CEMENT CARGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27387, 12 May 1950, Page 4

CEMENT CARGO

New Dispute Arises SHIP LEAVES PORT PA AUCKLAND, May 11. The waterfront dispute over the handling of the cement cargo of the British freighter King Neptune was passed to Wellington tonight, when the ship sailed for that port with about 800 tons of her Auckland cargo still below her decks. This decision was taken by the charterers because, with the development of another dispute on the ship this morning, it was proving too expensive to unload her at Auckland. After Monday’s dispute had been settled on Tuesday, when the watersiders and the port empolyers agreed to present their appeals against the Waterfront Industry Commission’s decision to a special Disputes Committee to be set up by the Minister of Labour, Mr Sullivan, no work could be done on the ship on Wednesday because of rain. To.day, about an hour’s work was done in the morning before the men again walked off, this time over an alleged threat by the shipping company to deduct pay for time lost through the decision of the men to take half-hour morning and afternoon tea breaks instead of the usual 15 minutes. The longer tea breaks were claimed because of the dirty nature of the cargo and the time taken to clean up. The stevedoring agents for the ship, the New Zealand Shipping .Company, claims that ‘ today’s dispute was not over the morning and afternoon tea breaks, but rather the original one over the number of men working in the gangs