WATERFRONT LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 109, 9 May 1923, Page 6

WATERFRONT LABOUR

(THE ABANDONED SCHEME

COMPLAINTS FROM MEN

REPLY BY MR, BENNETT.

i'The Post" has received several let- ' %en from correspondents with reference ; to the worldng of the system of central- ! ised control of labour introduced on the jwaterfront a little over seven weeks ago, But now to be abandoned as a result of an adverse vote cast by members of the Waterside Workers' Union. „ Allegations are made by the correspondents that undue discrimination has 'been shown in the selection of men for work. One man, for instance, says that he has been on the waterfront for eight.een years.and always made a decent lfv'ing, but he found himself cut out and the '■numbers of certain other men appearing regularly on the engagement board day ' after day. ' This correspondent suggesti.ed that an examination, of the weekly pay .' sheets would' prove his assertion that one section of the men were making a liv"ing, and that the other sections were 'Starving. "That is why we have turned it (the scheme) down," he adds. "When ;,we voted for this scheme we were told sthat it would result in an equalisation of hours of work, but we have been given anything but that." Another correspondent writes in a similar strain. Ha says that he has worked on the wharf for about two years, but ; found that after the new scheme came -Into force he did not get work. This,, he contended, did not make for equalisation of Hours. The men wanted were 'picked out from a list supplied by the shipping company concerned, whereas •formerly the labour foreman chose his gangs openly from those who stood before him. The actual result had been, therefore, that there had not been any vital change m the method of apportioning the work" amongst the members of 'the union, and consequently no equalisation in the hours worked by the 900 -men nominated for the scheme; prefer*,ence having been shown in favour of particular men. .-•■ "THINGS WILL BE WORSE." ■ When approached in regard to the matter, Mr. W. H. G. Bennett, manager of ,'the Waterside Co-operative Employment 'Association, remarked that even if some •men had not received what they considered to be a fair apportionment of the ;work going, things would be very much •.worse now that the old conditions were to be reverted to. Under any system of "employment the best men were going to obtain the most work, and it might be ■that the best men had been chosen under 'the scheme. When labour was engaged "from the stand, as was the case under $he old system, the foremen had absolutely a free hand to take on whom they liked, whereas under the scheme allthe suitable men offering had to be given an opportunity of employment before the '"fringe," composed of those outside the Scheme, was drawn-on. The new sys--?tem had been introduced to absorb 900. ■men, and those who were not included 'naturallj would not get any work, proivided the work of the port was being adequately coped with by the others.. As in the case of every innovation,' the scheme meant that some had had to sufier in the interests of the majority. Under the details arranged for the working "of the scheme, .each-employer,.of water-.. Bide labour was to have first call on the men he nominated; an undertaking being given that a genuine attempt should be made to level up the hours worked by the whole of the 900 men in the scheme. Before it would be possible to do this, however, it would have been necessary for the scheme to have been in operation "for some considerable time. ■ I Mr. Bennett added that an abstract ■was to have been prepared showing the 'number of hours worked by each of the '900 men during the first five weeks the 'schemi had been working. From a cas■ual glance at figures produced it was apparent that when the abstract was prepared it would have shown at once how the particulars regarding each man stood. The figures disclosed that any man who itiad been in fairly constant attendance ■and working, a ..fair number of _ hours •would not have had very much time to be averaged up. Before the figures could be properly classified, however, so .that the result would be clearly shown, the scheme had been dropped by the men for whose benefit it had been instituted. )': DISCIPLINE RESENTED. :: "Th scheme being new," proceeded! Mr. Bennett, "old customs and habits that ■had grown up in the course of half a century had to he broken down, but it. has been impossible to do this effectively in' the few weeks in .which, the scheme has been in operation. Both the employers and the men had to be disciplined into the new system, and, apparently, -the men resented this. Though the scheme would have been for their benefit in the long run, they have taken matters into their own hand's against the advice of their leaders and turned the scheme down. As it stood, the scheme was en- ■ tirely in favour of the men,' but they .'have shown that thsy do not want any improvement on the old system, therefore they will have to suffer the results. {Under the scheme the hours of engagement were shortened a quarter of an hour in the mornings and an hour in the afternoons. Now that the scheme has been dropped, the former hours will be' namely, 7.45 a.m. to 9.45 -'a.m., 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and 7.45 a.m. to 10.45 a.m. on Saturdays. This will mean •that the men will have to wait about for a longer time before they are engaged."