TRAMWAYMEN AND WAGE RATES

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25608, 24 September 1948, Page 8

TRAMWAYMEN AND WAGE RATES

STATEMENT BY MR W. B. RICHARDS

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 23. “The report of the tramway Conciliation Council proceedings’ as published by the Press Association to-day gives an incorrect impression of the views of the New Zealand Tramways Employees’ Union on the issue of wage increases,” said Mr W.- B. Richards, national president of the union, this evening. Mr Richards said that remarks taken out of their context suggested that the union was happy about the present level of wages in New Zealand and was prepared to sit back and do nothing to see that the level was lifted. This was a long way from the truth. “We share with other live trade unions the conviction that wage rates in this country have got to be lifted, and lifted sharply, if the working people are to be kept above the bread line to which they are at present held,” he said. “We will fight along with our fellow-workers as we have always done in the past for the right of the people who do the work of this country to enjoy a decent standard of living. “We expect and feel confident that the Federation of Labour will carry out this policy, which has this week been Reaffirmed by its national council, representing workers throughout the country.”