WATERFRONT CONDITIONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 10 March 1939, Page 4

WATERFRONT CONDITIONS

IT did not require this week’s temporary hold-up of the Nelson steamers by Wellington watersiders to draw attention to the efforts being made by the Minister of Labour to improve conditions on the waterfront. On this occasion Nelson fruitgrowers, whose outlook in any case is none too bright, were subjected to unnecessary loss for a triflng reason—a dispute between two men which could have been settled by the Disputes Committee set up for that purpose, without a cessation of work. As was only to be expected mention of the matter was made by the Minister at the opening of yesterday’s conference of representatives of employers and workers concerned in waterfront work. “Many of us,” he said, “were here all the afternoon trying to patch up a trouble just because two men had a row.” He did not go into the merits of the incident but emphasised that “a row of that kind should never hold up work.’’ The public, including a vast majority of the watersiders themselves, will endorse that view. Mr Webb referred to the loss involved as a result of the quarrel and to the shipment having missed the direct boat on which space had been reserved, and added: “Surely we can be bigger than that. Surely we have reached a stage now where we have grown up and we can approach these problems in a commonsense kind of way.” The Hon. H. T. Armstrong, who has himself worked on the waterfront, commented that in some of these disputes there was possibly a certain amount of blame on both sides. But he thought the union should be able to discipline some of the men who were not prepared to do the fair thing and who acted in defiance, not so much of the shipping companies but of the union itself and their fellowworkers. He suggested an amendment in the law to authorise the union to expel men who openly defied their own organisation and their own rules and agreement. He pointed out, however, that the worker was not always responsible. It has been suggested that one of the causes of delays on the waterfront and the exceptionally heavy handling costs, which the public has to pay, is faulty stevedoring and organisation. The Hon. Mr Semple advocates the adoption of the principle of cooperation, not piece-work or competitive piece-work. A properly organised co-operative system, he states, would still be under the full management of the shipping companies. Flowever, it is agreed that the existing conditions call urgently for rectification and it is satisfactory to learn that at yesterday’s conference there was a general consensus of opinion that something had to be done to improve the position and a general eagerness of all parties to get something worth while accomplished. A special committee from both sides is meeting to-day to formulate proposals which should prove valuable if they are approached in a spirit of goodwill in the interests of the community as a whole.