THE SEAMENS’ DEMANDS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3342, 7 October 1911, Page 5

THE SEAMENS’ DEMANDS.

NEW PROPOSALS OUTLINED. PROBABLE CONFERENCE WITH EMPLOYERS. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Oct 6. The representatives of the New Zealand shipowners have asked to meet the Federal Council of the Australasian Federated Seamen’s Union in conference, not later than the last week in this month, to consider the new scale of demands served on the steamship owners. The conference will probably take place in Wellington. The claims made involve an increase in' wages of £1 per month all . round, with the exception of men working sixhour watches, in whose cases the union is asking for an increase of £3 per month, based on the number of hours that a man is called upon to work in excess of the hours worked by those on four-hour watches. In respect to overtime, the present rate varies from Is per hour for ship’s work to Is 3d for handling cargo, and in the fresh demands Is 6d per hour is asked for without conditions, except in the case of “surfing” (boat and cargo), for which 2s per hour all the year round is claimed. At present this class of work is paid for at the rate of Is 9d per hour during four winter months, and Is 6d during the summer period.