CONCILIATION BOARD. FEDERATED SEAMEN'S UNION,

Evening Post, Volume LXII, Issue 133, 2 December 1901, Page 5

CONCILIATION BOARD. FEDERATED SEAMEN'S UNION,

This morning at 10.30 o'clock the Board resumed to hear the addresses of the employers. Captain Dowell, representing Captain Davidson, of th£ Napier-Wairoa trade, applied to have Captain Davidson struck oft' the list of parties fo the dispute. Mr. Jones, on behalf of .the union, objected to the striking off, and the Chairman said the Board would consider the application when giving its recommendation. Mr. Kirby addressed the Board on behalf of the Union Company. He thought Mr. Jones had shown no good reason, wt»y any departure should be made from the last award. Out of 42 clauses in the old award the union proposed to strike out six, add ten, and nraend 22. This practically amounted to a wiping,, out of the old award. It would, he thought, be patent that the conditions bad not altered sufficiently to warrant such sweeping amendments as asked for by the union. , He admitted that there were some clauses which required amendment so as to make their meaning more clear. He had prepared these amendments and would put them in later for the B6ard's approval. Mr. Jones had quoted the alleged number of hours worked by the various men on ships. He would not argue the matter now, as he was having prepared a return which would- bo submitted to the Arbitration Court. He could only say, in passing, that Mr. Jones's statements were absolutely incorrect in this partiSlilar. Mr. Kirby went into the subject of- rating in detail, and gave reasons why Mr. r Jones's comparisons' "between shore tradesmen and seafaring men iwere not fair. Mr. Jones had contended that a donkeyman should hold a certificate of competency. In regard to this, the speaker pointed out that it was a hard-and-fast rule of the Union Company that whenever steam was on a ship one ' engineer must be on duty, and he was respooible to the company and the Board of trade if any accident occurred.- As to the case cited by Mr. Jones of men being compelled to do fire and boat drill -on. a certain New Year's Day, the speaker pointed out that a master was compelled by law to hold boat and fire drill at least otice each month in the case of home trade ship 3, and once every round voyage in an intercolonial steamer. He might, through bad weather or unfore1 sesn circum^ances, be unable to hold the drill prior to the holiday, and as his time expired 1 on that day, it would be a great hardship on the master to penalise him as the; union required. Then, the whole drill, did not last more than fifteen minutes and the men fully recognised ita importance. In tHe matter of the increase of iQs-per -month asked for by the union, the ' arguments of Mr. Kennedy in the .last case held good. Mr. Jones asked as overtime for Is 6d as a maximum and Is as a minimum, and Mr. Young for 2s and Is 6d respectively. The union, however, had not told the Board that the rate of overtime paid on ships trading on the ' Commonwealth coast was Is for A.B-'s and 9d for ordinary seamen, for all classes "of work. The increase in this particular and the additional 10s per month a^ked for by the union would mean tKab the man on the New Zealand const woiild be getting 15s more per month than he on the Australian coast. Further, the present agreement with the federated shipowners in Australia would expire on 31st January, and it was commdn talk now that the wages were then to be reduced to the old rates. The seafaring men in New Zealand worked under much better conditions than those in Australia. New South Wales was the only S(iate which had an Employers' .Liability Act, and! 1 none of the States had Acts similar to our Shipping and Seamen's Act Amendment Act, 1890, which provides for the payment of wages, keep, and medical expenses for three months to any employee incapacitated from work. Then there were the Act 3 of 1894 and 1896, which provided manning scales for steam and sailing vessels. No other port— in the Australian Commonwealth, nor 1 indeed .in the British Einpiye — provided similar 'laws for the protection of the seafaring community. The speaker proceeded to state the reasons wfiy the Union Company did not aofcept, the demands not agreed to in conference. The Board adjourned at 12.30 for luncheon, the. Chairman announcing that it had decided that so far no expert assistance would be required, but that if -at any time it was needed experts would be retained.