SEA CAPTAINS WANT INCREASED SALARIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 319, 2 April 1928, Page 11

SEA CAPTAINS WANT INCREASED SALARIES

CLAIM IN MELBOURNE By Cable. — Press Association. — Copyright. MELBOURNE, March 24. The plaint in which the Merchant Service Guild of Australia and New Zealand is claiming further concessions for its members on deep sea, bay, harbour and river vessels and for pilots and harbour master pilots, was begun before Chief Judge Dethridge in the Arbitration Court in Melbourne last week. The claims are opposed by 400 respondents. • Salaries claimed for masters range from £45 7s lOd a month for passenger vessels of 125 tons and under, fro £134 17s 6d a month for passenger vessels over 10,000 tons, and from £37 8s 9d to £96 2s for vessels other than passenger ships. The Guild is claiming increased salaries for all its members from sixth officer and fifth engineer to the captain and chief engineer. Other claims include an eight-hour day, provision for overtime, and firstrlass travelling expenses, which shall include sleeping berths on trains. Sailors in Tropics

For employees in vessels plying in the tropics, an additional 10 per cent, is claimed in wages above that paid to employees in other places.

The guild asks for absolute preference of employment for its members. The claim, however, goes beyond that. “If an employer employs any person who is not a financial member of the guild, the employer shall pay to the guid £5 6s, together with any further sum equal to the annual fees of a member," stages the claim. “After 12 months, if the employee is not a member, the employer shall pay a sum equivalent to the annual fees of a member."

In case of shipwreck or abandonment of a voyage, the guild claims three months’ wages for the affected men. A weekly wage of £7 10s it claimed for all employees on log punts or rafts. Further claims are:

' Any vessel used in conveying employees to or from their work or depot shall be provided with shelter from the elements.

"Payments shall be made at double the ordinary rates for all time worked on Sundays, public holidays, or meal hours.

"Salaries claimed for pilots and harbour master pilots to range from £770 to £1,500 a year. “On attaining the age of 65 years, a pilot shall be entitled to retire on an annual pension equal to 50 per cent, of his salary. “Should a pilot eject to continue his duties after attaining the age of 05 years, he shall be entitled to remain in active service until his retirement is recommended by a competent medical board."

No decision had been reached when the last mail left Australia.