The employers on Monday quoted figures to show that the
Port of London Authority's permanent men had earned on piece-work during the last three months of 1928 an average of £4 10s. 5d. a week, of which 12s. 5d. was represented by overtime, and on day rates 18 15s.
of which 15s. was represented by overtime. Grain workers earned as much as 17 16s. a week. As regards the alleged high profits of the shipping companies, it was stated that twenty of the chief liner companies in 1923 returned only a fraction over 7 per cent. in dividends. All this leaves us convinced that the casual nature of most work at the docks is the real problem. The men seem to have concentrated on the wages question, but a rise of wages does not help anybody very much except those who are permanently employed, and they are already pretty well paid. The meeting, duly arranged by the Ministry of Labour, brought about a resumption of the negotiations on Tuesday. When we go to press on Thursday, however, there has been no settlement, and the dreadful calamity of the worst of all forms of strike is still a possibility.
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