Refuse to Load Timber On Phosphate Trucks

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 44, 21 February 1945, Page 4

Refuse to Load Timber On Phosphate Trucks

WATERSIDERS DEMAND EXTRA lOd AN HOUR (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, Feb. 20. Two gangs of waterside workers ceased discharging an essential timber cargo from a Union Company vessel for nearly six hours on Monday night aud this morning because there was a residue of phosphate in the receiving railway trucks and the company would not meet their claims for an extra lOd an hour, the Tate usually paid for working phosphate. The trucks had previously been used to carry phosphate and there was a certain umount of dust on the floors and Bides. The normal rate for an evening shift is 4s 7d an hour and had the men’s claim been met they would have received 5s sd, while the duv rate of 3s 2d an hour would have been similarly increased to 4s. “The men might have hud some justification for wanting sonic increased rate for trucks in that condition but they should have put the matter through the proper channels by referring it to the local disputes committee and continuing work instead of knocking off,” said the Auckland Waterfront Controller, Mr. W. J. Cuthbcrt.