BROKEN PLEDGES?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 134, 8 June 1936, Page 8

BROKEN PLEDGES?

"LABOUR MEMBERS."

TRANSPORT BOARD WORK. dismissed mews charge. I i "The Labour members of tlie Auckland Transport Board have not kept ! tlieir promises," said Mr. It. W. Ken- " | nedy, a member of a deputation which j waited on the board this morning to I try and secure help for some 27 I employees of the board who have been ; dismissed because there is no more money available, but for whom there is ' stated to be plenty of work. l ! Despite the fact that the reception of I a deputation at short notice without proper notification was against the ! board's standing orders, the acting- !! chairman, Mr. E. J. Phelan, agreed to receive the representatives of the dismissed men informally. The two speakers, Messrs. Kennedy and J. H. Garrick, were introduced by Mr. J. Edwards, organiser of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement. Mr. Kennedy, amplifying his assertion about broke 1 promises, said that 27 men had been dismissed. Mr. J. A. C. Allum objected to reference to "Labour members" of the board. "Do not put it that way," he said. "There are no Labour members on the board. This is the Auckland Transport Board." Another Member: Let him put it that way if he likes. Election Promises. Resuming, Mr. Kennedy said that the election workers had been promised 40 hours a week without any reservations. The men for whom he was speaking knew that their work was to end ,after j March and that then there would be nothing for them. But if Labour succeeded to the Treasury benches they would have nothing to worry about. "We have not even the right to work now," he added, "and that right is one of the biggest platforms of the Labour party." "Is there work to be done out there?" asked Mr. Allum.

Mr. Kennedy replied that there was, and when asked gave his authority; but he said that the same, authority had tola them there was no money. The men, he said, had been receiving £3 14/1, and now some were on sustenance. He understood that the board was negotiating with the Government to have them I put on permanent work before the present job finished, but that had not happened. "The whole thing is very unsatisfactory," said Mr. Garrick, "and there is a lot of resentment. If we do not get a little more than we are getting I do not know how we will see the winter out. "It is work we want, not sustenance— work, and none of us are afraid to work." Mr. Plielan said that the manager, Mr. A. E. Ford, had reported to the board that there was work available, but no money. Nothing, the acting-chairman added, would give the board greater pleasure than to see the men on full time and full pay. It was right that the men should know that the board had made efforts on their behalf, said Mr. W. H. Nagle. j Ihe board, he added, had made definite application to the Minister. I "That is so," endorsed Mr. Phelan. The board had applied to "the Government for employment for the men. The board had done all it could, but wliat- ' ever had been done had been done | through necessity, not desire. He promised the men that the board would consider the matter and do everv- | thing in its power. The men concerned number about 27 They were members of a gang working at Owairaka, and were dismissed last .Friday.