INTERNATIONAL SEAMEN'S STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 127, 7 September 1910, Page 4

INTERNATIONAL SEAMEN'S STRIKE.

Shipowners and seamen are at present negotiating with a view of settling the point of difference between most o"f the great steamship companies in the world and the men who work them. It is threatened that if an agreement is not arrived at there will be an international seamen's strike. The Times' correspondent affirms that the owners have refused to entertain the demands of the men and he assumes, therefore, that a strike of international importance will follow. The men, through their leaders, while deprecating the Arike prediction as pre- ! mature have always added that everv-1 thing depends on the reception accorded! their proposals .by the owners. If therefore, it be true that the latter have rejected the men's demands, then a strike, involving the mercantile shipping of the whole world, may follow. So far, it is not known whether there has been a breakdown in negotiations. Mr. J. Havelock Wilson (whose intended visit to Australia has been postponed) and Mr. Gathery have been busy for 7 months past holding meetings at all the chief British ports, and final action was reserved for the Copenhagen Conference. The men demand:—(l.) A uniform scale of wages for all ports, and a minimum living wage; (2) a proper manning scale both on deck and in the stokehold; (3) That when men sign on union officials shall toe present to see what they are signing; and (4) a proper medical examination of the men and the abolition of the present degrading branding process. The ■movemeftt itself was born of and is an answer to the international combination' of shipowners. The Seamen's Union asked for the appointment of a national committee, to be composed of representatives of shipowners and seamen, and it is this committee, probably, that the Times' correspondent .says the owners have refused to set up. All replies from the masters were to be considered by the Copenhagen gathering, at which delegates from Europe, America and Australia were expected to be present, and with, them rests the decision. The employers, according to the secretary of the Shipping Federation (Mr. Cuthbert Laws), have no fear of ia strike, and no dread of the outcome should there be one. This gentleman recently, said in response to an interviewer:—"The fa-ct is that the Sailors' and the .Firemen's Union have been crying 'wolf' too much. This is only an annual recurrence of the same sort of thing. Trade has only to be a little bit better in order for the seamen to make the sort of threat they are making now. I do not anticipate that anything will come of it . As a matter of fact, there are far too many | men anxious to get a ship for us to be troubled albout strikes. The Seamen's' Union is a very small affair, and does not at all represent men engaged on our ships. Only a very small percentage of the men are members of the union, and we have always a very large number more men applying for berths than we require. They get employed in rotation, but they spend plenty of time ashore." In order to succeed the intending strikers must have international public sunport, and this will probably not be forthcoming!. The threat is probably a "try on," and the immense cohesion and organisation necessary to effect international results does not exist.