SEAGULLS RUSH TO JOIN ANY UNION

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 February 1949, Page 6

SEAGULLS RUSH TO JOIN ANY UNION

Effect Of Edict Issued By Watersiders

WELLINGTON, Yesterday (P.A.)— Dismayed by a ukase pronounced by the Wellington Waterside Workers’ Union, between 40 and 50 “seagulls” or non-unionist casual waterfront employees rushed to the Trades Hall yesterday afternoon with the express intention of becoming members of any union which cared to accept them. When a dispute arose over labour required to discharge fruit from the Kaimanawa, normal work on which has been resumed, the ‘seagulls ’ w ere told on presenting themselves for engagement, that they could not be employed until they joined a union, and that this was the attitude of the Waterside Workers’ Union. Between 300 and 400 “seagulls” are reported to be affected.

Hurried consultations led to a descent on the Trades Hall, where a number of men joined a particular union by paying 5s registration and £1 17s 6d as subscription to September 20. The union joined by the men asked, when inquiries were made by the Press, that its name should not oe published as it said the question of non-union labour was vexatious and there was no desire to be thought to he entering the preserves of the Waterside Workers’ Union.

“The union which I joined did not wish to take my money or the fees of the others," said a spokesman for the “seagulls.” “It said it could have no jurisdiction over us on the waterfront, that it could not serve us'as a union. However, the fact remains we are now unionists.”

It was learned at the Wellington Waterside Workers’ Union that the issue is not being forced, but that representations are being made to the national organisation and probably the New Zealand Federation of Labour with the object of having the position of non-unionsts defined. Until that was done, said a union official, the status quo would continue. There was no refusal to work with the “seagulls.” The union simply preferred the * seagulls” to be unionists, and it was not concerned about what union the seagulls” joined.