WORK ON DAMAGED VESSEL WANGANELLA IS PROCEEDING

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 April 1947, Page 5

WORK ON DAMAGED VESSEL WANGANELLA IS PROCEEDING

(P.A.) Wellington, April 20. Work is continuing on the Wanganella despite the strike action by the exployers’ representatives on the Tribunal, said Mr. T. Hili, workers' representative on the Tribunal, today. For weeks the employers had demanded that work be resumed on the Wanganella and the unions recommended their members to resume work on Tuesday. Mr. Hill said workers contended that the function of the Tribunal was to determine wages and conditions of employment. That was also what the public wanted, but the employers were more interested in creating political propaganda and an attack on trade unionism than in settling the dispute. The issue was not that the Press and the public should be present. The issue was the settlement of the dispute. Mr. Hill said the workers’ representatives would be present on Monday to submit their evidence before the Tribunal. If the employers' representatives failed to appear it could not be less than a continual flouting of regulations and the chairman’s decision and represented a vote of nonconfidence in the chairman, whose appointment was made in accordance with a procedure with which the employers had agreed. The chairman of the Wanganella Tribunal, Mr. S. Ritchie, is obtaining legal advice on the point raised by the employers’ representatives that the Press and public cannot be legally excluded from meetings of the Tribunal.