NO LABOUR WANTED

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 201, 25 August 1931, Page 8

NO LABOUR WANTED

Watersiders Thereupon Leave for Homes. LATER CALL NEGLECTED. Because the Union Company did not make a call for waterside labour at 11 o’clock to work the steamers Waipiata and Karepo upon their arrival, it is stated that the watersiders held a meeting and took a vote whether they should wait for the noon call or refuse to accept engagements until to-morrow morning. Whatever way the men voted, 200 or 300 were to be seen marching from the Coronation Hall to catch the 11.23 train to town. Two extra carriages had to*be attached to the train to cope with the unexpeced traffic. At 11.30. a call was made by the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company for some watersiders to assist in berthing the Herminius in .the morning. The call was readily answered by about two dozen men. When the Union Company called at 11.45 for labour for the Waipiata and Karepo, not a single man offered himself for engagement. The Men’s Reasons. It was stated that the men wanted to be engaged at the 11 o’clock call which would entitle them to start work as from 1 p.m., but had they accepted labour at the noon call they could have been kept standing by until 3» p.m. This the men objected to. Their decision was probably influenced by the threatening condition of the weather. The Waipiata arrived at 1 o’clock and the Karepo at 1.30. These vessels will now have to remain idle until tomorrow morning. Rain was being experienced at Dunedin this morning and it was reported that the Rangitane had done no work up till 10 o’clock.