Maritime Troubles

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 240, 30 December 1927, Page 9

Maritime Troubles

HOSTILE TONE IN AUSTRALIA

Unions and Owners at Loggerheads

By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. TROUBLE is brewing again in Australian maritime affairs. The stewards on the Moreton Bay, who refused to serve guests at the regatta luncheon of Monday, have not been re-engaged, and there is talk of further union action. The management, it is believed, will not hesitate to lay the vessel up. The ‘ disciplining” of a bo’sun by the Seamen's Union provides another example of the unhappy conditions existing between employers and men.

Reed. 10.55 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. TN accordance with the usual pro- -*■ cedure, the entire crew of the steamer Moreton Bay was signed off at the conclusion of their engagements.

All hands were re-engaged except the 60 stewards, who refused to serve at the regatta luncheon on Monday. The stewards subsequently held a meeting at which it was decided to make representations to have the men reinstated. Officials of the union interviewed the management, but the demand for reinstatement was refused. A member of the Commonwealth Shipping Board stated that if other stewards refused the offer for engagement to-day the directors would have no option but to pay off the crew and lay the vessel up. Trouble has arisen out of the decision and the seamen will hold a stop-work meeting on Wednesday, without the sanction of the owners. Under the Navigation Act it is provided that men absent from a ship without leave shall have two days’ pay deducted from their wages. The owners are taking steps to enforce that provision. E(ght members of the crew of the Australian United Steam Navigation Company’s steamer Mackerra gave notice on Wednesday, and left the vessel yesterday. There was no response to the call for men to fill the vacancies. A further call will be made to-day, then, if members of the Seamen’s Union still refuse to offer, the remainder of the crew will be paid off and the Mackerra laid up indefinitely. —A. and N.Z.

In defiance of the Commonwealth Steamship Owners’ Association, the inter-State seamen held their monthly stop-work meeting on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, as the later was a public holiday. The owners stated that the men committed a breach of the recent agreement, which states that the stop-work meeting must be held on the last Tuesday of each month, and the men therefore will not be paid for Wednesday.

DISCIPLINED BOSUN DRASTIC ACTION BY SEAMEN’S UNION COMPELLED TO LEAVE JOB By Baltic. —Press Association. — Copyright. Reed. 11.35 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. The Commonwealth Shipping Line offered the bosun, found guilty by the Seamen’s Union of tale-carrying, reemployment, but he declined. The company’s statement regarding the case presumes that the man acted under pressure from the union, not being disposed to ask for trouble, as he probably knew that if he had offered to sign on he would have been disciplined. It quotes a previous similar case when a man who was sticking by the owners was dismissed from membership of the union, and afterwards found it impossible to obtain employment on vessels on the Australian register. The statement claims that the action taken by the union in the bosun’s case amounts to a complete boycott by the union of all shipping in Australia. —A. and N.Z. As illustrating the stern discipline exercised by the Seamen’s Union over its members, the bosun of one of the Commonwealth steamers was charged at a meeting with carrying tales, about certain happenings in the forecastle, to the mate. The bosun offered an explanation, but the meeting adjudged him guilty, and ordered him to give 24 hours’ notice of his intention to leave the vessel, also not to seek re-employment in the Commonwealth Line for 12 months.