50 Per Cent. Rise

New Conditions for Suva's Wharf- Labourers

Suva, Nov. 1.

WHAT has been described by the Public Relations Office, Suva, as the result of the Fijians’ first effort at col lective bargaining, came into operation on September 1. This is the introduc tion of a new system of stevedoring on the Suva wharves and improved condi tions for workers.

It is explained that stevedoring labour for Suva is normally drawn from Fijian villages within a radius of 20 miles of the port, and that the maximum number em ployed at one time has reached 1,000 men.

After the outbreak of the Pacific war, however, the manpower position became acute, and to prevent shipping hold-ups, the Fiji Labour Corps was formed.

Conditions in the Labour Corps were good, and when the Corps was disbanded several months ago and civilian shipping labour reverted to, it was felt that the wharf labourers would be dissatisfied with pre-war standards.

The Fiji Labour Department investi gated the matter and finally arranged talks between representatives of the Fiji districts that usually supply this type of labour and the shipping companies.

Under the new conditions, labourers who formerly received 3/6 for a 10-hour day, now received from 7d. to 9d. per hour (according to the grade of work invplved); each shift -is for 10 hours, but after the first eight, the worker is paid time and a half. On Sundays, Christmas Day and Good Friday, the worker gets double time.

From the time of arrival in Suva unt'l pay-off, the employers must provide em ployees with three cooked meals in 24 hours. The Government has made avail able, on a rental basis, to the shipping companies concerned (W. R. Carpenter & Co., Ltd., CSR Co., Union Steamship Co., and Williams & Gosling, Ltd.) a large canteen, and the shipping companies have arranged for a catering company to supply hot meals to the men.

It has been agreed that there will be no lock-outs or strikes, and conciliation and arbitration machinery has been pro vided to deal with disputes. rE new system benefits the employers in this way: Before the war it is estimated that the labour supplied by the villages was up to 30 per cent, in efficient large numbers of labourers being either too old, too young, or other wise incapable of giving efficient service.

The Fijians, it is stated, liked to have the work spread over the community, and resented attempts to reject the unfit.

Now, however, they agree that in creased wages must automatically mean increased efficiency, and they have accepted the fact that employers must have the right to reject useless labour.