SEAMEN'S UNION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2942, 30 November 1916, Page 7

SEAMEN'S UNION

, THE AUSTRALIAN DEMANDS. The claim for increased wages and , improved conditions ni'ado by the Fcd- ' erated Seamen's .Union of Australia, in ». oommunicatiou to tho Commonwealth iSteamship Owners' Association, does not immediately affect New Zealand [skipping, but there is ground for bejlioving that the Now Zealand Federated Seamon's Union will have some • statement to mako on the subject shortly. Tho council of tho union has llicen in session in Wellington this 'week,' and may conclude its business 'tfo-day. ■ It was stated in shipping circles ton Tuesday that tho adoption of tho rates of pay and general Conditions out-l-lined in a cablegram from Melbourne .certainly would involve substantial increases in steamship charges. Tho most jserious itom was tho alteration qf the 'jba-sis of payment from calendar month jito lunar month. The increase proposed in tho case of firemen amounted an additional ehargo of 20 per cent, without taking into account tho cost bf enlarged crews, improved menus, •etc. ■ Representatives' of the seamen wero *ot prepared yesterday to mako any statement with regard to tho matter. ""The claim concerns Australia at present." said one of thorn, "and as far jasthc union is concerned wo have nothing to say. I would just mention, 'liowevcr, that' the extra money asked ■by the crows seems a very small thing compared with the extra profits that the shipping companies liavo been making out of tho war. Tho seamen are feeling the increased cost of living as much as anybody else, and the Trig rise in shipping charges scorns to be one fof the causes of high costs."