NO POLITICAL ACTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 292, 10 December 1929, Page 8

NO POLITICAL ACTION.

P. AND T. EMPLOYEES' DECISION. MATTER FOR INDIVIDUALS ONLY. PROPOSED ARBITRATION SYSTEM. "The present constitution of the association does not allow political action," said Mr. J. H. McKenzie, general secre-tai-y of the P. and T. Employees' Association, in answer to a question at last night's meeting of the Auckland branch. "To my mind it is impossible for such an organisation as ours to attempt to support any one political party," he said. Politics, he continued, were matters for individual action and must be guided by the conscience of the individual. It was proposed to ask the Government to place the service under a system of arbitration in order to remove it from the present political control. In his opinion the service would never get far under political and partisan control. Questioned as to the association's attitude regarding P. and T. officers' compulsory retirement after forty years' service, Mr. McKenzie said the association was most emphatic on that point. He said he had already protested strongly to the PostmasterGenera,! and the secretary of the Department in regard to a recent case of an officer of over forty years' service being retained.. So far no satisfactory reasons for his retention had been presented. The case was causing much concern amongst senior officers, Mr. McKenzie said. Retired officers were also wanting to know why they had been forced out of the service in view of the present atitude of the Department. A revertion to the policy of recent years was unanimously endorsed by the meeting.