NAPIER WATERSIDE WORKERS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 354, 14 February 1917, Page 3

NAPIER WATERSIDE WORKERS

ADDRESS PUBLIC MEETING AT NAPIER.

GOVERNMENT ASKED T< > INTERFERE.

! A unique public meeting, convened Iby the Napier Waterside Workers. ■ rook place in the Napier Municipal | Theatre last evening, when Mr. '.Tames Roberts, secretary of the Nev. | Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federation, addressed a crowded house. ! a remarkably large percentage of I those in the dress circle being jvomen. The speaker received an I unusually attentive bearing, and there were no interjections heard by our reporter. This is said to be the first occasion on which the employees in any industry in the Dominion have placed their position i before a public meeting, and the inj t-crest manifested by those present j showed beyond all doubt that the i people were glad of the opportunity to hear the workers’ cast 1 .

i The meeting opened and terminated with the singing of “God Save the King,” which was heartily sung by all present. The Mayor (Mr. J. Vigor Brown, M.P.), who presided, said he was taking the chair as Mayor of Napier, j without introducing any politics or | religion. He was there to see that'everything was carried out in a I proper manner. He then read a clause from the recently-issued re-r-jlations, which makes it unlawful for anyone to say anything at a meeting likely to promote hatred between two classes of His Majesty’s subjects. Continuing. Mr. Brown | said from what ho had this week I seen at the Port no one there wished ito make any trouble, and everyone desired to be Law-abiding. After Mr. Roberts had addressed the meeting any representative of the shipping interests was welcome to on to the platform. and would get justice and a fair hearing.

I MR. ROBERTS’ ADDRESS. I Mr. Roberts expressed his plea- ! sure at having the opportunity of | putting before the meeting the case of the waterside workers of New ■Zealand. For a number of years | past, since 1908 to be precise, very I few of the Waterside Workers' ! Unions fri New Zealand had gone i before the Arbitration Court, the I reason being that the last time a I union went before the court it gave I them preference to unionists and re dticed their wages bv 2d nor hour. Since that they had Jost faith in th< court. Subsequent to 1908 they had met the employers and arrived at an industrial agreement. Men compris ing the interests of both sides met around a table in conference, and each side then knew what Conditions should prevail in that industry and would not draught a clause that [ would be detrimental to both sides. I Until the personnel of the Arbitra I tion Court was so' amended that the I men sitting had an actual knowledgi I of the case to be adjudicated upon ' there could not be a satisfactory i case in the Arbitration Court in I New Zealand. With the exception of the trouble in 1913 there had been ! very little trouble in connection with ! the waterside workers of New Zee t land. The present agreement of ttu I waterside workers expired on Dei eember 31st. 1916. and the workers i held their annual conference <• .Auckland from December Ist t.» 1 Ith, and draughted a scale of wages for submission to the employers. CONFERENCE ASKED FOR. ! The secretary was instructed to notify the employers that the wo, • kers wanted to meet them in eonfe; - once on January Sth. the eonfe.- ! eiiee was decided upon for Januar. j 2.>tn, and he specially asked if th ■ employers would discuss the terms ■ of agreement, and was advised that i they would willingly discuss any thing. He called the delegates toI gether from all parts of New ZeaI land, from Kaipara to the Bluff, and on meeting the employers the workers were asked to state their case, j which they did. They were then told they should go before the Arbitration Court, and they told the | employers that they could not allow I the matter to be adjudicated upon ■ by the Arbitration Court. On no I occasion did the employers attempt ! f u discuss any terms or conditions j wanted by the workers. No one of i these points was discussed. The employers only reiterated that the ’ workers must go before the ArbitraI tion Court. On this occasion the I employers refused to discuss anyI thing that the waterside workers I asked for, and simply said: “Arbij nation Court.” They' seemed to ! have forgotten every word in the i English language except “Arbitra ! tion Couid.” Since then things had | been more or less mixed. Since i that meeting there had been trouble j in four or five ports of New Zealand, j JT STARTED IN WELLINGTON, j where the men were engaged in j “dumping” cargo. Ry “dumping”. the workers had been very unfortunate as regarded accidents in Web I hngton, practically one. some of j them minor accidents, occurring I every day. That .was not the first time that the men had refused to | “dump” cargo, but the employers

never before discharged the men for refusing that. On -this occasion the men were blacklisted —6O men were blacklisted and for a week they were refused work. Because of that several hundred other men were locked out. He wanted to give the lie' direct to the statement that the men were locker! out because they would not load meat for the Imperial authorities —he wanted to deny that because on no occasion had the men refused to do it. On no occasion had the men at the waterside in Wellington or any other port refuse.l to load meat or any other cargo for the Imperial authorities. AV here the men have asked to work they had immediately responded to the call and did the work they were required to do. It had been stated by a member of Parliament that a certain boat left New Zealand with a load of chaff and minus her other cargo, because the workers would not work, but, as a matter of fact, there were then 500 or 600 men able and ready to do the work. The sole reason for all this seemed to him to be that the employers had decided to make it appear that the men were holding something up. The men were willing, and had told the Government on more than one occasion, that they would take on ANY IMPERIAL WORK

at any time, day or night, to give the snip early dispatch, he hoped tne day was soon coming when, in. a case like this, the Governmentwould take over the loading ana discharge of vessels, and those who were holding back, would have to stand by and see the work done. He had heard it stated that the men who were causing the trouble were foreigners, including some Germans. If there was anything that hail given the British race the name it had throughout the world it was that we fought a fair game. If they had an argument let them fight it fairly. To say that a number of men, because'they had an industrial disput or argument, were foreigners was an unfair attitude. (Cries of Hear, Hear.) Even if they differed from workers they could at least give them a fair deal. The employers had said they were afraid to meet them. If a man had truth and justice on his side he need have no fear. If the employers had truth and justice on their side they should not be afraid to discuss matters alongside the waterside workers. The employers had college and commercial and business training and should be able to “wipe the floor” with the workers. They were only afraid because they’ had no case to put before the workers. He had just learned from Wellington that tilings there were again working smoothly- at that port, and he hoped the same would soon be said of

Napier. In every part of New Zenkind there was a great W ASTAGE OF LABOUR. The great trouble in Napier at the present time was that the men were asked to wait from 7.30 a.m., till 5 p.m., waiting on the wishes of the employers, and the workers desired to reduce this to two hours a day. Would other employers expect workers to stand outside their workshop door from 8 till 5 waiting for a job. The workers were willing to put the case before the. people of Napier and let them judge who was right or wrong. Two hours a day for engaging labour was a fair thing, and the workers wanted some reasonable agreement so far as that- was concerned. Then again, the workers considered that they should be paid travelling time from the place of engagement. They had to travel to the engagement shed, and it was a. fair thing that they should be paid for the time taken in going to a vessel. EXCESSIVE LONG HOURS was the next point desired to touch upon. In the old days men worked six days and nights without going home to meals. It was only fair that the workers should be asked to work a fairly long day, but not excessive long hours. Last year, in Wellington, a man worked 37 hours without rest, and on his way home the man fell down and had been sick ever since. Another at Auckland worked 36 hours, went home to sleep and never woke since. The workers were only asking for reasonable protection. The watersiders in Wellington were agreeable to working 14 hours a day. If a man dug at Newcastle coal- for 14 hours he had done enough. A MISUNDERSTANDING. They had never heard a word only working from 8 till 5. _ What the secretary of the local union had said was that the men should have the right to stoji work after eight hours. The Napier waterside workers were willing to work for eight hours straight off, .And . on and finish a boat if it was leaving that night. If the employers met the men in a conference a settlement of the whole dispute could be arrived at. and New Zealand would be all the better for it. He wanted to refer to the

ENORMOUS WAGES earned by the watersiders. It had been stated that at Wanganui one man had earned £l4 in a week. He had looked up the award, and found that if a man worked from

midnight on one Saturday till midnight on the following Saturday, without allowing any time for meals or rest, he could earn £l4 0/l|. If he could work like that he would go round and exhibit himself as the man who could work without any’ sleep at all. The wage earned by the watersiders over the whole of New Zealand did not average £2 17/- per week. During the past twelve months he had assisted to unload hundreds of motor cars and he had not seen the name “warersider” on one. The Government Statistician had stated that what could be bought for 13/11 in 1914, cost £1 to-day. What they could buy for £2 2/1 in 1914, now required £3 2/2. Had any of the workers in New Zealand got their wages increased to that extent? -The producers of commodities were not losing much money yet. The workers were willing to put their demands before the people of NewZealand if the shipping owners would put their profits before the people of New Zealand and stand by them. That was a fair sporting offer. But the employers had shown the people the workers’, demands as to wages and conditions though they promised in conference they would not. If the shipping interests would give their shipping work over to the watersiders for a month they would give a quicker discharge than ever before. If the workers’ demands were acceded to the employers would find that it would benefit . themselves. Lloyd George had said, in referring to industries taken over bynthe workers, that, the workers had taken over the industries and. had proved themselves more efficient employers of industry’ than the employers were before them. Mr. Roberts then referred to the fact that men were engaged to work the Victoria and not allowed to start work, and also that they had worked scenery out of a vessel and not been allowed to do the other cargo. This, he said was a desperate attempt on some one’s part to lock the men out.

.He referred to the demand for a higher rate of pay for the working of explosive cargo, and said he had been advised by one of the Ministers to do this as it would enable sufficient to be claimed under the Workers’ Compensation Act, in the event of an accident, to provide for a man’s wife and family. The amount of money involved in this demand would be very small, because the removal of this cargo—there was not usually much of it—would generally occupy about ten minutes. He lioped the PRESENT TROUBLE would be got over very quickly, because there was no man with sense or reason in New Zealand who wanted trouble. Five thousand watersiders and their sons had gone into the trenches, yet some questioned their loyalty." Would anyone say that the watersiders did not desire to help those men as much as anybody _ He believed that until some authority took charge of the waterside industry there would never be a proper "solution of the problem. In England the watersiders at the various docks took charge of the industry, and since then there had been no hitch in the business. The same thing could be done in New Zealand, and it would end the trouble. In conclusion he congratulated Napier on having a Municipal Theatre, and a Mayor who was broadminded enough to preside at this meeting. NO QUESTIONS.

Mr. Brown then announced that Mr. Roberts would be pleased to answer any question, or for any employer to come forward, and state his case. There was no response to this invitation, and after waiting for some minutes. Mr. Dennis McCarthy, moved, “That this meeting of citizens of Napier deplore the present industrial crisis, and urge the Government to do its utmost to bring the parties together in conference as we believe it is the best method of amicably settling the lockout on this waterfront.” The motion was seconded and unanimusly carried on the voices, there being no dissentients. The Mayor said he had been requested to send the resolution to the Government, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman.