THE MAUI POMARE

Southland Times, Issue 20641, 13 November 1928, Page 8

THE MAUI POMARE

STANDARD OF WAGES. MUCH BELOW AGREEMENT RATES. STATEMENT BY SEAMEN'S UNION. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, November 10. A statement setting out the wages paid on the Maui Pom are and comparing them with the agreement between the New Zealand Seamen’s Union and the Shipowners’ Federation has been forwarded to the Evening Post by the Seamen’s Union. According to the statement the wages on the Maui Pomare are as follow, the agreement rates being shown in parentheses: Boatswain £lO per month (£l6 4/-). Quartermaster £8 (£l5 4/-). Day man £lO (£l5 4/-). Ordinary seaman, not given (£lO 9/-). Boy £3 (£5). Greaser £8 (£l7). It is further stated that the hours on the Maui Pomare range from eight to twelve per day with overtime, without payment, as against eight hours per day with special payment for overtime provided under the agreement. The Seamen’s Union has also forwarded a copy of the letter addressed by Mr Coates to Mr Cook, president of the Alliance of Labour, with reference to the deputation which waited on him last June in regard to the Maui Pomare in which Mr Coates said that the Government had no intention of utilizing the Maui Pomare as a means of reducing the existing standards of seamen’s wages or the general conditions now enjoyed by the seamen employed in these waters, and stated that the desire of the Government was that the Islanders should be given an opportunity of going on the Maui Pomare for sea training, a letter which concluded: “The Government must reserve the right of prohibiting the crew from becoming members of the various unions, this being a condition that applies to other branches of the Civil Service where State services are concerned.”