THE NEW AGREEMENT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 144, 15 December 1913, Page 7

THE NEW AGREEMENT

CONDITIONS PRACTICALLY UNALTERED SOME IMPORTANT PROVISIONS. In view of the apprelipnsion that appeai'B to exist in certain quarters that the, new walersiders' agreement does not offer N such favourable conditions as the old one, it is advisablo to refer to some of the important provisions in order to allay such uneasiness. For instance, th-j clause ro Sunday work is identical with the old clause. It provides that payment for work betwnen midnight on Sunday and 8 a.m. on Monday snail be paid at double ordinary rate. The union, at its meeting on Friday night, however, pussed a recommendation that no Sunday work be engaged in unless it is absolutely necessary, and this is doubtless tho atm>w*» the employers will adopt. In regard to the out port work %\vo conditions are the same. Clause aof the agreement reads : Men engaged to work cargo at ports other than those at which they are -actually employed shall be paid from tho tim,o of leaving work until they return at the rato of 12s per day (excluding Sundays), with meals, fares, and sleeping accommodation provided. Clause b is : If they leave between midnight and 2 p.m. the following day they B httll be paid for the whole day. If they leave between 2 p.m. and midnight they shall bo paid half-duy. I his allowance shall not, however, apply to men engaged for work at on outport and who hayo been working up to the time of leaving. Tho pay of such men shall continue up to 5 p.m. on 1 " tho day oi leaving, whether working or not. Those conditions are the samo in both agreements. The clause dealing with work in tho stream or at tho slip also remains tho same. It is : " Men engaged to work, within tho limits of the harbour covered'

| by this award to be paid from the time , deleaving the place of engagement and ( «r4 ,tcj the time of arrival at the wharf ' wllen" returning at the ordinary rate, not overtime, fixed by the class of labour , i&ey Are engaged for." The second i clause reads: "If the men are notified 1 on. the previous day that they will be required to work in the stream they shall „ take their lunch with them, and if not fioT notified' a tug or launch shall leave toe vessel in the stream at 11.45 a.m. [.and shall leave the wharf on return at | t A.p.m." < '^The ventilation clause has not been [•altered, and still reads: "All holds to y/i»,ventilated with windsails when not I otherwise sufficiently ventilated." 1 The clause dealing with the cqmmencet ment of work has been amended, the f amendment being unanimously adopted ', at the last meeting of the Arbitratiomsts. v The old clause reads: —Any man startj ing work on any boat must finish ihat rijboat before commencing work on any ' ofchev boat (unless he is discharged by I, his employer). Before transferring labour from one job to another the employer shall first ascertain if there aro I competent men willing to accept empk>y- | ment available at the place of engageliuerri, and in such case he shall employ ehch men in preference to those already working. The.now clause reads:—Any man starting work must (unless discharged) finish the particular work he is engaged at before commencing work elsewhere, but the employer shall have the right to transfer labour from one job to another for work controlled by him., * 1 The. object of the amendment is to ' fceep good gangs of men together instead of them being broken un when they return to the waiting shed. „J "lhe conference of the employers' re- , $fesentativeß < and the executive of the 1 new union regarding the proposed amendments' arising out of Friday night's faceting 1 of the union is taking place this afternoon. ,