WAGES BELOW AWARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 508, 10 November 1928, Page 13

WAGES BELOW AWARD

SEAMEN ON MAUI POMARE LETTER FROM MR. COATES ;■» , Press Association WELLINGTON, To-day. A statement setting out the wages paid on the Maui Pomare and comparing them with the wages provided tor in the agreement between the New Zealand Seamen’s Union and the Ship owners’ Federation, has been forwarded to the "Post” by the Seamen’s Union. According to the statement, wages on the Maui Pomare are as follows (agreement rates in parentheses): Boatswain, £lO a month (£l6 4s); quartermaster, £8 (£ls 4s); day man, £lO (£ls 4s); ordinary seaman, not given (£lO 9s); boy, £3 (£5); greaser, £8 (£l7). It is further stated that the hours on the Maui Pomare range from eight to twelve a day, with payment for overtime, as against eight hours a day with special payment for overtime provided under the agreement. The Seamen’s Union has also forwarded a copy of a letter addressed by Mr. J. G. Coates to Mr. Cook, president of the Aliance of Labour, with reference to a deputation which waited on him last June with regard to the Maui Pomare. in which Mr. Coates said the Government had no nintention of utilising the Maui Pomare as a means of reducing the existing standards of seamen’s wages or general conditions now enjoyed by seamen employed in these waters, and pointed out the desire of the Government was that 1 Islanders should be given the opportunity of using the Maui Pomare for sea training. The letter concludes: "TL* 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 fatate services are concerned.”