COASTAL SHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1937, Page 12

COASTAL SHIPS

EARNINGS OF CREWS

COOKS PAID MORE THAN

MASTERS

UNUSUAL POSITION

An employer does not as a rule pay his lesser employees more than he pays his executive officers; but there is one business of vast importance to New Zealand in which many of the lesser employees receive considerably more Ithan the executives. In most of the (vessels trading in New Zealand waters under New Zealand awards this position exists. An example, not a selected extreme, is of the master who receives £45 a month and pays to his cook £48 for the month's work, states the Christchurch "Press."

This is only one example of the position which exists in almost all the vessels trading in New Zealand waters. The figures given have all been obtained in a careful survey of pay-sheets of various ships and : vouched for by the masters themselves.

On one small vessel, of less than 300 tons gross, and with a complement of fewer than 20, the members of the crew were receiving each month an average payment equal to £385 a year cash, plus keep.

Strangely enough, the higher rates are paid only on the smaller vessels trading about the Dominion and governed by Dominion awards. The five awards involved in the running of such a ship are the Merchant Service Guild award, covering the master and the mates; the marine and power engineers* award; the stewards' award; the galley staffs' award; and the seamen's award. OTHERS EXCEED MASTER. The pay of the master varies with the size of the ship, and the range in the survey made by the "Press" was from £41 to £46 a month. Those amounts, paid to the man in sole charge of the vessel, are frequently exceeded by the first engineer, by the steward, and even by the cook, and sometimes by the first mate. ' .^~ Because much information was given in confidence it is impossible to quote exact figures, but those given here vary little from the actual payments made. On a small trading vessel in a recent month the master was paid slightly more than £40, and the cook received a little more than £50. On another vessel, also small, the master was only fourth in the list of those receiving the highest payments. On yet another the second mate found himself one month the lowest-paid man aboard. His pay was exceeded even by that of the firemen, the able seamen, and the one ordinary seaman making his first voyage. Not infrequently firemen draw more than £30 a month, and in one instance an ordinary seaman, still just a youth, was paid considerably more than that. PAYMENT FOR OVERTIME. "But how do these men get more than the man who is virtually their employer?" is the natural question. The master is paid to look after the vessel and it is his responsibility. The seamen, firemen, and others who make up his crew are paid overtime for all work they do beyond the daily eight hours stipulated in the five awards. And the master, the only exception from these provisions, finds himself among the lesser paid.

Almost without exception cooks receive about £40 a month—their pay frequently exceeds that of either of the mates, and that of the- senior engineers. A„cook-providore on a New Zealand vessel sets an example for others who seek high pay. In one month his* regular, pay of £18 was swelled to £30 by payment for overtime. But he was also under contract to feed the ship's complement, and is paid on the basis of so much a meal, the figure being fixed to allow a reasonable margin of profit. However, members of the crew frequently have meals ashore and in their home ports they may be absent from the vessel for several meals. On these considerations is based a fairly reliable estimate that a monthly contract profit of about £40, brings the total receipts for the month to about £70. Even a more conservative estimate of his profit leaves the total at £60 a month. And the company supplies his apron! With food and living quarters provided on the ship, the men have no regular deductions to make other than wages tax; provision is made for accidents and illness by insurance.

With more overtime being worked on smaller vessels than on larger ones, members of the crews of those ships not infrequently receive more in overtime than in regular pay. A mate whose pay was £26 10s came near to this by drawing £22 10s, for overtime; but a cook was paid £19 as his wages and £29 for overtime. A steward, too, received a total of more than twice his regular pay. The instances of men being paid more for overtime and Sunday work than their monthly pay are innumerable. A cook earning about £19 was paid more than £43; a steward's overtime payment was only £4 les3 than his monthly pay. It is argued by various sections of the crews that the series of awards does not provide equitable treatment for all, particularly in the payment of overtime and Sunday work. THE MASTERS' COMPLAINT. Even more dissatisfied than the men, 'however, are the masters and the mates. They expressed to a reporter the opinion that their payment was adequate, considering the size of the vessels they were handling; but they consider that since the owners have made better agreements with other members of the crews, they themselves | should be paid at higher rates because |of the training required and the responsibility carried. None of the masters took exception to being excluded from the overtime provisions i of the award, but each believed that he was entitled to more consideration l than lesser members of the crew.

■ "Either our pay should be increased or the others' should be knocked back," said one. He received slightly more than £40 a month, and his cook generallv draws about £10 more. The mates have a grievance about Sunday work. To them Sunday is just another day of the week; to other hands it means double pay when at sea, and special provisions and overtime rates when in port. They are on an eight-hour day, and their duty may be divided into any sections, day or night; seamen receive overtime rates of more than 3s an hour for any work done before 7 a.m. or after 5 p.m.

The high rates provided in these five New Zealand awards are emphasised by comparison with the pay of members of the crews of overseas vessels. A British ship calling at Lyttelton pays its firemen £9 10s a month in addition to food and living quarters, its able seamen £9, its ordinary seamen £4 10s, its stewards £8 ss, its junior engineers from £12, its cooks from £9 up to £20.