CONDITIONS ON RAILWAYS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25327, 29 October 1947, Page 3

CONDITIONS ON RAILWAYS

* CLAIMS HEARD BY TRIBUNAL HOLIDAYS AND OVERTIME (PJk.) WELLINGTON, October 28. Serious thought must be given to what it would cost, said Mr N. L. Stevenson when referring to the railway employees’ claim for Anniversary Day and the day after New Year’s Day as holidays, heard to-day by the Railways Industrial Tribunal. Mr Stevenson, advocate for the department, said that the estimated cost of granting the claims, based on the conditions applicable to the departmental holidays other than Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Anzac Day, was £67,650 a year. In repy to a question concerning the increased railway fares and tariffs, Mr Stevenson said that the net loss -up to September 13 amounted ’’to £862,000. Other Government departments recognised Anniversary Day as a holiday, 4 but they were more fortunate financially, said Mr Stevenson. The Railways Department’s financial position required very careful attention. The fact that provincial anniversary days were recognised as statutory holidays in the Public Service and the Post and Telegraph Department did not, in his opinion, mean that a similar practice should be followed by the Railways Department. The granting of such a holiday would add unnecessarily to the . department’s already mounting costs. Mr J'. W. Shepherd, advocate for the Railway Officers’ Institute, put forward a claim that employees transferred at the department’s expense should be granted £2O to cover expenses incurred as a direct result of the transfer. He said it was indisputable that since the existing rates of allowances were fixed by the tribunal hotel tariffs had increased considerably. Overtime Payments

A claim was put forward that all time on duty on Saturdays be paid for at the rate of time and a half for the first three hours and at double time thereafter. Mr Gebbie, advocate for the Railway Tradesmen’s Association, said the claim sought to place railway workers on the basis of equality with the majority of industrial and commercial workers in New Zealand.

Replying, Mr N - L - Stevenson said the department had to contend with many circumstances over which it had no control. Train schedules were always liable to be affected by additional ’ services to cope with sudden fluctuations in traffic. The unexpected diversion or late arrival of ships, delays due to droughts, floods, and slips, the sudden demand on traffic because of livestock and other sales, and the rapid transport of perishable goods all influenced working hours and sharply distinguished the railwaymen’s vocation from that of the great majority of other workers. Railway workers already received double rate payments for time in excess of four hours’ work on the sixth shift, usually on a Saturday, whereas tramway workers had no similar provision. The estimated cost of granting this claim was £226,044 a year. The hearing will be continued tomorrow.