WATERSIDE WAGES

Wanganui Chronicle, 27 November 1947, Page 5

WATERSIDE WAGES

EARNINGS AT MAIN PORTS £529 TO £569 A YEAR j AVERAGE PAY FALLS. (P.A.) Parliament Bldgs., Nov. 26. A further drop in the average wage of New Zealand Waterside worker's, from £lO 6s 7d a week for the year 1945-46, to £9 13s 5d for the year ended March 30, 1947, is shown In the annual report of the Waterfront Industry Commission, laid on the table of the House of Representatives to-day.

This decrease is stated to be due to a reduction in overtime worked. The total average annual earnings of watersid. workers, including profit distribution, was £569 at Aucklana fo a 55-hour week, £562 at Wellington for a 46-hour week. £564 at Lyttelton for a 50-hour week £529 ’at Dunedin for ’an average week of 49 hours.

The figures for Auckland show that where 243 men received under £lOO each, 455 received from £5OO to £6OO and eight from £6OO to £7OO. At Wellington 352 watersiders received from £5OO to £6OO, and six between £6OO and £7OO, while at Lyttelton 230 received over £5OO and a further two topped the £6OO mark.

Ninety-two men who received between £5OO and £6OO were the highest wage-earners at Dunedin. The average number of hours worked weeklv for al! the main and secondary ports was 425, compared with 413 for the previous year. The average overtime hours were reduced by four hours a week and the hours worked al ordinary time increased by five, giving an average increase of one hour extra worked each week. The reduction in overtime hours was due to concellation of shift work and work on Sundays, holidays and Saturdav afternoons, except where the vessel could finish bv 5 n.m. This was the first year the full imnact of this reduction was shown in the average overtime hours per week.