RAILWAY SERVANTS' GRIEVANCES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 130, 1 June 1908, Page 9

RAILWAY SERVANTS' GRIEVANCES.

WAGIS INCREASES DEMANDED. The Auckland branch of the New Zealand Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, on Saturday night, entertained the president (Mr. A. W. Veitch) and the general secretary (Mr. M. J. Mack) at a smoke concert in the Newmarket . Hall. Mr. G. Wilkinson, president of the Auckland branch, wa s in the chair. A very cordial welcome was given the Wel'ington visitors. It was explained by Mr. Veitch that they had been appointed to visit the various branches of the Society. They were commencing at Auckland. The council of the Association, he said, had formulated proposals which it considered would be in the interests of the railway workers, and, at the same time, just. When, in January of this year, these proposals had been placed before the Minister, that gentleman had refused practically the whole of them. This interview lasted only two hours, and, as they, therefore, had not sufficient time to put their case adequately before the Minister, they requested another interview, but were flatly refused it. Two hours' consideration in two years of the infportant interests of 10,000 men and those dependent upon them was certainly not sufficient. The council now proposed issuing to members of Parliament and members of the Society circulars setting out their demands. The demands they would make were nothing more than their rights. They required a general increase in wages, commensurate with the increased cost of living; a universal 4S-hour week, such as men in other industries enjoyed; full civil and politicl rights; and a revision of the regulations to facilitate promotion from one grade to In his address respecting the alleged need for more pay, Mr. Mack pointed out that the value of a wage was regulated by its spending capacity; and while living had increased in cost, the wages of the railway servants had not been risen, although workers in other spheres were now receiving more money for their labours.