CHRISTCHURCH TRAMS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 239, 23 July 1935, Page 6

CHRISTCHURCH TRAMS

DISMISSAL OF “LOYALISTS.” NO DISCRIMINATION ALLEGED. CHRISTCHURCH, July 22. The recent dismissal of three men from the traffic staff was mentioned at a meeting of the Tramway Board today. The three men dismissed all belong to the group commonly described as Loyalists, in that they supported the Tramway Board as against the union in the tramway strike of 1932. The report -of the Works and Traffic Committee simply mentioned that to deal with the surplus of men three men had been dismissed. Mr J. Mathison, who was president of the union at the time of the strike and who is now a member of the board, said that the board had had nothing to do with the selection of the three men for dismissal. The chairman (the Re.v. J. K. Archer) said the selection of the men had been left entirely to the management, which was instructed that the- men were to be selected regardless of their attitude to the strike. “It rather amuses me to see how the press gloats over the word ‘ Loyalist,’, as if the men who remained on duty during the strike were loyal and those who went out were disloyal,” said Mr Archer. “To whom were they loyal and to whom were they disloyal Y The first business of a working man in the time of a strike is to his fellowworking men.” Mr Archer added that lie was against strikes in general if they could possibly be avoided, hut if there had to be a strike he thought it should be a straight-out dispute between the employers and the Employed. He regarded as a traitor the working man who was not loyal to his fellows in such a time. If all the workers had been loyal to their class in 1932 there would have been neither the strike nor the troubles that had since arisen from it.