SEAMEN SIGN ON

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 May 1933, Page 7

SEAMEN SIGN ON

NEW AGREEMENT ACCEPTED “FUMIGATION” COMEDY [FEB PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, May 12. Mr Walsh, the President of the Federated Seamen’s Union, announces that the terms of ’settlement for the new agreement have been submittd to the members of the Seamen’s Union at all ports, and, by a large majority, th© members have accepted an agreement arrived at by the representatives of the seamen and the shipowners. The strike is, therefore, off. The Union Company paid off the Tamahine’s volunteer crew yesterday and signed on her old Union crew. The vessel’s departure for Picton had been postponed' until 6-30 p.m. yester-i-ln-:’- to enable this to be done. After her Union crew- had been signed on, it is understood that they refused to man the vessel until she had been fumigated, and their quarters cleaned out, the reason being that they could not live i* quarters that had recently been used by “scab” labour, until all traces or them had been obliterated by a thorough fumigation. The Union Company had no option but to do this, and the Tamahine’s departure was then postponed until 1 p.m. to-morrow. News that the unions at Lyttelton and Dunedin had accepted the new agreement was received by mid-day to-day, but it was not until 2 p.m. that news was received that the men at Auckland had accepted the shipowners’ new terms, and that the holdup had definitely ended. As soon as this news had been given out to the different shipping companies, a definite start was mad» to man most of the vessels laid up here.

t was then that the significance of the clause in the new agreement, whereby the shipowners agreed to sign on each ship the crew which had been paid off du,ring the dispute, became apparent. It was found in a number of cases at Wellington, and also at other ports, that some of the members of the crews of various shipts had left the port at which they had been paid. Under -the agreement the owners could not replace these men, even temporarily, by others without the permission of the Union officials, and it is understood that, in each case, the officials refused to give that permission. -Thus a number of ships which would have left Wellington and other ports to-day will not bn able to sail before to-morrow' at the earliest. WATERSIDERS IDLE. WELLINGTON, May 12. Pending definite official news that the hold-up had ended, shipping companies this morning nominated waterside labour for work during the afternoon. Early in the afternoon, however, a number of the watersiders decided that the ships could wait another day, and they left the -wharf. This left some of the companies short of labour, but. they managed to handle most of the cargo. The Monowai will remain here until next Thursday. • The Kaitoa will remain here until Monday, when she will resume her running in the Nelson ferry service in conjunction with the Matangi, which is due here to-morrow morning from Nelson, in place of the Arahura, which paid off, and was laid up at Nelson to-day. Six ships which had been laid up at Wellington, the Holmglen, Kapiti, Holmdale, Kapuni, Port Whangarei, and Inaha, were successful in obtaining their crews, and left port to-day.