WORK RESUMED ON WATERFRONT

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 124, 21 February 1944, Page 6

WORK RESUMED ON WATERFRONT

Investigation Of Dispute WELLINGTON UNION STATES CASE

Normal'wonk was resumed on the Wellington waterfront on Saturday morning. The dispute on the overseas ship which led to the hold-up of shipping will come before the local disputes committee today. A reply to the statements by the Waterfront Control Commission and the Wellington Harbour Board on the origin of the dispute was issued on Saturday by the Wellington Waterside Workers Union, being signed by Mr. E. A. Napier (secretary of the Wellington Union) Mr. A, C. Dallaway (president), Mr. W. J. Carr -(vice-president), ■ Mr. A. Leary (walking delegate), and Mr. R> Butler (bureau officer). .- “This particular dispute,’ says the statement, “actually arose on Friday' night, February 11, when a number ot men stacking cargo from an overseas vessel asked for extra men, as the cargo, consisting of bags of cornflour and case cargo, was being ‘scootered’ into the sheds on trailers and required to be sorted before being stacked. As extra stackers were not supplied the dispute extended into Saturday morning, and, after the union officials were called in, a compromise was effected by the Harbour Board authorities doing away with the scooter and trailers at one. of the ship’s hatches and putting on two hand trucks, with two men to' each truck. “This, of course, would lighten the work of the stackers for this particular hatch, as the cargo would not come into the shed as quickly as on a scooter and trailers, but in actual reality is just the way cargo was transported from ship to shed, and vice versa, before trailers were used as extensively as they are today. For the guidance of the general public, and incidently the commission, may we point out that the Harbour Board rules governing this class of work provide that there shall be four men at least when hand trucks are used by a gang, and that when bagged cargo is being trucked there shall be four men stacking such cargo ; also, when general cargo is being trucked there shall be three men stacking, with the aid of an overhead crane. “These rules also provide that, when hand trucks are first used alongside a ship’s hatch and later on, as sometimea happens, a scooter and trailers, are used, the first two men will assist in landing the cargo on the trailers and the last two men will go into the shed to assist in stacking or other necessary work, These last two men are not to replace any stacker previously in the shed and must not be discharged until their mates outside are finished. . •

“It is quite obvious from this provision that it has been foreseen and allowances made in the past to offset the extra work made for the stackers by the employment of scooters and trailers over the human-propelled hand truck. Nevertheless, it has become the practice, quite recently, for the Harbour Board to use the ifiechanical means of transporting cargo to the sheds right from the commencement *bf a ship discharging and only employing the minimum number of stackers, without regard to the more speedy .scooters and J trailers and the more arduous and' exacting work entailed in the sheds.

“This was the original cause of the dispute, and though a compromise was effected at first, on Saturday morning, by substituting hand trucks for the trailers at one hatch, the suggestion was made by the Harbour Board that the changeover might be only temporary and trailers used later. However, work proceeded normally till Monday morning, when the men who had been added to the ori final stackers objected to being taken away from their job of stacking to load carts. They contended —and the union upheld them—that their job of stacking had not finished, and for the commission to publicly state that these men flatly refused to transfer when they had no further work to do is a downright contradiction of fact.

“In conclusion, we would like to state that when tlie whole of the men—ship and Harbour Board—stopped work when the three men were not reinstated- the commission made no effort to meet the union regarding a settlement of the dispute.”