WATERFRONT WORK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 730, 1 August 1929, Page 6

WATERFRONT WORK

NEW AWARD OPERATES ONLY ONE CALL A DAY By a new waterside workers’ award, which came into operation at Auckland today only one call a day will be made for labour. Formerly two calls a day were made. This new award will obviate the necessity of men having to wait about the wharves most of the day in the hope that they would be called in the afternoon. One of the most important clauses agreed upon by the Conciliation Council was the introduction of the nomination call, which has been given a trial in Wellington, and is now to be introduced at the ports of Auckland, Dunedin, Port Chalmers and Timaru. The hours for the engagement of labour are to be from 7.45 a.m. to 10.45 a.m., except on Saturdays, when the nomination call ehall not be permitted, and the hours for engagement will remain as they are at present—from 7.45 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. On Mondays to Fridays, inclusive, for ships which have not arrived alongside the wharf, labour required to start work at 1.30 p.m. or later may be nominated at any time from 9 a.m. to the end of the call, to attend at the place of engagement between 1.30 p.m. to 3 p.m. The foreman is to state the actual time at which the men are to attend and the nomination, is to be either confirmed or cancelled within 15 minutes of the foreman’s stated time. If the nomination is confirmed or work started the men shall be paid a minimum of two hours at ordinary rates if they start before 5 p.m., or three hours at overtime rates from 6 p.m. No payment is to be made if the ship does not arrive or work is not started. When the nomination call is cancelled the men who have been nominated are to have preference when labour is required. Labour may be transferred after 1.30 p.m. for the purpose of making up shortages in gaftgs, or for facilitating the dispatch of a ship which is finishing that night. Transfers are to be allowed from one employer to another if necessary. While the nomination call is in force the employer, if he intends to work overtime, is to notify the men actually working or nominated not later than 4 p.m., and on Saturdays at 11 a.m. Such an order is to be a definite engagement. Regarding special overtime conditions at Auckland, the men are to be told to return after the meal hour either at 6 p.m. or 1 p.m., or are to be told to work the meal hour and to finish. Non-unionists will not be engaged before S a.m. A statement regarding the award was issued this morning by Mr. L. Glover, president of the New Zealand Watersiders’ Federation, and Mr. W. Bennett, chairman of the New Zealand Employers of Watersiders. They said that the Conciliation Council, sitting on the new award of the watersiders, came to an agreement on most matters in connection with the new award. Only some three or four questions have been left to the Arbitration Court to decide. The nomination call has been inaugurated at Wellington, Dunedin, Port Chalmers and Timaru. Representatives of the New Zealand Employers of Waterside Workers and the New Zealand Watersiders’ Federation and the Auckland Watersiders Employers’ Association and the Auckland Watersiders’ Workers’ Union have been working in conjunction with the nomination call, and the results came forth at the port of Auckland this morning. Except for certain alterations agreed upon to suit the local conditions, the nomination < ill here is the same as at other ports. The main idea of this call is that £here , will be only one call a day instead of two. The calls for labour previously were from 7.45 a.m. to 9.45 a.m. and from 1 p.m. xo 2.45 p.m.: now the coll is from 7.45 a.m. to 11.45a.m. ,