 reads: "The essence of this agreement being that the work of the port shall alwavs proceed in the customary manner and shall not on any account whatsoever be impeded, it is provided that if any dispute or difference shall arise between the parties bound by this agreement or any of them, whether as to its construction or meaning, or ns to anv other matter whatever arising out of or connected therewith, every such dispute or difference, as the same shall arise, shall be referred to a committee, to be composed of three representatives of i the union at the port concerned and three representatives of the employers, for their decision." The clause provides for referring the dispute to a national disputes committee, and finally to the Arbitration Court in the event of failure to reach agreement. Tho employers state that they have had the present dispute brought 'before the Disputes Committee without result. The clauses of the agreement relating to overtime are as follow: "For all classes of labour the ordinary hours shall be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., exclusive of meal hours (from 12 -noon to 1 p.m.), Monday to Friday, both inclusive On Saturday the ordinary hours shall, be from 8 a.m. to noon. All other time shall be classed as overtime. In cases where the payment for ordinary time is at the rote of 2s. 3d. per hour, the payment for work between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. is 3s. 4d. per hour, and for work between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. 3s. lid. per bm-r. The agreement provides that the unions shall not interfere with the working of overtime. The clause covering tho point is as follows: — "No restriction shall be imposed either by the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federation or the respective unions whorebv overtime shall cease at 10 p.m., and the federation and the respective unions undertake that Ao restrictions relatin'- to overtime work shall be permitted to"be made during the currency of this agreement, and further undertake that the executive of the union and the executive of the New Zealand Waterside ’Workers’ Federation will at all times do all that is reasonably possible to secure that any member thereof without work will accept any work offered to him which is of the kind usually undertaken by such worker, and that every member thereof shall carry out his obligations to the employer.” STEADY WORK AT DUNEDIN FUTURE ACTION WRAPPED IN MYSTERY. By Association. Dunedin, February 17. ' Regarding the industrial trouble on the waterfront, the Dunedin watersidersmaintain the greatest secrecy. They say that the position is unchanged, and that thev have received no information from Wellington as to any future action that may be decided on. In the meantime the men on the waterfront here are working steadily, and are certainly not pursuing a "go-slow” policy. A meeting of the local executive of the New Zealand Transport Workers’ Federation was held on Wednesday night, when Mr. J. Roberts, general secretary of the federation, was present. The business transacted did not give tho slightest indication of what the watersiders intend to do, as can he gained by' the fact that a question on tho point subsequently put by a, reporter- to some of those present at the meeting brought the authoritative reply that the reporter knew just as much about the future action of the watersiders as they did. All the power, it would seem, rests in the hands of the chief executive in Wellington. Mr. Roberts left by the. second express to-day on his return to Wellington. AUCKLAND WHARVES DESERTED LAST NIGHT By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, February 17. No overtime was worked on the Auckland wharves to-night, as the men attended a meeting to hoar Mr. Glover, of the Watersiders’ Federation, outline tho constitution of tho New Zealand Alliance of Labour.