TELEGRAPH TROUBLE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 29 May 1930, Page 10

TELEGRAPH TROUBLE

THE AUCKLAND CASUALS

POINT OP CONCERN (By Telngraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") AUCKLAND, This Day. Dissatisfaction with the statement of the Prime Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, concerning the dismissal of Telegraph Department casual employees on account of illness or other involuntary causes, was expressed by Mr. A. W. Hall, M.P. for Hauraki. "Although the Prime Minister states that the circular was not issued by the head office of the Department, he does not say that a casual employee will not lose his position if he is temporarily incapacitated," Mr. Hall said, "The only definite utterance in Mr. Forbes's statement is to the effect that no restriction will bo placed on the reengagement of a man whoso absence is involuntary. This may mean that while a man's employment automatically ceases if he misses a day's work, he will bo immediately re-engaged if he shows that the cause was beyond his control. On the other hand, it probably means that ho will not be re-engaged until such time, perhaps in the distant future, when work is more plentiful. My advice to any man who loses his position owing to involuntary absence from work is to apply immediately for re-engagement, and if he fails to get satisfaction to put the matter into the hands of the member of Parliament for his electorate to deal with._ These views were- also conveyed in a letter to the Prime Minister, in which Mr. Hall further says: "I understand that recently certain casuals lost their positions because their time was broken owing to illness or other causes beyond their control. Surely if a man has several years' service to his credit, and is in every way a satisfactory employee, ho will not be dismissed merely because through no fault of his own he has to miss a day's work? The letter adds: "The men are not interested in your statement that the circular was issued through a misunderstanding, but they are concerned with the fact that a day's absence may mean loss of employment."