SEAMEN'S DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1013, 31 December 1910, Page 5

SEAMEN'S DISPUTE.

A PROVISIONAL AGREEMENT. toy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Rec. December 30, 9.<10 p.m.) Melbourne, December 30. As a result of the conference between the Registrar of tho Federal Arbitration Court and representatives of tho Steamship Owners' Federation and the Federation of Seamen Unions, a provisional agreement has been reached for continuing work until an award of tho Court, or a new and filial agreement tween the owners and seamoii has been obtained. ■ Tho two parties liavo agreed to recommend the acceptance of the provisional agreement,- which operates from January 1, to their l'espectivo organisations. ■ It is understood that the provides for a compromise, both as regards rates of pay.. and conditions of work. , 1 TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT. PREFERENCE CONCEDED. (Rec. December 31, 0.55 a.m.) Melbourne, December 30,' Both tho Shipowners' Federation and the Federated Seamen's Union have notified the President of the Arbitration Court tlijit they are agreeable .to accept tho provisional agreement, which grants, an all round increase of ten shillings a mpiith in wages, and fixes an overtime-rate of x Is. 6d. per hour, instead of tho rates of Is. and Is. 3d. previously ruling. . Preference to unionists is .also conceded. Tho seamen had askeij for £1 • a month increase. A conference will be held to endorse the provisional agreement as a new-fixed agreement. " .

THE POINTS AT ISSUE.

Prom the very outset of the recent conferences between tho shipowners and tbo ! seamen, the former evinced an indisposition to renew tho agreement on the basis of concessions 'to the men' sought" by Senator Guthrie and his colleagues. ■ ■' . J'lje thrti uiftiu points in the dispute 1 were■ i . ?• An advance. of £1 per month sought in the wag'es of firemen and seamen, 2. .A proposal of the men to limit the Quantity of coal one man .should handle 1 in .eight, hours to 3V topsj or; to some weight to be fixed by an expert committee, with an impartial chairman.. 3. The proposal of the men to improve tho regulation of watches, which at prosent average 11 hours per day. v On each. the men had brought down their suggestions to what, they regarded a? an irreducible minimum, which they claimed must bo "essential features of any new agreement." . The ' shipowners .declined'. to regard them as es-' soptial,features, and put forward a reference'of the matter .to, the Arbitration Court as an alternative.ln, view.of the refusal of the ; shipowners to, give way ph the three : vital, issues, the men's delegates. enid there was no rood continuing the. negotiations. They left the conference without indicating .whether they' would or would not go tp the Arbitration Court, ■ ' There is a .strong feeling-amongst tho men,'says the Sydney "Telegraph," that tho . shipowners have :not shown.,such a. conciliatory spirit as, the past, relations of the . Seamen's Federation hud the Ship-, owners' Association, extending over' fourteen years, warranted thom'in' expept'ing, "Wo kept to thq agreement all through the Nowcastlo strike when, the owners laid up, their , boats," said one of their spokesmen to-day, "and in doing so we lost ,£20,000 in weeks; Our lm-ii deserve soma consideration for that. The officers were put on. half-pay, but our men had, to bear tho brunt, unaided. By our'loyaltv to our compact, -wc prevented the trouble' from snreading. ••, This, too, ought to bo Tememberefl a time like the. present.*'' •. It is also pointed out, on. behalf of the men, that the shipowners' offer to agreo, ,to date back to iTanuary, 1911, the operation of any Arbitration Court award in ..March or .April next, applies only to ■wages,. not 'to the 'other, conditions' now' under discussion. Important as the wages ■advances npw spright are deemed to be, other improvements in the seamen's life, afloat, or in 'port, are treated as hardly ■less vital. . • < ,