Man Who "Emancipated" The Wanganella Men

Chronicle (Levin), 8 May 1947, Page 7

Man Who "Emancipated" The Wanganella Men

From across the Tasman comes an interesting sidelight on the Wanganeiia deadlock. A Communist paper published in Sydney refers to the " victory" scored by Mr. E. V. " Elliott in the dispute over salvage money claim'ed by the Wanganeiia 's seamen, and says that a "suitable presentation" is to be made to JVir. Elliott. The article also reveals that the amount awarded to the- seamen by the industrial tribunal exceeded their expectations. 4 This pieee of news : should be particillariy interesting to Mr. J. A. Gilmour', S.M., the industrial magistrate who presided over the tribunal and s:gave the decision himself when the representatives of employers and workers f'ailed to agree, comments Freedom. The communist paper is On Watch and the decision of Mr. Gilmour that the seamen, after refusing to help put their disabled ship on the doclc, should recqive 15s an hour for 24 hours a day, over and above award rates and bonuses, for the whole period of IS days that the vessel was on Barrett's Reef, is discussed in the April issue of the journal. Mr. Gilmour 's decision was worth £3:24 to each o'f the men, over and above their hormal rates of pay. It i.not surprising that the Communist paper, with remarkable moderation, introduces its story by saying: , "One of the finest (if not the finest) tactical vietories in the history of our union was scored by Mr.. Elliott in the Wanganeiia salva'ge dispute." Umnentioned Naturally the paper does not mention that in spite of this signal sucCess, the Wanganeiia still lies omtlie Wellington floating dock, rusty and derelict, as far ofl: as ever from being got ready for -sea again. Continuing, On Watch says: "After two weeks of negotiations with the underwriters'- representatives in Wellington he was successful in 'persuading' them to pay the Seamen 's Union members of the crew a total oi more than £10,000 in salvage money. This new evidence of the value of strong militant leadership will not be lost on the members of other unions." The faet is that the men would have received liberal treatment in any case. But Mr. Elliott did not ' ' persuade ' ' the underwriters' representatives to make' the payment of over £10,000, adds Freedom. The man who was "persuaded" (to use the Communist paper 's term) was Mr. J, A. Gilmour, the chairman appointed by the Minister of

Labour, Mr. McLagan, under the Strike and Lockout Emergency Regulatiomvvhich, although passed as a wartinii measure, were rarely invoked during the war period, but have since proved a favourite device in the hands of Mr McLagan. Continuing, On Watch further says: "The crew did an excellent job in salvaging the liner as was acknow ledged by Huddart Parlcer and under writers' repres'entative, Mr. Macdonald. They are now deserving of congratula tions and this monetary reward for their work." That the men did a iine job is no: disputed, but their action, under the influence of " Emancipator " Elliott, id refusing to lift a finger to help in put. ting the damaged ship on the dock was equivalent to sabotaging all that they had done before. "Surprised" '„ 1 Now comes a choice passage: "At the same time they ail admit to being surprised at the size of this re ward, and are full of praise for thi very excellent job done by Elliott." The paper mentions that specia thanks are due to unions in Nev Zealand which gave ' 1 full support ir. the struggle". The union whicli principally aided/the dove of industriai peace from across-, the Tasman was the watersiders * uniorn - Finally we come td Mr. Elliott 's cut. says Freedom. - "We hear, " says On Watch, "thai some members of 'the Wanganeiia hav., already put in £5 each to present th« Seamen 's Union and general secretary Elliott with a suitable. presentation tc be inscribed with the names of tlu crew. A great idea. " Yes, a great idea. There were about '30 members of the crew affected, whicJ: adds up to somothing like £150 fo. Comrade Elliott, and will put him on his mettle for the next maritime catas trophe.