WATERFRONT DISPUTE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 November 1938, Page 5

WATERFRONT DISPUTE

REPLY BY THE EMPLOYERS TO MR ROBERTS. DENIAL OF DICTATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. A statement by Mr J. Roberts, secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union (published yesterday), that certain ship owners at Auckland had adopted a dictatorial policy over the recent waterfront holdup was denied by Mr W. H. G. Bennett, general secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Employers' Association, in an interview yesterday. All the employers asked for. he said, was for the terms of the award to be obeyed. “Mr Roberts stated in the Press that the matter in dispute concerning Waiana and the Kaimiro should not have held up the Auckland waterfront for a single hour; we are quite in agreement with that statement,” said Mr Bennett. Mr Bennett said that no dictatorial attitude had been adopted by the ship owners, but as the matter was one of an important principle, the ship owners had to insist that the men should return to their work and submit their dispute in the constitutional manner tc the local and national disputes committees. That was the final decision arrived at by the stopwork meeting of the men on Saturday after three and a half hours’ discussion, and after the work of the port had been held up for 10 days. “There is no necessity for these holdups to occur, as there is machinery provided in the award for the settlement of disputes without any stoppage of work, and also for dealing with such things as charges of ‘pin-pricking,’ as alleged,” added Mr Bennett. The National Disputes Committee, to which the dispute has now been referred, is to meet in Wellington_ tomorrow morning. The committee is to consist of four representatives of the New Zealand Waterside Employers’ Association and four representatives of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union. Either side has the right to take the dispute to the Court of Arbitration should an impasse result.