SALVAGE WORK ON THE * KENNEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2281, 26 May 1921, Page 3

SALVAGE WORK ON THE * KENNEDY.

INTERPRETATION OF AWARD.

An interpretation of clauses in the Boilermakers’ award relating to dirty work and salvage work on the s.s. Kennedy was given by the Arbitration Coui't on Tuesday afternoon. Clause 6 (a) of the award reads: —“Ships: Any worker employed at dirty work, such as under lower platform of engine-room, or in bilges, or in confined places about ships’ boilers, etc., shall be paid Is (id extra per day as dirt money.” . The first question for the Court was: “The s.s. Kennedy was placed on the slip for repairs. Does not clause (a) apply to the work, or does it come within the operation of sub-clause (b) ?” The answer given was: “Sub-cla-. use (a) applies to work done on ships. The classes of work specified are not exhaustive, as is shown by the use of the words ‘such as.’ Any work of a similar nature performed on a ship is to be treated as ‘dirty work.’ ’Whether a particular class of work is, or is not, dirty is a question of fact in each case. Sub-clause (b) does not apply to work done on ships.” The second question ran: “In clause 9 of the award it is provided that the wages to be paid for salvage work to be settled by a proposed board of reference, which may be hereafter constituted. A certain ship grounded; she was refloated and assisted to port, and placed on the slip for repairs. Is. this salvage work within the meaning of clause 9?” The Court answered this as follows : —“Salvage work means the work necessary for saving, or making safe, a vessel and her cargo from the perils of the sea. In the present ease the evidence shows that the work done on the Kennedy at Foxlon in order to make her seaworthy was salvage work; but the work done at Wellington was repair work."