Crisis on Wellington Waterfront; 500 Men Dismissed for Go-Slow

Northern Advocate, 18 March 1939, Page 7

Crisis on Wellington Waterfront; 500 Men Dismissed for Go-Slow

[Per Press Association. Copyright ,] WELLINGTON, This Day. JQESCRIBED AS ONE OF THE MOST SERIOUS HOLD-UPS IN THE HIS-

TORY OF THE PORT OF WELLINGTON, NEARLY 500 WATERSIDE WORKERS WERE SUMMARILY DISMISSED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

The shipowners’ representatives claimed that the men were carrying out an organised go-slow policy.

This is believed to have been occasioned by resentment at the speech of the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, at the conference of waterside workers and employers last week, when he said that if things continued as at present the Wellington waterfront would be held up as the laughing-stock of New Zealand, if not of the world.

Early Dismissals

The majority of the men were dismissed early in the afternoon, except two gangs of six men working on the Waipahi, who were discharged at 8 p.m. The waterfront was quiet and orderly last night. On board the Doric Star a scratch gang of shipping clerks and city workers continued jby lamplight to load far into the night, in an effort to ship as much as possible of her cargo of chilled beef,, which was liable to deteriorate if left on the wharf.

Employers Take Action.

The general secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Employers’ Association, Mr G. W. Bennett, said last night that the go-slow movement noticed during the past two days had continued, and the employers had decided to take action.

Yesterday morning, he said, there was no sign of an improvement. The employers decided that if the workers were not prepared to resume the normal rate of working at 1 o’clock, they should be warned, and if there was still no improvement they would be discharged. Mr Bennett added that as this definitely organised go-slow policy continued on a number of vessels, the men were discharged. On the Doric Star, 152 men were discharged; on the Piako, 125; on the Rangitata, 101, and on the Maunganui, 94. Other vessels continued working.

The latest development took place at 8 p.m., when 16 men working on the Waipahi were discharged for going slow.

Plako’s Special Mission

The loading of the Piako had been hurried on to relieve congestion at the freezing works, continued Mr Bennett. She had been specially diverted to Wellington some days ahead of schedule for this purpose, to prevent the freezing works being obliged to close down. The Maunganui had not yet completed discharge of Australian cargo. She had on board 1900 cases of milk for transhipment at Wellington to the Dutqh motorship Maetsuycker, due in port to-morrow, but. as the Maunganui is due to sail at 5 p.m. to-day, unless "..lie men resume work it will be necessary to carry this cargo over without unloading it. Significant Examples.

‘The go-slow movement on the Wellington waterfront has been one of the most serious in the history of the port,” Mr Bennett continued. “As an example, specific figures for the loading of the Piako in the past two days show that she was being loaded at less than half the usual rate.”

The Doric Star's figures worked out on a similar basis. She was loading chilled beef. Owing to the extraordinaiily slow rate of loading, a large quantity of chilled beef was left on the wharf when the men were discharged. At the rate at which they were working, it would have boon impossible to load it all into the vessel by 5 p.m. to-day.