STRIKE DECISION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17612, 30 October 1931, Page 5

STRIKE DECISION

AUSTRALIAN SEAMEN : VICTORY FOR MILITANTS SERIOUS HOLD-UP POSSIBLE... . OWNERS' ULTIMATUM (Received Oct. 30, noon.) SYDNEY, Oct. 30. • At another mass meeting of the Sydney Seamen’s Union yesterday a motion sponsored by the militant faction calling on all members employed on inter-State ships to cease work after 24 hours, notice of which is being. given immediately, was carried. Tho decision involves every inter-State vessel,, and includes the Ulimaroa, Niagara and Aorangi, and also the ships controlled by the Burns, Philp 00.The moderate section fought the motion, but were greatly outnumbered.' The meeting was not nearly so disorderly as the previous two meetings, " owing to an understanding among the leaders of the various factions to restrain their followers from 'heckling and ) interrupting. The meeting condemned Mr. Lang as a friend of the shipowners and proteotorof the New Guard. The meeting represented all sections of the State Labor movement. All the resolutions .carried were of a revolutionary nature. A great many delegates were wearing button badges celebrating the anniversary of the Russian revolution. Mr. Lang was con- - demned for allowing the police to ‘‘baton and batter” the workers. VOLUNTEER CREWS Shipowners received no response.ithis afternoon when they called for crews for the Westralia, Ormiston, Macumba and Wear. A report has been received from Ado-< laido that the local seamen will ignore the Sydney decision for a general strike, and accordingly will man all. ships, ex-; cepting tfie Canberra. - r . - Fourteen vessels are already laid up in - various ports. • . •'

Late in the afternoon the shipowners sent an ultimatum to the general secretary of the Seamen’s Union, insisting that crews be supplied to-day, otherwise the owners would take steps to obtain ' crews wherever possible. • • . The inter-State steamship owners,having decided to call for volunteer, crews, sent a telegram to the Prime Minister, asking whether he would honor his undertaking to afford protection for.; those who respond. • . The Telegraph says that anticipatingthe call for volunteers to,man ships,'..the. Communists, at a secret meeting, de- • cided to recruit basher gangs for the purpose of intimidating prospective volunteers either at the ships’ sides, or on their return to Sydney. POLICY OF DESTRUCTION Melbourne seamen have offered for" work. The shipowners met the men hallway by not inflicting penalties upon seamen of the Goulburn who deserted. The owners gave the men their jobs back, and paid a special permit fee in addition." If the tiouble continues, Melbourne sea--men tin-eaten to form a breakaway union" and seek recognition by the Arbitration Court. ~ • w-, In a statement, Mr. Moat-e, secretary of the Stewards’ Union, pointed out that in nine years Schelly—the 1 mam . who caused the trouble on the Canberra-had only been to sea for 11 days. ‘-‘Schelly is a deliberate wrecker, whose policy is one' of destruction,” he said. : . . _ Advice was received from Adelaide that union crews had been provided lor the Ivaroola, also for the freighter Goulburn. The strike is now practically confined to Sydney and- Newcastle. The decision extending the dispute to all ships on Australian articles caused tho greatest surprise, the general beliefbeingthat the moderates would be • able -tobeing about its collapse. A special-meet-ing is being held in the Communist Hall to-day to appoint a new strike committee. - v , One thousand l delegates of the trades unions’ political and industrial wings decided to support the seamen and a general waterfront strike,- providing pickets and refusing to handle cargo and reorganising the Workers’' Defence Corps in order to combat the New Guard."'""*'

STEWARDS’ OPPOSITION “FARCICAL DISPLAY’’ t SYDNEY, Get. 21. In a letter to the general secretary of the Seamen’s Union, Mr, W. Hueburn, the general secretary ot the Federated Marine Stewards and Pantrymen’s Association, Mr. A. H. Moatc, gives six reasons why the seamen should “cut out this farcical display.” The letter reads: — “The laying idle of the Canlieira at a time such as the present, when every port in Australia is crammed with idle vessels, is nothing short of industrial imbecility; more particularly when one puts the spotlight on the cause. “When one considers the reasons put forward by your member as the grounds for throwing out of employment the whole ship’s crew, one is compelled to arrive at the conclusion that your union could not have given the matter that mature consideration so vital and necessary at a time like the present. The position or opinions of other sections of the crew,seem to have been grossly disregarded, and their interests cast aside in order that one man who alleges victimisation, may be protected. “I would point out to you that the policy ot this association toward its members who are laid off a vessel because of illness has always been that once the member has been certified “O.K. ” and fit to resume duty by the medical director of seamen, then that member must tube his old posi tion back, and that the man who replaced him must come out of the ship. “You appear to have a policy the reverse of this, and the man who replaces the sick man .is to do the latter out of his job. It is a new brand of unionism, but one that will not get its users very far, for it is without the first ethics of justice or equity. However, your, internal policy is one for yourselves. The objection my members raise to your attitude in the Canberra dispute is:— “(1) That any man who claims "to be victimised, has no right through his seufishness to be the cause of victimising the whole crew of a ship and their dependents. “(2) That no one section of the crew should, at any time, cause other sections of the crew to be disemploy-ed;-without at least having the common decency of consulting such other section or sections. “(3) That the Canberra dispute being purely a ship’s dispute, should haVe been dealt with by the Canberra members of your union in the first instance, after consultation with the other unions likely to bo involved. “(4) That the unemployed members of your union, many of whom are no doubt receiving rations and are not much concerned whether the Canberra sailed or was laid up, -were not competent to decide the issue for the men who wore employed, their interests being separate and distinct. “(5) That, at a time like the prc : sent, when ships are as scarce as sovereigns, which means a considerable reduction in employment of seafarers, no vessel should be indiscriminately forced out of commission by the act of any .individual or section. “(G) Because your union by its action has accommodated the Australian Steamship Co., Ltd., by doing for the said company what it could not have done for itself. It is a wellknown fact that the winter season north is now over, and that the summer season is not profitable for a ship to continue running; and your union has obliged the company for which no doubt it is gratefully thankful. So your union, having become the humble instrument of this shipping company, my members urge your members to cut out this farcical display and lot them get back to work.”

"Wo got away without a hitch." sai<l Captain Darroch, master of the .intercolonial steamer Ulimaroa. which arrived at Wellington on Tuesday from .Sydney, "but I would not like to say that, the shipping trouble is over yet. There are so many unemployed and Communist agents that it is 'impossible to say what will happen. "