WHARF COMPLEXITIES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2142, 7 May 1914, Page 6

WHARF COMPLEXITIES

« —; — THE PRIORITY PROBLEM. PRONOUNCEMENT BY DEFENCE COMMITTEE, ( GOING PAST THE UNION. ■ REGISTER TO BE COMPILED, Action which has just boon taken by ttio Citizens' Defenco Committee (set up at the time of, the big strike last year) in.reference to the' somewhat chaotic conditions of employment on the local wharf is set forth and explained in the letter printed beloiv, which we have received from Mr. W. G. Poster (chairman of tho Defenco Committee), and in tho appended report from tho employers of waterside labour. The gist of the matter is that the Defence Committee; having consulted tho officials of the Wharf Labourers' Union and the employers of waterside labour, has decided to go past the union, and compile a register, of the names of those men ! who aro entitled .to priority of engage- > ment in terms of tho promiso given by : the employers to thoso men who re- • sumed work on or before December 8, i 1913. The Union's Complaints. Mr. Foster's letter, which is dated May 6, reads as follows:— "In view of tho frequent reference in the Press to the unsatisfactory con- ' dition of affairs at tho waterfront, and ! to a suggestion from the Minister that I should make closer inquiry into the ' matter, I arranged a meeting with ; Messrs. Radcliff,and Jones, president . and secretary respectively of the union. ; "As a result of that meeting, 1 decided, as chairman, to call a meeting of the executive of tho Defence Committee, at which I had arranged tliav the union should be represented. This with a view to the union submitting direct its complaints generally. 'An Offer Rejected. "It lias been already made public that the principal ground of. complaint F was it 3 lion-representation during in- . vestigation by the special committee of the complaints it had put in. To . remedy this, the Defence Committee I offered to substitute another commitr tee, with an independent chairman, , composed of two representatives of the t employers and two from the union. This you are aware was declined. Defence Committee's Action. s "A further meeting of the Defencc n Ooromittco was called to consider thi; n refusal, when the following resolution: J <rere passed, viz.. s " 'That the employers of water- - side labotu' furnish a statement to the Complaints' Committee as to ■ tho measures taken 1 to securo tho effective working of priority of engagement on tho waterfront, and 'j that such statement be published i> by the Complaints' Committee in the name of tho Defenco CommitU tee.' : i " 'That as the esecutivo of the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union has. disclaimed further responsibility in tlio matter of assist'r ii)g men entitled to priority of cngagement, and owing to tho fact •<j that the register as to the' names ■" of the men entitled topriority furnished by tho executive of the union u to the employers lias been found to :r he very inaccurate, those members of the union who are entitled to priority bo requested to register their names with Mr. E. H. Dodd, c- Accountants' Chambers, Johnston >u Street.' . .. 10 "The report was considered by tli :W special committeo this morning, and : :s ' was at once resolved to at once plat a it in the hands of tho Press. Wit ar this report I am now handing von 311 form of advertisement for insertion i 'k your paper, and I trust that tho worl 1 10 crs will promptly act upon tlie requei therein to register their names as a] 11 1 plicants for priority of engagement c c 0 the waterfront. In conclusion, l otTi tl ce Defence Committee and tlie special cor 511 mitteo are of opinion that tl re direct employers have endeavoured ' en carry out their pledge to tho uttc he most, but that tliero lias been a-grc; ad deal wanting from tho other Bido." at ' ' on EMPLOYERS STATE THEIR CASE nd

THE PROMISE OF PREFERENCE. WHARF UNION SEVERELY s CRITICISED. Following is- the report of tho employers of waterside labour to tho osacutivo of the Defence Committee: — "From tho inception of tho now Wharf Labourers' Union the oxecutivo of that bod} , resented and rofused to accept any suggestion from the omployers winch had for its object the avoidance of the position which exists to-day, tho latter being.told in so many words to mind their own business. Tho employers, after this experience, preferred to make no further suggestion to the union in the direction indicated as thoy v had no desire whatever to interfere with tho internal management of the union, or oven to appear to do so. In December last the employers pledged themsolves in writing to givo priority of engagement to those members of the union who had joined the latter on or before December 8, the conditions attached to this .undertaking being: "(1) That tho men should be of good character. "(2) That in tho opinion of tho labour foreman they wero capablo of satisfactorily performing their duties. "(3) That the union should provide oach member who was entitled to priority of engagement with a moans of identification .for tho guidance of the laboui foremen. Incompetency No Bar. "With regard'to condition No. 2: H was fully recognised by tho employers and also b.v the executive of the union that wliilo in the ranks of tho men were a number who were thoroughly eonipo tout to perform the work r.equired ol them, there was also a considerable pro portiou who fell far short of tho stand aid of efficiency necessarv to tho expe ditious working of the. wharves am ships. In spite of this the employer! notified their foremen that this fac was not to bo taken into considcratioi when labour was being engaged, ant this instruction has not only not boei withdrawn, but has actually been re affirmed and is still being carried out It is natural of course that tho incom petcnts would not bo first to be ehosei or- tho men entitled to priority of en gagement. In this connection also it i< well known to tho executive of tin union that a largo proportion of tin men who joined tho new union, whili oanablo of performing the ordinar duties of, cargo working, were quito uri suited for stich special work as winch driving, otc. which up to tho timo tin strike ended was carried out by ship' officers on coastal and intercolonia steamers, and by seamen and firemei on the oversea ships. When the ship , officers had to rejoin their ships it wa absolutely necessary to draw thes specialists from the ranks of the union irrespective of whether they had joine iho union prior to December'}) or latei ami this condition has obtained ove since, but, nevertheless, it is regarde , by tho union as a breach of faith on tli part of the employers. Union Failures, "The condition relating to the obi: 1 nation of the union to provide for th

information of the foremen a means of identification of the men entitled to priority of engagement was regarded as of the highest unporHiiwe, as"out of a membership of 1500 men it was a manifest impossibility for the foremen to know which of them were to be accord' ed priority of engagement. In spit® of being urged by the employers to expedite matters in this direction, the action of the union executive-was slow in the extreme. A special button, to bo worn as a badge during the hours of engagement of labour, was eventually offered by the union executive to those of its members who came within tlio scone of the employers' pledge, but this scheme failed owing to the nonobservance by the men entitled, to wear the badge of the conditions attached to it. An Inaccurate List. "As an alternative, the union was urged by the employers to supply them with a full and correct list of the names of all those men who joined the union prior to December 9, but this was not forthcoming until nearly two months after the union executive had been repeatedly pressed to supply it'. When received it was found to he practically useless, owing to the immbcr of inaccuracies contained therein, and to a large proportion of tho names of members of the union who were amongst the first, to join being omitted altogether. So glaringly inaccurate was the information thus supplied by the union that the employers themselves provided clerks to act with the secretary of the union in preparing an amended. list, ' which was issued early in February, but events have shown that even with this assistance it was impossible, owing to the irregular manner in which the records of membership in the union books had been kept, to ' compile .from them a correct list of the mcli who had joined prior to December 9 S aad who were en- | titled to priority 6f engagement. A Striking Example. ' "As one illustration out of many available of this, it may be mentioned ' that as late as April 11 the "Wharf Lab- | oiirqrs' .Union wrote the employers enclosing a list of 37 non-unionists who | were working 'on the wharves, and rcr questing that they be debarred froiJi ein- ' ployinent. This information was at once conveyed to the foramen, who immediately interviewed! such of tho wen as were then available, only to tind that a J considerable proportion of them were not " only fully financial members of the un- " ion at the time the latter communicated ' with the employers, but actually had ' their membership books in.their posscs--3 sion. . This one instance is sufficient to - show the extremely harassing conditions > under which the foremen have 'beea 0 carrying out their duties, a position 3 brought about entirely by the inability of the union officials to comply with the conditions laid down in the employers' undertaking of December last. As evils denco that they are net antagonistic s to tho men, it may be mentioned that s the foremen have themselves from time to time furnished tho. union with tho names of man' entitled to priority of engagement, which have not been included in the lists supplied by the union executive, and yet, in spite of this, tho foremen are, week in and week out, assailed by tho executive of tho union and accused of acts of omissfen and conunis* sion which are duo to thofailiire of tho union itself to comply with the- terms of the employers' undertaking. The Special Committee. "On February 17, tnviug to represenby the executive of the union, an 4 with an earnest desire tt> dc everything in their power to carry oui tho terms of their expressed sbiigatioi; to tho men who joined tho union priol to December 9, tlie passed ttw following resolution viz;: — "That it is tho intention of tho employers that the spirit of the arrangement to give, priority of employment to those iuiett who joined :'the Arbitration Union before December 9, 1913, shall be carried out in io its entirety, and tho employers it have pledged themselves to see. that co the instructions are faithfully earth riod out." . a "Consequentupon tliis a special coin J n mittee, consisting of Mr. Fletcher, re k * presenting the Harbour Board, aiid Cap st tain Evans, representing all .other enj P" ployers of .waterside Wbouiy with Mi ? n W. 6. Foster as chairman, was sot tr for tho purpose of dealing with all mat l 1" ters arising out of the resolutions c tho employers. !r : Divided Union Counsels. "This conimittco has dealt with <vl complaints made by the union on be : half of the whaff workers, but lecontl; tho executive of the iinioft has express ed the view that tho constitution of th ®.' committee should provide for the repre sentation of tho union as well as of th employers. A conference was held be tween tho members of the executive e m- the Citizens' Defence Committee an se- tho executive of tho union on April 3f. at which this point was ventilated, aw arf eventually a resolution was passed, b iat the defeiico executive reeommendiu

}• that the committee bo reconstituted so j as to provido for two representatives of e the union, two representatives of the r employers, and an independent ohair- \ man. This met tho previously express- i ed desire of the executive of the union, q but tho latter at a special meeting hold n the same day rejected the prftposal, and 0 intimated in effect that they proposed 0 to ignore tho existence of tfet special j, committee in future in so far as the claims of men for priority of engagen ment wore concerned. It may bo meiitioned that the full strength of,. tlio j union executive was present at tlio cob- | foronce, and it was cvictent that they I ;" were divided in their opinions as to tho position with regard .to the committee ! , and to tho men entitled to priority of I engagement, some members .of the union oxecutive going, so far as f" vocato the withdrawal hy emplflS'ers of the undertaking given by them in D<?> - cember last. This proposal tho empky--0 ers not only declined is entertain,, but r ' they reafßnhed tho proinise of priority l " of engagement to those men who join* lr ed tho union prior to December 9, on the condition that they are capable, in the opinion of the foremen, of saiisfac[t torily performing their diftios. s, > i, Other Difficulties, •e "It must be borne in mind that apart 0- from tho embarrassment caused te tho jf foremen, in tho selection of labour, by a- reason of the inaccurate and therefore 1- unreliable lists supplied to them by tho e- Wharf Labourers' Union ef these- v>vm id who joined the union prior to December rs 9, other causes have at tifiwis operated ct against their carrying out in its enin tiroty tho pledge given by tie employ* id ers. Those may bo briefly summarised >u as follow, vis.:— c- (a) The omission of tho ffien t- themselves to attend at, tho stated ii- hours of engagement at the agreed hi upon place of engagement, n- (b) Tho practico of a proportion is of the men of failing to report for io duty in inclement weather, and also io of absenting themselves from the Io wharves at week-ends and during ry tho holiday season without notice n- to tho foremen; and, h- (c) Tho inability of certain indite viduals to perform such Work as i's was available at tho time they wore al seeking engagement. 311 ,' s Departed Strike Breakers. as "It should be mentioned'also that of se the body of men from the country who n, worked on the wharves during: • tho ed strike, a large proportion carat; to Wfil!r, jington solely for tho purpos-o of break--er ing tho strike, and had no intention of cd remaining hero after their mission liad ho been accomplished. Tlio fact that these men liavo returned to the- country and resumed their ordinary occupations nccounts in a great measure for the csIi- odus of those who were "instrumental he in keeping the work of the vrhmv-cs and

shipping in active operation during tlio strike, .and the suggestion that they iiave drifted away on account of tho conditions on the waterfront is, in a very great measure, :ni exaggeration. Employers and Their Premise. "It is still tins earnest desire ef tlifi employers to give full effcct to their promise made in December last, but in view of the fact that- tho executive of the union lias 'declined to interest itself further on behalf of those, who areentitled to jmoriti" of engagement, tho men should be required to assist tlie efforts -of the employers by registering their- names with the secretary of the speeial inquiry committee."