DECLARED “BLACK”

Evening Star, Issue 25849, 20 July 1946, Page 7

DECLARED “BLACK”

THE LINER KATOOMBA NEW WATERFRONT HOLD-UP IN SYDNEY POSSIBLE , (Rec. 12.15 p.m.) SYDNEY July 20. The Trades and Labour Council Disputes Committee has declared " bladk " the former interstate liner Katoomba. This action may precipitate a new waterfront hold-up in Sydney. The Katoomba is due to sail from Sydney soon for Genoa with Italian prisoners of war and general cargo. The new owners of the. Katoomba—a Greek syndicate—put the ship under the Panamanian flag, thus placing the vessel outside Australian trade union conditions. In Canberra, Mr Chifley said he would investigate f the ban on the Katoomba.

■ [Trades and Labour Council delegates criticised the sale of 10 Australian ships to overseas interests at a time when the coastal and the Tasman trades were desperately short of tonnage. They demanded that the Federal Government prohibit the sale of any more ships until all the tonnage had been replaced, and that British ships on Australian articles now trading on the Australian coast be withdrawn. A request from the Seamen's Union that the Katoomba be declared black and that all union labour be withdrawn, was referred to the disputes committee.]