NEARLY 500 MEN DISMISSED

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 148, 18 March 1939, Page 12

NEARLY 500 MEN DISMISSED

Wellington Waterside

Hold-up EMPLOYERS ALLEGE “GO-SLOW” POLICY Men Believed To Resent Minister’s Speech In what is described as one of the most serious hold-ups in the history of the port of Wellington, nearly 500 waterside workers were summarily dismissed, yesterday afternoon and evening. Shipowners’ . representatives claimed that the men were carrying out an organized go-slow policy. This is. believed to been occasioned by resentment- at the speech of the Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb, at a conference of waterside workers and employers last week, when he said that if things continued as at present the Wellington waterfront would be held up as the laughing-stock of New Zealand, if not the world. Ships affected were, the overseas freighters Piako and Doric Star, the Home liner Rangitata, the intercolonial liner Maunganui, and the coastal vessel Waipahi. Other vessels in port continued to handle their cargoes.

The majority of the men were dismissed early yesterday afternoon, except the Waipahi’s two gangs of 16 men, who were discharged at about 8 p.m. The waterfront was quiet and orderly last night. On board the Doric Star, a scratch gang of shipping clerks and city workers continued to load by lamplight far into the night, in an effort to ship as much as possible of her cargo of chilled beef, liable to deteriorate if left on the wharf.

Figures were given by the employers to substantiate their claims that the men were working slowly. Whereas professional watersiders, working in two gangs for four hours yesterday morning loaded only 321 quarters of chilled beef into the Doric Star, the two inexperienced gangs recruited to handle the cargo last night, loaded 386 quarters in 2| hours. The gangs in each case comprised the same number of men. The general secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Employers’ Association, Mr. W. Bennett, said last night that the go-slow movement noticed during the past two days had continued, and the employers had decided to take action. Warned and Discharged.

“This morning there was no sign of an improvement on the waterfront,” said Mr. Bennett. “The employers decided that if the workers were not prepared to resume the normal present rate of working at 1 o’clock they should be warned and, if there was still no improvement, discharged. “As this definitely organized go’-slow policy continued on a number of vessels the men’ were dismissed. On the Doric Star 152 men were discharged, on the Piako 125, on the Bangitata 101, and on the Maunganui 94. Other vessels continued working. “The latest development took place at 8 p.m., when 10 men working on the Waipahi were discharged for going slow.”

The loading of the Piako had been hurried on to relieve congestion at the freezing works. She had been specially diverted to ’Wellington some days ahead of schedule for this purpose, to prevent the freezing works being obliged to close down. The Maunganui had not yet completed discharge of her Australian cargo. She had - on board 1900 cases of milk for transhipment at Wellington to the Dutch motor-ship Maetsuycker, due in port on Sunday; but as the Maunganui was due to sail at 5 o’clock this evening, unless the men resumed work it would be necessary to carry this cargo over without unloading it. She had also 250 tons of cargo to load for Australia.

“The go-slow movement on the Wellington waterfront has been one of the most serious in the history of the port,” Mr. Bennett continued. “As an example, these specific figures for the loading of the Piako in the past two days show that she was being loaded at less than half the usual rate.” He then quoted the following figures for the Piako’s working in two days: Thursday’s Loading. Dive gangs, comprising 106 men, loaded 16} trucks, containing 7425 carcases, in 12 hours. Each man handled 70 freight carcases in the 12 hours. Wharfmen received £l/17/4, sbipmen £2/3/4, for the 12 hours worked. Eive gangs of 105 men in all, plus capstan man, received £217/5/- for handling the 7425 carcases. Cost a freight carcase: 7d. Yesterday’s Loading. Four gangs, of 85 men in all, loaded 1512 carcases in four hours. Each man handled 18 freight carcases in four hours.

Wharfmen received 10/8, shipmen 12/8, for the four hours worked; total, with capstan man, £5O/12/8. Cost a freight carcase: Bd. He emphasized that this was less than half the reasonable and efficient rate of loading. The Doric Star’s figures worked out on a similar basis. She was loading chilled beef, and between 8 a.m. and noon yesterday, 52 men loaded 321 quarters of chilled beef into the vessel. Because of this extraordinarily slow rate of loading, a large quantity of chilled beef was left on the wharf when the men were discharged. At the rate at which they were working it would have been impossible to load it all into the vessel by 5 p.m. on Saturday. As this class of cargo could not be returned to the freezing works, every effort was being made by the shipowners to load with whatever labour was procurable. The nature of chilled beef was such that speedy loading was imperative. Beef delayed in loading was definitely affected in condition on removal from the vessel at Smithfield, where it would be adversely compared with the best produce of South America, the principal competitor in this trade. The South American shippers had. in addition to the advantage of being 10 days steaming nearer England, the labour facilities for loading 1200 quarters in the forenoon, which would take

two gangs 12 hours on the Wellington waterfront. Moreover, at present there was considerable congestion at New Zealand freezing works, and loadings were being expedited as much as possible to relieve freezing works, which would otherwise be obliged to close down. The unprecedented spell of dry weather had resulted in a rush on the freezing works throughout the country. Ships were being diverted as much as 500 miles to hurry on the loading. The Dorie Star was due to load 16,000 cases of apples at Port Chalmers on Monday, storage space in that port being heavily taxed at present. However, she would now be delayed nt least three days.