SHARE CLAIMED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22425, 4 September 1947, Page 3

SHARE CLAIMED

WHARF J3ONUSES “SEAGULL’S” PETITION IMPROMPTU DEBATE HELD (P.R.) WELLINGTON. Sept. 4. Waterfront affairs again claimed the attention of members of the House of Representatives for the greater part of yesterday afternoon when a report of a committee which had considered a petition of “seagulls.” or non-union watersiders, gave rise to an impromptu debate.

1 The petitioners were G. Finla.vson and ; others, of Christchurch, and they sought 1 participation in the profits of a steve- : doring contract at Lyttelton. The committee reported that it had 1 no recommendation to ,make- A member of the Labour Bills Committee ! said that some members of the com- ! miltce would have liked to bring in a | more favourable recommendation. Accumulation to April 1 The petitioner had asked that non- j union workers on the waterfront should | be allowed to share in bonuses accurnu- | lated up to April 1 last when the 1 system of payment was changed to in- j elude “seagulls.” Their grievance was that they had been denied their share of the money they had helped to earn : and, furthermore, that unionists had divided up the money earned by themselves and the “seagulls” alike. j , “This is exploitation of the workers, ! not by the employers but by the trade j '• union movement.” declared Mr. W. A. Sheat (Opp., Patea). There had been I , a similar petition two years ago from j Auckland, he added. Since that time ] £400,000 had been paid out in bonuses, but up to April 1 last only unionists had participated. The Postmaster-General. Mr. F. Hackett. said that the petition had been | held over since last year- Since then i the Minister of Labour. Mr. A. Me- I | Lagan, had brought into operation the : 1 system of payment that had been asked I for. | Position Two Years Ago Comments made by members of the Opposition referred to two years ago. when men earning £IOOO or £ISOO a year had. in addition, been working on the: waterfront—some of them under assumed names so as to avoid the payment of income tax. , i “We have been witnessing a most I peculiar spectacle this afternoon, ai 9 spectacle of friends of the waterside j I workers in a queer place—queer 1 9 friends.” said the Minister of Labour j 1 after several other Opposition members I had contributed to the discussion. j I . Today, said Mr McLagan. the Oppo- | I sition was full of sympathy for the ! i non-union waterside:-. Next week they i would be blasting him. « An attempt was being made by the I Opposition benches to divide one' section of (he waterfront against the other, said Mr. A. F. Armstrong (Govt.. Napier). He had worked as a “seagull” some years ago and had always received fair treatment from the executives of the union, and had worked in a co-operative way with legitimate waterside workers.