MONTEREY HELD UP

Northern Advocate, 15 June 1934, Page 4

MONTEREY HELD UP

PAINTED WHITE DECLARED BLACK. TAXIS SUPPORT WATERSIDERS. POLICE COALMAN DEER OAR. passengers surpri ser >. (Special to "Northern Advocate. ’) AUCKLAND, This Day. Tin' Oceanic liner Monterey berthed at Prim-es Wharf about- S.:U) this morning. A call was made for labour, but no- ; body responded. It is understood the crow will discharge the perishable cargo in co-operation with the employees of fruit importers. Taxis and carriers shunned the vicinity of the wharf, with the result that passengers disembarking had to look after themselves. In one instance, Hit 1 police commandeered a taxi in the city and took it to tin* wharf to pick up a fare. J| is learned that the majority of the crow are non-unionist, but, contrary to propaganda circulated here yesterday, the captain, oflicers and engineers are the ship's ordinary complement. A large contingent of uniformed and plain-clothes police, including a ! mounted squad, are on duty on or jiiear the wharf. The passengers.- expressed surprise at. the hostile attitude towards the ship in Auckland. The crow, supplemented by about 10 j free labourers, began to discharge { cargo under considerable difficulties. I During the morning a motor truck j which was being unloaded slipped I from the slings at a critical moment ! and disappeared over the side of the I wharf. The wharf was closed in the public and about GOO people spout the morning idly watching developments from Quay Street. Radio advices received by the Monterey last night Indicated a possibility of settlement of the trouble on the. Pacific Coast, but whatever happens, it is intended Iho Monterey shall clear Auckland for Sydney at .10 o'clock tonight. Passengers by the vessel say the situation at San Francisco and Los Angeles was tense because of the strike. There were strong police guards everywhere on the waterfront. Passengers, on arrival from ’Frisco, were taken to j the ship’s side by railway train, and experienced no difficulty. On the harbour launches were flying .about, in every direction, and some contained strike pickets trying to prevent labour being put on the ship. The crux of the dispute'was the union’s demand for a “closed shop.’’ The companies had indicated they would agree to practically all other demands, but would pot concede to a union’s privilege of soled ing labour. Air E. D. Walker, passenger traffic managor of the Oceanic line, said the dispute was now in the Government’s hands. He mentioned that some of the crew of the Monterey who walked off were Australians who had families in i Los Angelos. They were very foolish. I because they would bo deported within i GO davs. | Work of discharging the Alonterey’s cargo proceeded steadily this morning, and it is expected that the whole of the cargo will bo in the wharf shod heroic 10 o’clock tonight, when the ship is due to sail. The work, on the wharf is being supervised by stevedores with contract labour. The Monterey brought GOG bags of English and American mall, and this was unloaded immediately. Some of the ship’s fruit enrgo is on consignment to 'Christchurch, and it. is expected this will be. transhipped, to the Port Whangaroi. Los Angeles Fracas. Pooling was running high on the wharf at T.os Angeles on the day the ■ j Monterey sailed. Rome members of the j ?row state that in a fracas which occurred one man had been killed and a number sent to hospital. The purser, R. dose, was attacked and suffered a nasty cut over one eye. Today lie made light of it, saying: “A few roughnecks set on mo, but beyond getting a hit of a mauling I was none the worse.’’ Ho said it surprised him, ! because ho had never been molested ' before. The injury did not affect his . programme for the remainder of the day, whUh included his wedding. This was celebrated according to schedule. I A lamulryman on the ship also was - “beaten up.”

THE STRIKE POSITION

POSSIBILITY OF SETTLEMENT LATEST ADVICE (Special 1o ‘‘Northern Advocate.”) AUCKLAND, This Day. It is possible that the longshoremen's strike, which resulted in the Monterey being manned by free labour and eonsofjuently being declared black by unionists in Auckland, will bo settled almost immediately. Radio advice received aboard the Monterey last night stated that new peace terms based on the joint control of hiring halls, recognition of the Union and preference of employment to Union longshoremen, had been offered to the waterfront employers by a group of labour leaders, headed by Mr Joseph P. Ryan, president of llig International Longshoremen's Association. These terms were submitted to Mr Rossi, Mayor of >San Francisco, for him to present to the employers, and if they were accepted, the strike would probably end. Responsibility for settling the strike, which has cost San Francisco industry millions of dollars, has been assured by the Industrial Association, which has expressed the hope that an immediate and amicable agreement can be reached, but has declared that in any event it intends “to take whatever lawful steps are necessary to protect the economic interests of the commnnity.'' Although the steps that the association would take were not revealed, it was generally believed that If all else failed the association would start to move thousands of tons of cargo off the docks, and in that connection it was apparently rumoured in San Francisco that a fleet of _"> armoured trucks was being concentrated near the waterfront. Denying that any small group of Radicals had brought on the strike, the International Longshoremen’s Association asserted that it had given in to the shipowners on every point, except the hiring halls and the recognition of the union, and it accused the shipowners of having tied up vemmerce. Meanwhile the Public Welfare Com* in it tee of the Board of Supervisors has been asked to appoint a committee to investigate charges on the one side that the police wene brutal ami on the other that the strikers were Communists. After the conference between Air Rossi and Air Ryan and other labour leaders, which resulted in the new pence terms being offered, it appeared,

that there was a possibility of settlement, the Mayor stating that he was still hopeful ami that he believed that both sides might bo able to; move a little closer. “Mayor Rossi and Mayor Charles Smith, of Seattle, and the Govc-rnor of Oregon, are about the only people who have been able to see tins’situation in the light of the longshoremen, and as long as they can do that I am hopeful, M said Mr Ryan. The strike would not be settled, however, unless the shipowners granted full recognition to the International Longshoremen’s Association. The whole membership of the association on the coast, he said, - w r as united in insisting that the strike be not settled on a separate basis. The situation in Seattle became tense when the Mayor, Mr Smith, announced that the city would take steps to' open the port if a settlement -was not reached by 1 p.m. yesterday. Strike-break-ing seamen then crashed through the .picket lines, injuring one picket seriously, to take the tanker Labrca to sea, bound for Californian ports. After reaching an agreement with the Seattle strikers, the Alaska Steamship Cpmpany was able to run all its vessels on regular schedules.

GOVERNMENT WATCHING. (Per Press Association. —Copyright.) WELLINGTON, This Day. I( is announced that the Government is being kept well informed of developments in the shipping dispute, but up to the present it has not been considered necessary to intervene in any way. TWO MORE TIED UP MONO WAT AND MAKURA (Per Press Association.—Copyright.) WELLINGTON, This Da?'. Cooks and stewards of the .Mono* wai, which was due to sail for Sydney today, have given notice to the Union Steamship Company. In connection with the cancellation of the Makura’s sailing, the secretary of the Cooks and Stewards’ Union, Mr Kennedy, stated today that the trouble was due to the refusal of the owners to meet the unions concerned in conference to discuss the question of wage restoration. The responsibility, therefore, rested with the owners, ACTION IN SYDNEY. RIGID EMBARGO. SYDNEY, This Day. The Monterey, which is due at Sydney on Monday, has been declared black, by the Trades and Labour Council. The Seamen’s.Union reported to the council that during the Pacific Coast waterside workers’'non-unionists loaded the Monterey. All waterside unions have been, called upon 1o refuse to handle the Monterey’s cargo and stops arc also being taken to have iho “black ban” spread to Melbourne or any other port of theAustralijfn coast that the Monterey nine visit.