PETONE GAS STOKERS

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 51, 1 March 1921, Page 8

PETONE GAS STOKERS

THE ALLEGED "GO SLOW"

POLICY

DRASTIC ACTION PROPOSED.

The position which has,arisen at the Petone Gasworks in consequence of the refusal of the council to grant the stokers the bonus of 3e per week asked for by them, was further discussed at the local Borough Council meeting last evening on receipt of a letter from Mr. Glover, secretary of tho Gasworkers' Union, in which he asked for a reconsideration of tho matter, and pointed out that the shortage of gas being. produced was most likely owing to the men being dissatisfied with the refusal of the council to consider their requirements.

Councillor Cook moved that Mr. Glover be asked if he considered the men were carrying out the agreement. Councillor Bedingtield seconded the motion.

Councillor Brocklebank moved as an amendment that the letter be received, and Mr. Glover be informed that the council was quite aware of the position. This was seconded by Councillor Kyle.

Councillor Hay asked if it was true that still another stoker had been engaged. On receiving the 4 Gas Manager's assurance that this was so, and that there had been during four days last •week eight stokers working. Councillor Ha-y said he thought it was time the men were replaced with others. If the men ■wero not going slow, then they were not fit for their jobs. Councillor Anderson said he had been -waiting for a lead from , the Mayor on the question. The matter should be dealt with in a straightforward manner. It was undoubted that the men were, going slow, and it was very regrettable that the council had not enough backbone to deal with the question. There were two solutions, either the men had to be paid—which to . his mind would show that the stokers and not the council were the masters—or else a firm stand had to be taken with the men not doinsj their duty. Two extra men were now being employed, and yet the town was without its. proper supplies of gas. The position would have to be faced.

The Mayor (Mr. J. W. M'Ewan) said he had not altered his position, which he still firmly held, that the men in equity were entitled to the rise. The agreement was,made for six months, on the basis of the then cost of living, and as the cost of living had gone up, the men were perfectly justified in asking for the 3s bonus.

Councillor B«dingfield explained that whom he seconded the motion, ho was not aware of the second extra, man having been appointed. This, he considered, was a mistake.

Councillor Ohurchouse said councillors were in a'very difficult position; they had taken up an attitude from which they would not budge. The men were entitled to the rise, and should get it. The rise would have cost, at the most, 21s per week, and already one man extra had been employed at £6 pea: week, and now another extra man had. been put on. It-would have paid the' council handsomely to have granted the request. The council, by its inaction, was now a: party to the "go-slow"' and was now penalising the ratepayers.

Councillor Anderson : "Not the council, but the stokers." He went on to say that when he voted that the men should receive £5 12s, he did so with an eye to the future, and not merely to present requirements. Councillors who took the opposite 1 view were not looking at tne matter from the interest of the- ratepayers. The men. were getting well paid, and received other special considerations. He suggested that tha charge of 24 cwt of coal be weighed out for the men, and if the stokers did not put. it in the retorts they should 1' be dismissed.

Councillor Tovsy, Who had been absent from two meeting's, explained tihat he had opposed the granting of thp £5 12s in the first case, but that having become the basic wage, the men were entitled to the bonus. He quite agreed with Councillor Anderson, that drastic action ought to be taken regarding the "go-Slow."

During a discussion as to the rates of pay 'in various gasworks, a. point was made by several councillors of the fact that Petome stokers did the same, work in six hours, which in other works took eight or nica© hoirrs, and the gas manager was asked if it were not true that the stokers sometimes finished, had a bath, amd change of clothing during the six-hour shift. The gas manager replied tJiat sometimes tho men had dona (he full work, of the shift in four and a half hours, but to do so meant a great rush.

The; amendment was put, and was supported' by only the mover and seconder.

Councillor Anderson then moved that his suggestion regarding weighing out the charges and dismissing men who did not put the required amount in the retorts, be put into operation.

The'motion failed to find a.-seconder, the gas manager explaining\that to' do this six extra men would be needed, and the manager stating that the men might charge the retorts with the required amount and yet so arrange that the requisite gas would not be produced. Councillor Hay then moved that the matter ba left -in the' hands of the gas manager, with power to dismiss any men who did not do their duty. This was^seconded by Councillor Ander-. son, who thought, however, that the onus should not be placed on the manager.

Councillor Churchouse moved as an amendment that the men be paid the bonus Thu public, he said, should be considered, and they were entitled to get their gas. :

Councillor Tovey seconded the motion.

The Mayor supported the amendment, which he considered the only satisfactory solution. A new agreement would have to be made in less than a month, or the council could say whether it would have an agreement at all. Petone stokers were doing more work in a given time than the stokers of other works. He quoted the prices paid at several gasworks all in excess of the Petone figures. Councillor Anderson said that at Christchurch and, Oamaru', which he had recently visited, the wages for a 56-hour week, had been much less than was paid at Petone for a 42-hour week. .

The amendment was put and lost. For : Councillors: Tovey, Chuxohouse, and the Mayor. Against: Councillors Cook, Bedingfield, Anderson Hay, Kyle, and Brockelbank,

The motion to leave the matter in the hands of the gas manager was, earned, the voting for and against being the reverse of that on the amendment.