SHIPPING INDUSTRY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11307, 5 September 1922, Page 7

SHIPPING INDUSTRY

SEAMEN’S CONDITIONS CONTINUATION OF DOMINION DISPUTE HEARING. TEE UNION'S CASE. The lengtliv hearing of the seamen’s and firemen’s dispute was , °®' fore the Arbitration Court } ester da,y. when the reasons for the Seamens Federation’s proposals were fiirther explained. His Honour Mr Justioe Fraser presided, assisted as assessors tou- toe employers and employees respectively by Messrs W. Scott and M. J. Reardon. Mr W T Young conducted the union s case, Mr W. G. Smith appeared tor Union Steamship Company and Mr T. O. bishop for the Shipowners Federation. Mr Young pointed ont that, the employers proposed to reduce the number of holidays at sea, but the union it only fair that Anzac Day should be allowed. In regard to the weekly time off claim of the union, he said that the men would sooner have the half-day on in lieu of payment, but the proposal that overtime rates should he paici waS in the nature of a penalty upon the employer. The union also sought a limitation upon the accumulation of time oft. Another claim which he submitted nas only reasonable was that a seaman should be notified not later than 7 a.m. that he is to be given the afternoon off. In support of the demand for a twenty minute "smoko" at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily. Mr Young argued that the praotioe had proved beneficial to the men when instituted during the war, and their work was proportionately better. The request that cyanide should be used in the fumigation of living quarters was desirable as the best means of d ing vermin. The union also asked that the men should not bo expected to live in fumigated quarters until twelve hours afterwards. The necessity for thatprovision had been illustrated in San Francisco some month* ago, when members of a crew were suffocated through, entering the quarters too soon after they had been cleaned. DISCHARGING OF ASHES. If tho shipowners, fitted all their ships with ash ejectors, continued Mr Young, there would be no need for the clause relating to the discharging of ashes. There were 38 vessels in the tJnion Company's fleet concerned in the- dispute which had no such facility. ,Mr Smith had stated at Auckland that overtimo for ashes-cost the company over ,£20,000 per annum, which was equal to *£7l4 and 5712 hours : for* each of the 38 ©Hips. Mr Young pointed out that ashes were discharged only by firemen • and trimmers, and that a payment of «£ 20.000 yearly for ashes, with the request pf the shipowners that the men should' do tho work free of overtime, was equal to adding 160,000 hours of labour to the men without recompense. An incorrect interpretation in regard to the. payment of overtime. in 1020 had resulted in the compony paying a third more in overtime tor ashes than the agreement required. Had the correct interpretation been carried out Mr Smith's alleged -‘<£2o*ooo would ibe reduced to about J 213.832, and the company would have saved about •86668 He-submitted that the shipowners had hot mentioned this in their ■case, .with no other reason than to influence the court. He a committee, consisting of representatives froro either sido, should; investigate overtime sheets of tho company for the past year and report, us to amount of overtime performed- in the discharging of ashes, and that until the report was submitted the company shohld not frame its decision in the matter. Mr W. G. Smith (representative of the Union Steamship Company): We object to the committee. V Your Honour, but have no objection to the court investigating the overtime sheets to any extent it likes. We object to private documents being exposed to the other side. " Mr Young: You have no objection to our looking at the overtime sheets, have you ? Mr .Smith: I object to it. as a matter of principle. PREtFBRFRSTCEI TO UNIONISTS.

-Dealing with preference, Mr Young said that the employers had deleted the old clause, and had inserted a non-dis-crimihation. clause. He could not understand the reason for that. No single charge had been made against the organisation on the question of preference, and no other organisation in the country ‘had administered the clause more reasonably. ‘ "I wish to place on record," jhe said, "the preamble to the latter section of the Peace Treaty, on account of the attacks being made at present from many quarters on the question of preference, including' the attempt to deprive the court of the right to grant preference. His Honour 1 . You are getting into politics now, Mr Young. I thing you can only deal with preference so far as it affects this dispute. Mir Young tread to the court and handed in the preamble he referred to v He said he understood from a judgment of the court in the Auckland waterside foremen's case that preference would not be gtranted to a union that had* a rule empowering it to impose a levy on its members. The organisation had a rule empowering it to impose a levy on its members. The executive of the union had anticipated the matter, and Had passed a resolution deleting the levy* clause from the rules of the organisation, on the court intimating that preference to members would be granted. Mr Reardon: Of oourse that does not prevent you from striking a voluntary Ipvy. His Honour: You are not compelled to expel a man because he does not pay his -levy. __ • . 'Mr Young: Oh no; Your Honour! We would not be likely to do so. Proceeding, Mr Young said mat in 3523. instances the employers- had. com" xnitted breaches of the preference clause, yet the union had not objected. No less than 3523 men had been employed on

ships when they enrolled as members of j tho union. It was clear that they had been non-unionists when they got their jobs. He did not think there were six instances in which the employers hid come to the .union and asked it to fill vacancies. STOP WORK MEETINGS. A total of 30 stop work meetings had been held at Wellington since March, 1920. The total time occupied by meetings beyond tho period allowed by tho agreement was three hours 50 minutes, and it was shown that on only five occasions ha.d the meetings extended past 10.30 a.iu. On the other hand, a large number of meetings had terminated before 10.30 a.m., tho time thus saved amounting to two hours 22 minutes. Jhe union asked for the extension of the stop work meeting clause to Lyttelton and Napier. There was no branch or agent of the union at Napier, end an officer of the organisation was obliged to go there once every quarter to attend to union business. He suggested that the court should provide for a stop-work meeting at that port once per quarter at the time when tho union's representative made his periodical visit. In the matter of stop-work meetings the union wae differently placed from other organisations, as owilig to the running of ships it was impossible for the men to attend night meetings. Tho meetings were largely used for the education of the men in the details of tho agreenr«nt. Special business could not very well be explained by circular letter. He ventured the opinion that stop-work meetings had proved beneficial to the ship owners during the currency of the present agreement. "The men have learned something." he declared, "and as time goes on they will learn more, and it. is pos eible that with the continuation of stop work meetings, notwithstanding the little bit of cost or inconvenience to the ship owners, it will bo found their initiation is well worth the money. I can con* scientiously say our meetings in Wellington are most orderly." Mr Young contended that the period from 8 a.m. to 10.30 provided for in the present agreement was too limited to permit of a month's accumulation of business to be dealt with. There was a difference between the watersiders and the seamen in that it was impossible for the seamen to meet at night, as their vessels in 95 per cent, of cases wepe at sea at night. Charges bhd been made that the executive of the union had transacted business without reference to the membership, but he wished to .deny that. The seamen's organisation wished to consult its membership on everything that took place affecting the members. , The hearing will bo continued to-day.