ENGINEERS AND UNION CO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1689, 4 March 1913, Page 5

ENGINEERS AND UNION CO.

MEN'S DEMANDS REJECTED.

. 'A sensational, though not' altogether unexpected, development has occurred in the dispute between the Institute of Marino Engineors and tho Union Steam Ship Company. Tho engineers yesterday afternoon decided, by an overwhelming majority, not to accept the terms offered by .the Union Company, and following upon this decision, they decided to 'give (it onoo 24 . 1 hours' notice to leave their ships. When this notice will bo given will no doubt depend very largely on the men's personal convenience, for the notice will doubtless be given so as to expire somewhere about the time of arrival* at vessels'' terminal ' . fcorts. ■ The contemplated cessation of work iwill affect all the Union Company's fleet of 08 ships of a total tonnage of 179,879 tons. All' these ships, coastal as well as intercolonial, will be laid no if tKe men adhere to their decision, and if the Union Company do not accede to their demands. OVERTIME. The ohlef point ofr difference is on the question of overtimed The engineers are asking for the same rates of pay as have Ibeen awarded by the Federal Arbitration' Court to the Australian branches of the institute, and, also for' the same conditions as to hours of work and overtime yates. . In effect, the Federal Court has given engineers an eight-hours' day, with extra payment per hour all time worked in excess of this. The company is prepared : to give (the -men the Australian rates of wages, . but their only conces- ; 'Eion with regard to overtime 'is that an engineer may be'paid as much as £2 per month in respect of time worked Ju excess 1 of eight hours per day, but no . inore.t It is alleged on. behalf 'of the engineers that dn some trades .they . work regularly something like, 100 houra.per month.-df Overtime, and it' is not considered-that ' im! ' 8 sufficient reward for so much work. The case.of one engineer is cited who in one month worked 139 hours overtime. WAGES. ' ! Th o rates of wages which tbe company tee prepared to pay range from .£22 to '■£31 per calendar month': for ch/ief • engineers, i 617 10s. to £22 for second en- > t gineers, £1510s.'to' iSIB for third,engineers, leu to £& 'ipr.'fourtfc ; jber month for all below the rank of fourth .. engineer. .■ . , '|. Nejotiat'ons , between fho institute 'on . the'question's of .wages and hours have ' been going on for nearly a month now, out without satisfactory result. •I- ' ' • AN ULTIMATUM. the engineers presented to Mr. . W. A. Kennedy, manager for the company in Wellington, a demand or a re- . Quest to come to terms—a request which ."wag well understood to be in the nature of an .ultimatum—and Mr. Kennedy did i tiot agree to come'to . terms. •'

,If the negotiations are resumed now, thoy will bo resumed/from a different ■ starting-point, for, in a very few days' the entire fleet will probably, if no settlement . js arrived at, bo laid np/ and the engineers . 1 . tvill ,bo ashore. ; ' i : company has already invoked the aid of/the Arbitration Court in the disEnto/ and the case must come on for earing however unwilling l the engineers / any. bo to be' parties to it.' . Unfortunately for themselves,, the in--Stttnte is still registered as an industrial ■ union under tho Arbitration Act, and, as ft. union/may bo cited under that Act. Tiey may'how tako steps to oancel registration,:but tho cancellation will hot free them .from liability under any award I . tfhich tho Court maymako, ' .■'■•/Vv--;-' . A BALLOT. 1 ' :; The deotslon of the engineers, .It should i "bo explained, was arrived at aa the result • : 'of a iballot token of members of tho in-' ■: ptitute employed on vessels of the Union .Company's fleet/ Ballot papera were cir- ; , culated amongst tho engineers, by which ! . th«y were asked to vote on ..tho question of whether or not they would'accept tho terms offered by tho Union Company, and ■ ; also on .tho question of whether <9 thoy , "would be prepared to give notice in the event of the I company still proving obdurate. ' ; i' ; Those ballot papers were opened yesterday, and,lt is understood that thero was in overwhelming majority against acoept- . anca of'tlw company's' offer, and in favour of the course of action which the . engineers now propose to take. ' ■ SHIPS' OFFICERS' DISPUTE, ,{ : .It is eafe to say that tho. unanimity of the members of tho institute in dooiding practically to goon strike if their,terms are not accepted 13 tho direst result of the Court's finding in tho ships' officers' y.■ dispute. In that.case tho Court refused to include in tho award any, provision for .. . "the payment of overtime, and tho only j■ limitation of hours provided for was in a , clause which sot forth that no officers 1 could be kept on duty 1 for . mbrs than : twelvo hours' consecutively without a irest of four hours. Under this clauso an officer could be kopt on duty twenty hours out of twenty-four, or twenty-four hours out of twenty-eight. These terms the Institute do not considor good enough for engineors, and (hey are therefore re- { solved if possible to avoid having their difficulty settled by the New Zealand Arv titration Court.

DECISION TO STOP WORK.

FULL HISTORY OF THE DISPUTE.