CREW REFUSES TO MAN VESSEL

Southland Times, Issue 23512, 19 May 1938, Page 11

CREW REFUSES TO MAN VESSEL

KAIMIRO DELAYED AT AUCKLAND DISPUTE OVER DISMISSAL OF FIREMAN (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 17. In a support of a claim that a fireman on the ship had been dismissed without a satisfactory explanation, members of the crew of the Union Company’s coastal steamer Kaimiro have refused to take her to sea from Auckland. Following a decision reached by them the previous day the Kaimiro was held at her berth today and no time has yet been fixed for her departure for Westport. Negotiations between the company and representatives of the Seamen s Union and the crew were opened. They will be continued in the morning, when it is considered that some line of action will be reached. Officers of the Labour Department visited the Kaimiro in an endeavour to secure a settlement. It is not expected that any other of the company’s ships will be affected.

Assertions were made by the crew that during the Kaimiro’s voyage from Wellington to Auckland the fireman was given notice of dismissal without any explanation. He was later informed that the dismissal was the result of an action regarded by the crew as

trivial and which the fireman contended was not based on any provision of the Shipping and Seamen’s Act. The Union Company held that under the provisions of the Act an engagement might be terminated on either side by 24 hours’ notice without the necessity of any explanation. Endeavours made by the company to have the fireman replaced were unsuccessful and the crew refused to sail without a man. A subsequent offer by the company that the fireman should stay with the Kaimiro for the dispute to be investigated at Wellington did not meet with the approval of the crew, which claimed his unconditional reinstatement.