A GREAT DOCK STRIKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5733, 28 November 1896, Page 6

A GREAT DOCK STRIKE.

The news that eight thousand dock labourers are on strike at Hamburg,^ and that their fellow-workers at- Kiel are joining in the movement, is an indication that the settlement of the dockers' trouble several years ago secured only a temporary adjustment of wages and labour conditions. It is stated that the German shippers have sent to England for men to replace those on strike; but it will doubtless be found that there is an international lea°*ue of dock labourers, and that therefore men will refuse to go. Speaking to a London journalist a few weeks ao*o, Mr Tom Mann said there was a movement on foot among the English dockers to obtain an advance of pay. Since the settlement of seven, years ago complications have largely increased, and one of the contributory causes is boy labour. In Victoria Docks the corn porters receive 25s for 100 quarters, but at Millwall and Surrey Commercial the rate is 17s 4d. These rates arc again complicated by what is known as "awkward" nionej', «. " dust " money, and "hot "money— a halfpenny a quarter under ea«h ,of thoso heads. What is desiredis an overall rate of 255. It is sought to make the movement ono of a general character, and no single branch can take any initiative without consent, of the others within tho federation. "The movement," said Mr Mann, "finds support in Eotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Bremen and Bremerhaven." The need for reform in the conditions of labour is emphasised by tho fact that for some time past women have been employed as dockers at some of the London docks. Mi* Godfrey, the organiser of the International Federation, has reported to the executive that at the Millwall and East India docks he found women in ships' holds unloading cargoes of bottles for 2s 6d a day. These women, Mr Godfrey goes on to state, have to load crates with bottles, which are then drawn from the hold and carried away by men who are working piecework at Id per gross. There aro also women receiving the bottle 3 and putting them into bins, who, it is alleged, are only being paid 2s a day. In these circumstances it seems more likely that the English dockers will join in the strike than that they will help the Continental employers to gain a victory. It is to be hoped that there may be a speedy adjustment of the differences between employers and employed, so as to avert the misery that would be entailed by a prolonged struggle. A Court of Arbitration in industrial disputes is much wanted in Europe.