["Better Conditions for Seamen", The Sydney Morning Herald, Monday 27 November 1911, page 8]
BETTER CONDITIONS FOR SEAMEN.
The decision of Mr. Justice Higgins to award the seamen on Interstate steamers an eight hours' day at sea is not so revolutionary as appears at first sight. Engineers and firemen work their four hours on and eight hours off, or a working day of eight hours. Hence the way was already paved for the change, and that change could hardly have been unexpected. With the principle of the eight hours' day acknowledged in nearly all shore callings, it would be difficult to understand why it should not be conceded to the equally laborious and - in the shoreman's belief - more hazardous occupations at sea. Though the steamship companies contested the claim, it was perhaps, judging by the evidence, more as a matter o£ form, especially when they admitted that the state of the industry was such that it could well bear this change and some other changes proposed. In any circumstances the increased labour of three watches instead of two would mean added expense, although the Judge of the Arbitration Court believes that it will not be as much as the steamship owners reckon. The provision will come into force at the end of June next year, time being thus allowed for the alteration of accommodation necessary. Additional costs thereby involved do not stand alone. Not only have more men to be provided, but higher wages have to be paid all round from December, A.Bs. receiving £1 a month more, £8 in place of £7, and firemen the same increase, £10 in place of £9. Provision is also made for overtime, and for holidays worked at sea a day off ashore is to be allowed or an extra day's pay. Similarly the firemen, whose wages are to be increased to the equivalent of 8s 2d a day, including in this amount their "keep," even now will receive 1s 4d a day less than shore firemen.
All this is from the men's point of view, and in further argument on their side it might be added that if we are to man our mercantile marine with our own sailors the wages to be paid must approach those of shore callings of similar status, or we shall attract to our steamers few native-born sailors, because the glamour of a life at sea is not so intense now as to offer the compensations of imagination it once did. On the other hand, there is the point of view of the industry itself to be looked at. Seven thousand men are affected, and the changes in their conditions will involve an increment in charges of £39,000, or an average of £485 per annum for each steamer. Can the industry stand that increased charge? The shipowners say yes, It can, which means nothing more nor less than they conceive it in their power to pass it on to the public by means of increased freight charges and increased passenger fares. Another burden will be added to the cost of articles to the general consumer, a burden of which we have had an example in the higher freights from England. That was caused by the higher wages due to the successful seamen's and transport strike in the United Kingdom some months ago, and has resulted in an additional 2s 6d a ton to the landed cost of heavy goods. Now is the day of our prosperity when there is no difficulty in passing on the cost, to such a low ebb has competition fallen. But should trade fall away, as fall away it will, and competition become keen, will the cost then be passed on? No relief can be expected from the Court. Mr. Justice Higgins has expressly declared that the Arbitration Act is not an Act for profit sharing, that the increases he has awarded are not made on the basis of profit sharing, and we may take it that the corollary is in his Honor's mind that there will be no reductions when profits become less. It will be when the days of depression are on us that the power of that Act will be most truly tested. Will it be strong enough in those days to preserve the wages of the workers, and, if so, who will pay, the employer or the public? To-day the public, among whom the workers are the majority, is paying such an excessive price that we cannot believe it will be long before the workers themselves perceive that high wages may be a too dearly bought luxury, and that there must be some other way of escape from the tyranny of high prices.
