WATERFRONT DISPUTE

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 December 1946, Page 2

WATERFRONT DISPUTE

COMMISSION HOLDS SPECIAL > ' MEETING GOVERNMENTJNTERVENTION 1 (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Dec, .4. The Waterfront Industry Commission to-day made an abortive attempt to settle the wages dispute between watersiders and employers. The commission failed to achieve any settlement and adjourned until December 16. Cabinet intervention is now awaited as a likely move. The chairman of the Waterfront Industry Commission (Mr Justice Ongley) said to-night that the.cqrn.mission simply got nowhere to-day. He called it together, for the express purpose of considering the situation which had arisen since the guaranteed wage decision was announced. Neither party,, however, was prepared to move ground at all. Nothing whatever could be achieved. The commission therefore adjourned until the next ordinary meeting on December 16. Seven ships carrying cargo, in addition to the ferries, sailed from Wellington to-day. The waterfront situation was discussed by the Cabinet to-day when it held its first meeting since the General Election. The Ministers met in the morning and again in the afternoon, but no statement of the attitude of the Government to the watersiders’ demands was available at the conclusion of the meeting from the Prime Minister (Hr Fraser) or the Minister of Labour (Mr O’Brien). FORTY-HOURjTTvE-DAY WEEK ATWESTPORT The Westport Waterside Workers’ Union yesterday advised shipping companies at Westport that from last night no overtime would be worked on the waterfront, and that in future the hours would be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with the exception of Saturdays and Sundays, on which no work would be undertaken. Southern Ports

Falling in line with the national executive’s decision, Dunedin and Port Chalmers watersiders have adopted a 40-hour five-day week. A decision to work a 40-hour week was made by Bluff waterside workers at a union meeting yesterday. Two overseas ships and one coastal vessel lay idle last evening. About 230 union men and up to about 200 men who are employed as casual labour will be affected.

Acting on instructions from the New Zealand Executive of the Waterside Workers’ Union, Timaru members yesterday instituted a five-day 40-hour week.

By No Means Unanimous With two exceptions, no overtime was worked on the waterfront at Lyttelton last night. This action is in accordance with the decision of the national executive committee of the Waterside Workers’ Union that waterfront work be confined to a 40hour week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays inclusive. The two exceptions were the steamer express Wahine, on to which motorcars, luggage, and mails were loaded as usual after 6 p.m., and the transport Nellore, loading supplies for J Force in Japan. The decision to work the Nellore, which was made by the executive committee in Wellington, was to enable the) vessel to reach Japan with Christmas parcels and foodstuffs in time for the goods to be distributed to members of J Force before Christmas Day. The Nellore sailed last night for Wellington, where passengers will be embarked. The watersiders will continue to work the steamer express vessels as usual. Opinions expressed by some of the watersiders indicate that they are by no means unanimous on the action taken. One man said that he thought that, had a secret ballot been taken, the proposal would have been defeated.