WORK ON WHARVES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 43, 20 February 1942, Page 7

WORK ON WHARVES

PORT OF AUCKLAND

"POSITION NEVER WORSE"

(0.C.)

AUCKLAND, This Day.

Although an improvement in waterfront work throughout New Zealand was reported by the Minister of Labour (Mr. Webb) on Wednesday night, stevedores and waterfront officials declared yesterday that, in some respects, the position on.the Auckland waterfront had never been .worse. They feel that Mr. Webb either could not have intended his statement to include Auckland or that he had gained his information only from representatives of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union. !

Only a handful of men out of the hundreds engaged at Auckland had ever worked an 80-hour week, as Mr. Webb had declared' some New Zealand wharf workers had been doing, it was stated. The Harbour Board's crane-drivers were the men working the long hours on the Auckland waterfront. Far from showing a keenness to accept overtime, many men were knocking off at 5 or 6 o'clock in -the evening, when there were still some hours of work for them. Under the Waterfront Commission's Order individual men who have been working during the day are permitted to decline overtime work. The numbers of men frequently exercising this privilege has become a problem at Auckland, Comparisons between the rates of work done by union and non-union labour were made by a stevedore. In all cases the non-union labourers had done better work, he said. It is difficult, however, to compare the speeds of work, when different ships, cargoes, and conditions are taken into account.

Complaints have been made by employers that non-union men were reluctant to accept day work, as they preferred to work on the night shift, when pay and conditions were better. It was generally conceded that work in smaller ports hag been quite satisfactory. A hope that the further improvement anticipated by Mr. Webb would not be delayed was expressed.