THE MERCHANT SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 25893, 10 September 1946, Page 4

THE MERCHANT SERVICE

MASTERS AND OFFICERS SEEK HIGHER PAY

ARBITRATION GOURT HEARS CLAIM (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 9. During the recent war New Zealand masters and officers were the lowest paid of all the Allied nations, said Captain W. R. Williams', general secretary of the Merchant Service Guild, when he applied in the Arbitration Court to-day for an increase in remuneration and improvement in the conditions of employment for masters' and officers in the employ of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Ltd. It was to the credit of the New Zealand officer that he remained loyal, to the, lower-paid vessel when he could have joined the merchant navy of better-paid countries _ than New Zealand, Captain Williams said. The guild, through, not being' a militant union, had fallen behind in relation to other maritime unions, and, in spite ■of the Arbitration Court’s pronouncement that skilled workers should receive not less than 3s Ojd an hour, some junior officers were receiving Is lid an hour and senior officers 2s 6d an hour when off the articles. In England wages for masters and officers had in the past 10 years been increased over 100 per oent,, and in New Zealand over the same period 25 per cent. It was suicide for New Zealand to neglect her meroliant fleet, Captain Williams said. Why, then, did she do it, or did she not know what was going on? Did the average New Zealander know that ships’ officers were navigating passenger liners for a wage less than the equivalent of a successful typist. These officers had been grossly underpaid over a long period. He asked the court to make its considerations retrospective, as the previous award had expired on March 31, 1941. DIFFERENT IDEAS. Mr K. A. Belford, for the Union Company, said a dispute covering masters and officers of the company had not been before the Court of Arbitration since 1922, at which time all New Zealand mercantile, agreements were the subjeot of court determination. The wages and working conditions of masters and officers between 1922 and the present time had-been regulated by agreement between the parties. It was, therefore, with regret, he said, that the court was called upon to determine points at issue, “ The service the company has received, which has been a service to the welfare of New Zealand, from our masters and' deck officers during the war years has been splendid. It is, therefore, right and proper that' the remuneration given should be such as to recognise this service and the skill and responsibility they admittedly carry,” said Mr Belford. The two sides had different ideas as to what the remuneration should be. It was this issue the court was called upon to decide. RATES aUQTED, ( The annual income of masters serving under New Zealand articles ranged from a little over £6OO up to £1,200.; The average would be between £BOO and £9OO. If the wages were to ; bo based on a comparison with other sections on shore then a reduction was called for rather than an increase. So far as the earnings of officers were concerned, these, 1 taking ihtb" Account overtime, shipkeeping payments,. etc?, varied between £4OO and £7OO, which again indicated that deck officers were very well paid, indeed, and that there was no case for an increase,'but that a reduction, was rather called for. ; When suggesting that a reduction rather than an increase was called for, Mr Belford said it was necessary to keep very much in mind the payment of the war risk bonus and the war risk gratuity, which were still being received. Should the court determine that the matters of the war risk gratuity and the bonus were outside its jurisdiction, seeing that it was mentioned in neither the proposals nor the counter-proposals, then it was 1 submitted that the court was required to take these payments into consideration'in dealing with the requirements of the Economic Stabilisation Emern genoy Regulations, which defined the rates of remuneration as including such payments. Further, it was submitted that these requirements debarred the court from granting any increase in wages while the bonus and gratuity payments ’existed. The hearing will be concluded tomorrow and will be followed by a similar application by masters and officers of the coastal service. j