SHIPPING STRIKE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10454, 20 October 1911, Page 5

SHIPPING STRIKE

WHARF LABOURERS GO OUT SHIP-OWNERS SURPRISED. (Received Last Night, 5.5 o'clock.) SYDNEY, October 19. The wharf labourers employed in the coastal trade and on the interState wharves have struck for an increase of wages to Is 6d per hour and ,21. 3d per hour for overtime— the 'same rat-es as were recently obtained Iby the deep sea. men. Several steamers are held up, including the Union Company's' Paloona. The strike was the outcome of «i resolution carried a fortnight ago. The intention was to demand an increase, but no date was fixed to enforce the demand. No official notification) was given to the ship-owners, to whom the strike came as a surprise. Only vessels which have arriv-d since last night are .so far affeot;*d,those partially unloaded being completed. Negotiations are proceeding b« jtv.een the Companies involved and. ■the wharf labourers' officials. The ship-owners point out that less than .two months ago they levelled up the coastal 'wharf-labourers' wages to those of the deep-tsea men, viz., Is 3d per hour and 2s per hour overtime.. Tlie deep-sea imen claimed that they were entitled to higher rates than the coastal men, and .secured an advance to 2s 3d, which the coastal men now demand.