SHIPPING CRISIS.

Grey River Argus, 10 January 1928, Page 5

SHIPPING CRISIS.

UNION’S REPLY. To Owner’s Statement. NO JUSTIFICACTION FOR LOGGING MEN. SYDNEY, aJnuary 9. Jacob Johnston, general secretary of the Australian Seamen’s Union, in reply to the shipowners’ statment reply to the shipowners’ statement regarding the seamen’s dispute, says: The argument of the union is that the seamen should have been allowed time off without, any deduction of pay tu attend the meeting, because, according to the legislature, Tuesday was a holiday. If the owners had succeeded in forcing the seamen to attend a meeting on a holiday, they tVould have been breaking the agreement which provides that the meeting is to take place in the owners’ time. Furthermore, the owners should not have logged the men in the way they did, but should have referred the dispute to the Conciliation Committee. In logging the men, the owners were merely carving out the instructions of th ci: Association. It is significant that the companies, which are not members of the Association, including the Commonwealth line, did hot log their men. CREWS PAID OFF. (Received January 9 at 9 p.m.) SYDNEY. January 9. The crews of Moreton Ray, Ormiston and Canberra were paid off., and the vessels tied up. Having succeeded in rendering these vessels idle, it is expected that the seamen will now wait for the owners to make the next tobve. The Union now has a large number of unemployed within 'ts ranks.