COURT ACTION OVER MOUNTPARK DISPUTE

Northern Advocate, 12 March 1948, Page 6

COURT ACTION OVER MOUNTPARK DISPUTE

WELLINGTON, Fri. (Sp.L—The dispute over the dismissal of watersiders from the Mountpark will be decided in court. The union has instructed its solicitor, Mr R. E. bawcett, of Auckland, to commence proceedings against the Waterfront Industry Commission and/or the Union Steam Ship Company Ltd. The commission has stated its willingness to facilitate any move by the union to have the question of whether or not the men were dismissed wrongfully decided by court action.

A statement issued by the commission recalls that the union claimed that the Mountpark hatches were unsafe to handle other than with the assistance of the ship’s gear or cranes.

Views of six experts who inspected the hatches, said the statement, were:

Experts for commission: The hatches complied with the regulations and were safe.

Experts for the union: The hatches were a menace to men called on to remove or replace them. . . They were difficult to handle and there was an undue amount of danger.

Experts for the ship's owners: Tiie hatches were in a good and safe condition.

An inspector of cargo gear had also expressed the view that the hatches were unsafe. “SAFE TO HANDLE” Under the circumstances, the statement added, the commission considered that it must accept the opinion given to it by the marine surveyor of ships, who made the inspection at the request of the commission, with a full knowledge of the existence of the dispute and as an entirely independent expert. The commission, therefore, considered that the hatches were safe to handle without the assistance of ship's gear or cranes. If the union considered that some rule should be laid down whereby hatches would not require to be manhandled if they exceeded a fixed weight or size, then an approach should be made to the Marine Department for such a provision to be added to the general harbour regulations. Discussing the union claims that the men had been wrongfully dismissed on February 20 and had been wrongfully placed under penalty since that date, the statement added that the commission was still of the opinion that there was not a sufficiently strong reason to hold up the working of the ship. The correct action for the union would have been to refer the matter forthwith to the port committee and to the Marine Department. This was not done. DECISION REJECTED The commission's decision, as contained in its statement, was rejected by the national executive of the union, said the president (Mr H. Barnes!. The salient feature of the dispute ; was that on February 13 the hatches ! on the ship were ruled unsafe by Mr J. Galt, inspector of cargo gear for the i Marine Department in Auckland. Mr Gatt's decision still stood.

There are still about 500 watersiders on penalty for refusing engagements on the dispute ship Mountpark. About 130 came off penalty this morning, but the number was kept about 500 when about seven gangs refused a call.

It is estimated that workers have lost, on the average, more than 05 per cent of their normal and overtime pay throughout the dispute. Last week's payout was between £BOOO and £9OOO, compared with the normal pay of about £28.000. STOP WORK AT LYTTELTON A stop-work meeting of the Lyttelton branch of the Waterside Workers’ Union to discuss the Auckland dispute was held this morning. The meeting was attended by the national secretary (Mr T. Hill) and the vice-president (Mr A. Brennan), who outlined the Auckland dispute and the attitude of the Waterfront Industry Commission.

In a statement after the meeting, Mr Hill said that the Lyttelton branch had unanimously endorsed the decision of the national executive, given its full support to the Auckland branch, and agreed to support whatever policies were decided upon by the national council at a meeting on March 22.