WATERSIDE STRIKE

Hokitika Guardian, 26 September 1928, Page 5

WATERSIDE STRIKE

NON-UNIONISTS AT WORK. (Australian Press Association). (United Service). SYDNEY, Sept. 25. A statement to-day by the shipowners says: Not only is volunteer labour replacing that of the strikers on the wharves, but it is outclassing them. The object lesson of 1917 is being repeated on the Australian waterfront. Volunteers in ever-increasing numbers, are clearing congested shipping and restoring overseas and inter-state commerce. A speedy return to normal is assured. The efficiency of the volunteer labour has been noted at Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane and Adelaide. Working under the Award provisions which guard stringently against overstrain, the amateur gangs are loading fifty to -a hundred per cent, more than the professional watersiders did formerly In the case of one steamer loaded by public-spirited volunteers, it had been arranged, judging the loading by the old rate, to carry on all day and possibly into the night. The new men, however, cleaned up the whole job by mid-day. A continuance of such honest effort, in return for high wages paid for this class of work, must, it is contended, inevitably bring a benefit to all sections of the community.

GOVERNMENT’S NEW MOVE CANBERRA, Sept. 25. The Federal Government is gazetting regulations under the Transport Workers’ Act immediately. Under these regulations all men seeking employment at the waterfront will he compelled to register. If they obtain work under the conditions of registration, and fail to carry out any conditions, their registration will he cancelled, and they will not then he able to secure any waterfront employment The Government maintains that if it allows the strikers to return to work on the old conditions, there would be no guarantee that tliev would remain at work, or that chaotic conditions in the industry would be ended. The Government lias guaranteed all volunteers full protection during the strike, and also continued employment, and also protection after the strike is over. The main idea behind the Federal Government’s action is to bring about a condition of stability in the maritime industry, as if the act is applied generally to all watersiders in the event of a future strike, it will have gone a long way towards solving the waterside industrial problem.