RAILWAY UNEMPLOYMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 164, 14 July 1930, Page 6

RAILWAY UNEMPLOYMENT.

The problem of surplus labour in the Railway Department has reached" a point where important decisions must be made. It has been known for years that the service was overstaffed, but no Government cared to deal boldly with this condition. Now the Minister, faced with the deficit of £1,300,000, feels that he must do something, and decides to dismiss a number of workshop hands, and when the unions express alarm he suggests that all the men in the' service should contribute a week's pay towards an unemployment fund. Naturally it is replied that this is not equality of sacrifice, and that it is impossible for the worker on a basic wage to give so much. The men's organisations are to confer to-day in Wellington, and hope to meet the Minister to-morrow. There should be the fullest discussion on the whole question. If the railways service is to be run with a larger staff than is necessary—and it is quite possible that the Commission now sitting will recommend drastic reductions —then the country should be told so in the plainest terms and made to understand the position. The present situation is one of many pointers to the need for a national unemployment policy.