SEAMEN'S UNIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1617, 7 December 1912, Page 6

SEAMEN'S UNIONS.

A BIG AMALGAMATION. AUSTRALIA ABSORBS NEW ZEALAND. ; In yesterday's Dominion tho following cablegram, from Sydnoy, was published:— Tho "Sydney Morning Herald" announces that the Federated Seamon's Union of Australasia is about to absorb the Now Zealand Seamen's Union. Under tho amalgamation tho funds of the unions will 'be pooled, and the entire service worked as one great organisation. On tho subject dealt with by the message, Mr. W. T. Young (secretary of the Wellington branch of the Seamen's Union) said:— "Ever since I roturned from tho Melbourne conference, in 1909 New Zealand has been moving in the direction of linking up with Australia, with the object of having tho one organisation of seamen on this side of the Line, operating under one uniform set of rules and conditions of work. Some time ago a plebiscite vote of Now Zealand members was taken on the general question of amalgamation with Australia. The proposal was adopted by an overwhelming majority—in fact, there were very few votes against the proposal."

Since then, continued Mr. Young, the New Zealand executive oounoil has drafted a complete set of federal rules and branch rules, which were in conformity with the rules of the Australian Federation. Theso had been submitted to tho Wellington branch for approval, and had been unanimously adopted. They had also been submitted to tho Auckland branch, and had been approved with one or two minor suggestions. The Dunedin' branch was now taking steps to hold a special meeting for tho purpose of adopting the rules. A copy of the rules had also been forwarded to the executive council .of the Australian Federation, along with an application by New Zealand for admission to the Australian Federation. They had received communications from the general secretary in Australia, asking for certain particulars in regard to branches here, and theso had been supplied. No doubt these had been considered by the council across the water, and evidently, according to tho cablegram, it had been decided to admit New Zealand into the federation.

Under the rules New Zealand was designated a branch of the federation, so, in future, its three "branches" would ba known as sub-branches. The head office would be transferred from Dunedin to Wellington; this was provided for in the rules. The object was to create one •uniform set. of ' working conditions through the. medium of an agreement that would cover tho whole of the interstate traders of Australia, the inter-colo-nial traders, and the South Pacific Island traders, leaving the New Zealand coastal traders to bo provided for- by separate agreement. Referring to the case of deck hands, Young said: "There is one provision in the Australian agreement wliich provides that deck hands working watch-and-watch—four hour's on and four hours off— shall be paid ah extra sum of .£1 10s. per month, which brings their wage up to .£9 10s. per month. I find that to be a material source of complaint in New Zealand, for the reason that on the New Zealand coast inen who are working watch-and-watch get only .£8 per month. It is only, in my judgment, by linking up with Australia and holding our conferences' at regular intervals and arranging terms, and conditions of work that we will be able to overcome this differentiation in Now Zealand conditions."