TIMARU STRIKE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1613, 3 December 1912, Page 6

TIMARU STRIKE.

.-■■,. ~;:;,»:■ ;',. -■■- ■ . ,'fedeeation :; wateesidbks. ■ (By Telegraph'.—Preee Association.) "\i, „,. „• ...Tihiaru, December 2. .Some days ago'the fcdorationist WaterBide Uriioif~threatened~ to strike' if two' men wero employed,by the railways on the wharf, who-.a_re.members , '6f' : the, Railway Servants' Society," .aid r -.3mve':y withdrawn from the -Waterside ■ Union. ■•'•■■■ , To-day two'"." Kittav>a (partly,, unloaded of timber), and the Corinna, arrived for cargo, , .were to be worked, and_four, gangs , turned to.. When Scott (a crane driver)'appeared, the gangs knocked off. The second railway man did not .appear, :being' unwell.;: :Botfi;steamers subsequently-went away. , ■ ■■"■■•■•■ The captain of the Kittawa said that he would land .the .balance of. his Timaia timber at Lyttelton, but Mr. R. Gould (union secretary) states'that he has wired the Lyttclton watersiders, instructing them- that Timaru cargo is not to. be handled then)... rln explanation of the union's protest," he said that the two'railway'men concerned had benefited more through the union , than' any other men on the wharves, yet they- refused to pay a paltry, few pence a week to remain members of tho -anion. The union wished the shipping people to pbserve the .preference, : clause of their agreement, and n'ad merely knocked off work to compel .compliance.with it. -Tli6y did not consider it a strike, but merely, a protest. . Scott, seen -on the subject, said that he had been a member of the Railway Society for eight years, and did not see why he should be a member of two unions. He was employed by the Railway Department and not by the ,shipping,.p2ople,. and,there was no ncedv'for liim'to' have anything to do with, the Waterside Union. He denied Gould's statement that the railway men benefited by They. asked for an increase, anoVgpt it before they joined the union. As railway men. they were not bound by the Tvatesirlersr, agreement. ■ •*" ; Besides -the Kittawa and Corinna, the 6.5. Kaiapoi was to have come here:,with. 1000 tons of coal, "biifc .irill .now-'-'dascharfre nt Wellington, and it is. understcod that 'other vessels which ■ are'; about ;due will be ordered not , to call. , . *'''*' '" :'' •"■'■■■ It is understood that the union, have; acted, without waiting' or tasking'for ■the'' approval-.of the federation's executive, and will:explain to the executive after, action. /, '"• " ' ' •' '" proceding9 T 'of"the'union'fidiculbiis.'