TRAMWAY DISPUTE

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 138, 9 December 1919, Page 8

TRAMWAY DISPUTE

ATTITUDE OF WELLINGTON MEN

The deadlock which has -arisen in connection with the demands for a national agreement, made by the New Zealand Tramway Employees' Federation, has ■been fully considered by the unions in the different centres. In Wellington the opinion is expressed freely in some quarters, that the councils and private companies constituting the employers, showed little desire to bring about a satisfactory settlement. The fact that the conference did not discuss general conditions, but merely the question of wages, is emphasised, and in this connection the members of the local union point to the excessive hours of overtime which, they allege, they are' called upon to work. There seems to be no desire that the dispute should go to the Arbitration Court, and that attitude, it is stated, is likely to receive general support from all the tramway men in the Dominion. They have expressed a strong dislike for the Court. Other means of securing a settlement will, therefore, have to bo adopted. As an initial move, so it is stated, the Wellington men have decided that, after a given date—possibly some time next week—they will decline to work any overtime. It is quite likely that similar tactics will be followed in other centres. Some interesting developments may be expected. .