WHARF LABOUR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 109, 25 May 1937, Page 7

WHARF LABOUR

-Pres* AsBoclatioB. !

Bureau System On Waterfront AUCKLAND EXPERIMENT

(By Telegraph-

AUCKLAND, Last Night. ATrangements are well in hand for the establishment of a bureau system in connection with waterside work -in Auckland. A control board has been established, consisting of three representatives of the employers and three representatives of the union, and details are now being worked out as to how the new system of de-easualising wharf labour can be applied. "Under the scheme agreed to last February between the union and the employers, a certain number of men will receive £2 10s a week as a minimum, whether they work or not," said the manager of a shipping office. "Roughly, I think there are 1300 members of the Waterside Workers1 Union and the "scheme will embrace more than half of them. "What the committee that has been appointed has to consider in the meantime is the class of man to be employed and the work he can do best. Age will be taken into account and other matters that are necessary to consider when placing a man on the list. There will be central control under a manager appointed by the employers. The men who are selected must be reliable workers and they will have to report for duty every morning. In "other words, they will have to be alwaya on tap. Under the present system a man can absent himself at any time. It would he impossible to commenee the scheme and guarantee a large number of men a minimum of £2 16s a week if they were not available when required. "All shipping companies are ineluded in the scheme, ineluding those trading on the coast," said another shipping manager. "The system, which will be in operation three or four weeks hence, is a great advance on the present methods. It is a genuine attempt to make conditions better 'for the men. Naturally we ara all in the dark as to how it will work out. What we do know is that it will cost the Bhipping companies a large sum of money. The men will not be engaged as they are to-day. Those who are guaranteed £2 10s a week will be allocated to ships. The idea is a sound one and if the right men are selected and the right spirit prevails, there is no reason why the scheme should not be a thorough success. The scheme was put up to the men by companies and was agreed to by an overwhelming majority. It is a difflcult system to organise, but good progress has been made so far," Another informant said that the bureau system had heen tried with waterside workers both at Lyttelton and Wellington. Men had been appointed to ships, but, unlike the Auckland scheme, there was no guarantee of weekly wagas.