CARGO WORK REFUSED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18991, 16 April 1936, Page 5

CARGO WORK REFUSED

'FRISCO WHARF DISPUTE EMPLOYERS CHARGE UNION BREAKING OF AGREEMENT itflec. Te!. Copyright—United PreES Assn.) SAN FRANCISCO, April 15. The long-expected break between the radical waterfront workers' union led by Mr. Bridges, and the local employers' association materialised today when the employers' organisation broke off relations with the stevedores' local union. The break came when dock workers refused to handle the cargo of a liner which arrived from New York to-day, on the plea that the steamship line involved had discriminated against union labour. The employers' association issued a formal statement charging Mr. Bridges' organisation with "wilful and persistent" violation of the agreement reached following the strike of 1934.

The association intimated that it was prepared to enter into negotiations for a new agreement, but meanwhile ordered its members to carry out a virtual boycott of Mr. Bridges' organisation. According t'o observers, militant dock workers must now either call widespread strikes and force the issue, or retreat by allowing the conservative union leaders to assume control of the Pacific Coast maritime workers.