WHARF EARNINGS

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1946, Page 4

WHARF EARNINGS

CENTRAL COMMISSION’S REPORT £ll A WEEK AT WELLINGTON Average earnings of unionist watersiders are shown in the annual report of the Waterfront Control Commission for the year ended March 31, 1946. The average per week worked for 1945-46 was £lO/6/4 at Auckland, £ll/0/9 at Wellington, £lO/16/6 at Napier, £ll/3/1 at New Plymouth, £7/12/11 at Wanganui, £lO/1/1 at Nelson and £B/3/9 at Picton. Over all ports the number of man weeks worked was 203,294, the total wages and profits paid £2,099,488, and average per week .worked £lO/6/7. The average for 1940-45 was £lO/7/5, and for 1940-46, £lO/7/4. The ordinary, overtime and total hours worked per week at various ports for 1945-46 were respectively:— Auckland, 30 3-4; 13; 43 3-4. Wellington, 27; 15 1/2; 42 1/2; Napier, 20 3/4; 18 1/4; 39. New Plymouth, 25 3/4; 16; 41 3/4. Wanganui, 19 1/2; 9 1/4;. 28 3/4. Picton, 17 1/2 14 -3/4; 32 1/4. Nelson, 33 1/2; 7 3/4; 41 1/4. The overall average at all ports was 28.’ hours of ordinary time, 131 hours overtime and a total of hours. Time'Lost In Dispute. The man hours lost through stoppages of work on the waterfront for the four years ended March 31, 1940, which was prior to Commission control, totalled 233,656 hours or 0.80 per cent, of the 22,147,977 hours worked. The figures for six years of Commission control (1941-46) were 212,080 hours lost or 0.41 per cent, of the 51,819,623 hours worked, and for 1945-46 alone, 109,800 hours lost or 0.93 per cent, of the 11,779,128 man hours worked. The average for 1941 to 1946 was 321,880 hours lost or 0.51 per cent, of the 63,598,761 hours worked. The major stoppages for 1945-46 only included 73,680 man hours lost at Auckland when a go-slow policy was instituted in connection with a request for reinstatement of a worker which was not granted and 6192 hours in connection with two other disputes, 3840 hours lost at Dunedin on a protest concerning the non-introduction of a guaranteed wage, 6440 hours lost at Port Chalmers in a dispute regarding requested adjustment of rates under the ship repair section of the award to waterside workers’ rates, and 1440 man hours lost at Napier in a dispute on a claim for extra rates for loading meat onto the Sydney Star. The value and tonnage handled under co-operative contracting for 194546 was £1,801,713 and 4,638,912 tons involving 3758 contracts. Under this system 17,956 contracts were handled in 1940-46, of a value of £8.953,180 and an aggregate tonnage of 22,643,279. Rate of Loading. The overall rate of loading overseas ships increased slightly during 194546 and was above the cumulative average for 1940-45. The rate of discharging was 12.79 tons per hour in 1945-46 against 12.39 tons for the fiveyear period, 1940-45, and 12.98 in 1944-45. The general cargo rate for small coastal vessels was 16.71 tons per hour for 1945-46 compared with 17.28 for 1944-45 and 16.83 average for 1940-45. Notwithstanding the increase in wages by 3id an hour, the average wage per man week had dropped from £lO/13/7 in 1944-45 to £lO/6/7 in 1945/46. The annual income had shown a substantial drop, particularly at Auckland. During 1944-45, 488 men at Auckland earned over £6OO while in 1945-46, 123 men earned over that figure. The reverse applied at Wellington, where the average wage and income increased. The overall port average, however, showed a fairly substantial drop.