LABOUR DISPUTES

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 March 1925, Page 2

LABOUR DISPUTES

- : T.. . : ?.. T' RON A. SETTLEMENT. (Per Tress Association;) AUCKLAND, March ,25. After, nearly four days’ idleness, work?.was resumed on the Rona- this afternoon. Mr P. Hally (Concilia-. addressed- the waterside workers in the morning, but Ins proposals were Tejepted. However, after' midday, 'a settlement was reached -on "uhe/basis- that the two iiien whom -Ji/'stevedores refused to einploy should l be':' given work on boards the Kona in discharging the vessef, instead of. working in the shed. Shortly after work was resumed, however, a- hitch occurred, owing u o one of the two men objecting,to work ing'. on the itona,. and deinandipg to be employed in the shed. r .lhis was refusal/ ‘and (he, ■ with twenty . other men from tlie shed, left off ivurk. Men' from the' sugar refinery.(were then employed in the place of these men, the other watersiders not objeqtin o-

BRIDGE WORKERS' WAGES. . » (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) / SYDNEY, March 25. The Arbitration. Court refused the application of- the North Shore bridge cY-nie drivers for an increase in wages, which had been agreed to by plovers, and which, under the-contract terms, the Government would be liable to pay. Mr Justice' Rolin,..in i delivering. ' judgment, said that the employers m supporting the application/ had used a unique argument, by stating that they had tendered at a price lor the contract, based on the lowest possible wage rates. . Mr Justice Rolin added that having secured the contract, they now approached the Court find asked for an award at higher rates, thus enabling the company to charge the. Government with these higher rate\, and so, in effect, raise the contract price. VOLUMNIA’S CAPTAIN.

SYDNEY, March 25. ' Captain Thomas, the master of the Volumnia, whose arrest was cabled on March JI, ’vas discharged, the magistrate ruling that the information .contained in the warrant issupd at Perth was defective. . DRAYMEN’S REFUSAL. 1 SYDNEY-, March 26. After a friendly conference between representatives of the Master Carriers’ Association and the Trolley and Draymen.’s Union, concerning the position ■of ■ the Volumnia, the Union’s representatives agreed to call a meeting of the executive imediately, to discuss whether a special meeting should be held to consider the whole position. However, this meeting, which was largely attended, decided not to call a special general meeting. The decision is considered to be an endorsement of the Union’s original intention to support the seamen and watersiders in boycotting the Volumnia and Eromanga. It is feared that a serious extension of the waterfront trouble is inevitable!. unless the Master Carriers’ Association can see its way dear to depart from the line di: policy it has favoured up to the present, in insisting that the trolley draymen should .remove the cargo. SEAMEN’S AWARD, MELBOURNE, March 26. J 4 Justice Powers, in/the Arbitration Court, agreed to a variation of the Seamen’s award, dealing with picliingup places. The only alteration asked for, said Justice Powers, is in respect • to the clause under which it was proposed in order that on ordinary days before five o’clock and Saturday before noon, respondents could pick*)ip ®nembers of the Union: at the ship’s side, or elsewhere, if and after the union, after being applied to at the Union’s office, failed, to supjrly the necessary number of men required to fill vacancies caused through a member failing to aboard,-in accordance with engagement, or leaving the vessel shortly before the time of departure, or refusing to go aboard for any reason, or any other unforeseen circumstances. It is only when the Union's undertaking to work under the award is broken by members, and when members are in default that the right is to be given shipowners to obtain members of the Union at once, in place of the defaulting members.