The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1946. AUCKLAND WATERFRONT CONDITIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 94, 24 April 1946, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1946. AUCKLAND WATERFRONT CONDITIONS

VY/EEN the suggestion was advanced that voluntary labour should be employed to load food ships for Great Britain Mr. W. Ashton, secretary of the Auckland Trades and Labour Council, said that the proposal had not been discussed by the council but he expressed his own belief that the suggestion was likely to stir up trouble among waterside workers. This view is surprising seeing that the amount of trouble which continues to exist on the Auckland waterfront is so great that it would appear impossible to accommodate more of it and still run the port- As it is there is so much trouble that ships have departed for other ports to unload and, in one instance, a valuable cargo of fertilisers was lost to this Dominion as a result of trouble on the Auckland waterfront. Obviously the men there are holding the community to ransom and they are indifferent as to whether this causes starvation and death overseas.

The Auckland Harbour Board is deeply concerned at the continued and unnecessary delays and interruptions which resulted in disorganisation of industry and the with-holding of urgentlyneeded supplies to Britain. The board claims that no expense has been spared in providing up-to-date wharves and mechanical equipment for the rapid handling of cargo, and it had recently authorised the expenditure of a large sum to improve and enlarge accommodation for waterside workers. Unfortunately, states the Harbour Board, far from beingimproved, the rate of cargo handling was slower than it had ever been, and the board was seriously alarmed at the costly and wasteful effects of the slow, intermittent working which had developed and which appeared to be growing worse. The situation is being met in Auckland by the same tactics that were employed in Wanganui when this'subject came up for discussion. The red herring of politics is being drawn across the trail in the hope of diverting the public from the real issue. “I am satisfied that some employers desire strikes,” wrote Mr. T Hill secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union. “The election takes place this year and if these employers can provoke a strike situation it will react against the Government.” He asserts that the granting -of legitimate claims of the workers will open the road to industrial peace.”

The watersiders are entitled to seek the best terms that are available for their labour, but in doing so they cannot ignore the fact that as they are now conceded a monopoly of waterside work they have a corresponding duty to fulfil. They cannot fail to do the work for which they claim a monopoly. The tactics which the Auckland waterside workers have adopted imposed hardship upon the ranks of the workers. There are many men on the Auckland wharves who are earning very high incomes; these men for their casual labour are very well paid and consequently they can afford to lay off work every now and again. Other workers who are laid off work or who fail to find employment are not in that happy position.

That the Auckland waterside workers are not ill-treated is evidenced by the rates of pay which they receive. The one hundred highest paid men on the Auckland waterfront earned an average of £B6l in 1943-44 and £725 in 1944-45; the Wellington figures being £7OB and £633 respectively. There are many men who have given years of faithful service to their employers and who are highly skilled, making tremendously important contributions both by their work and by their voluntary social service, but who receive far less than these top hundred of waterside workers- In 1943-44 there were in New Zealand 13 waterfront workers who earned between £9OO and £lOOO and they were all in Auckland. Of the 141 who earned between £BOO and under £9OO 139 were in Auckland. Of the 362 wh,o earned between £7OO and £BOO 310 worked in Auckland, while of the 98 in this income bracket in the following year all worked in Auckland. During the year ended March 1945 some 6084 waterfront workers were employed, of whom 1862 were in Auckland. Of the total of 6084 workers 2406 earned £5OO and over and of these 1105 worked on the Auckland waterfront. In other words 11 men out of every 18 employed on the Auckland waterfront during the year ended March, 1945, were in receipt of incomes from wharf work which exceeded £5OO a year.

This income is earned because of the high amount of overtime that is worked. The average of weekly hours worked at ordinary rates of pay in Auckland was 24J and overtime 21 J, making a total average of 45J hours. This represents the highest average and overtime worked on the Dominion’s waterfronts. In Wanganui, which relatively has an incomparably better service from the waterfront workers, these workers had an average working week at ordinary rates of only 14} and overtime s|, making an average total working week of 20} hours. This constitutes the Dominion’s lowest working week for all waterfronts.

Despite these high incomes and high rates of pay and nearly half the time worked at overtime rates in Auckland, that port, with all its equipment, can claim to hold the record for only one class of cargo and that is grab-discharged coal. Tn five out of the other ten categories of cargo Auckland has the lowest record for quantities of cargo handled per net gang hour on the Union Steam Ship Company’s vessels.

The above figures are from the 1945 report of the Waterfront Control Commission. This body was set up by the Government. It is presided over by Mr. James Roberts, the president of the New Zealand Labour Party, and can hardly be called an employers’ organisation.

In view of these facts what is the Government going to do to end this industrial blackmail of the community?

SUBSTITUTION OF ROAD PASSENGER SERVICES FOR MIXED TRAINS LEPPER TON-WAITAR A (WAITARA BRANCH) (JN and after MONDAY, 29th APRIL, 1946, train passenger services on the Lepperton-Waitara railway (Waitara Branch) will be cancelled and replaced by Departmental Road* Passenger Services, which will operate as follows:— 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tue. Mon. Mon. Mon. Mon. Tue. Thu. Io Wed. Wed. Io Thu. Sat. Sal. Fri. Fri. Sat. Sal. a.m. a.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. Waitara . dep. 8.20 9.40 12.10 1.40 4.10 7.05 Lepperton ... arr. 8.40 10.00 12.30 2.00 4.30 7.25 Lepperton ... dep. 8.50 10.15 12.45 2.15 4.45 7.40 Waitara arr. 9.10 10.35 1.05 2.35 5.05 8.00 No. 1 connects with 8.22 a.m. Express, New Plymouth-Wellington. No. 2 connects with 7.30 a.m. M ixed, Hawera-New Plymouth. No. 3 connects with 8.20 a.m. Passenger, Wanganui-New Plymouth. No. 4 connects with 1.45 p.m. Passenger, New Plymouth-Wanganui. No. 5 connects with 4.0 p.m. Mixed, New Plymouth-Hawera. No. 6 connects with If.15 a.m. Express, Wellington-New Plymouth. FARE SCHEDULES (Lepperton-Waitara). Sentry Mahoetahi Waitara Waitara Hill. Rd. Rd. Lepperton S 6d 6d 9d L - R l/6ll Sentry Hill S — Gd 9d 1/R Mahoetahi Rd S — — 9d 9d Waitara Rd S — — — 6d Children under 4 years of age carried free. Children 4 years and under 15 years of age, half fare. (For further particulars apply at stations).