Originally Posted by
Grumph
You've been misled. There were no WIC regulations regarding work practises. There were however awards relating to the work done which were negotiated between the union and the combined shipping companies. The WIC had no part in enforcing these, it was entirely up to the union delegate and the company foreman.
To re-emphasise, the WIC was not the watersiders union - and didn't speak for them. Calling the waterside workforce WIC staff is totally wrong. Both legally - and in operational practise. I'd suspect that your information came from a shipping company rep. In some ports they were working actively to undercut the WIC with the ultimately successful aim of removing it. We saw a little of this in Lyttelton - but Bob Scott (yes, the all black) the local port Conciliation Committe chair kept most of it under control.
Oh I've got no doubt at all I was attempted to be misled. I've also no doubt it was the workers in question on site universally referred to as WIC workers doing most of the misleading.
You can deny responsibility for them until the cows come home, god knows everyone else in the industry did, but they were nonetheless considered by most unaligned observers to be the root cause of pretty much all of the problems on the waterfront. And that, in a nutshell was the problem, they refused to be held responsible for anything at all, by anyone whatsoever. You could argue that's why the WIC was instituted in the first place.
Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there lurks the skid demon
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@finger pointing v's what's best for the economy i.e. the resources coz they turn into money to pay for pay rises n the likes in an economy that's only ever getting more expensive and more intensely shafted by the very same activity that needs to take place in order to pay for the pay rises n the likes. Catch-22... Nah, just plain old stupidity in action. As you were.
I didn't think!!! I experimented!!!
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