RAILWAY SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 10, 11 July 1930, Page 11

RAILWAY SERVICE

BECENT DISMISSALS

MINISTER'S SUGGESTION

About forty men who have been recently dismissed from the Kailway Workshops at Lower Hutt waited upon the Minister of Kailways (tho Hon. W. A. Vciteh) today, and asked that they should cither be reinstated or found alternative employment. They also asked that the policy, of dismissals should cease at least until there had been ' a full inquiry into the position at the workshops. - In his reply tho Minister referred to the parlous state of the finances of the Department, remarking that this year there would be a loss of £1,300,000. Under tho conditions the Department could not possibly retain . all its present • employees, but he was prepared to consider, with the leaders of the railwaymen's organisations, a system of Tationing work. He undertook to withhold until Wednesday night the notices of .dismissal served this week. : • ■ The deputation was introduced by Mr. W. Nash, M.P. for Hutt, who said the men were anxious that something ghould be clone immediately. .Mr. L. .M'llvride, general- secretary of t.iic Amalgamated Society or' Kailway Servants, said it was requested that the Minister should retain the'inon in the employ of the Department until such time as the executive of the A.S.B.S. met in Wellington. The executive was meeting on Monday next, and representations would be made to the Minister later in the week.1* 9 It. was a matter of life or death with the men who had been dismissed, and. for their] wives and children. The seriousness of the position could not be exaggerated. Men were being dismissed who had been in the service for as long as twentyeight years, and there seemed to be something radically wrong when such men were being thrown on the labour market at the present time. There were niany cases.of hardship which he eould cite." For instance, men who had been •disabled in the service, ami who had Jittle chance of obtaining work elsewhere, were being dismissed. It was a- question wether the dismissals were necessary, for they had information that work was available in certajn directions and that the men could be profitably retained. He asked: tho Minister to "make inquiries into the position. Personally he was convinced that if the Minister of Finance could see his way to grtfnt additional money work could be found. It might be a fact that the present was a slack time, but in two or three months' time the business would take up again, and it might happen that there would notbe sufficient men to carry on the service. They realised that it might not be possible1 t.q retain the services of all the men at' present in the service, but in that event they asked that the men dis-! missed should be given alternative employment.. ACTION UNPRECEDENTED. Tho secretary of the Kail way Tradesmen's Association (Mr. S. Ingram) said he believed the action which was being taken at present was unprecedented in the history of the Department. The men were deeply concerned about the manner in which the economies were being carried out. He was of the opinion that, due consideration ' had not been given to the position, j .'Ho. did not think it could be said, that -the men who had been dismissed were "inefficient. -His association had never stood for inefficiency, and it was in- ' tended to submit evidence to the Rail--Vay Commission suggesting certain -directions iu which economies eould be carried out without making retrenchment necessary. There were anum-J /ber of economies which could bo carried . out in the workshops which would not only reduce expenses but would make . for- greater efficiency. It was claimed that there were 2000 surplus employees in the Railway Department, but he ven- ' tured to say that if 2000 men were dismissed; the Department would not be .able to carry on. Mr. Ingram appealed to the Minister to put a fullstop to the dismissals. A DIFFICULT POSITION. "The position I find myself in as Minister of Railways is an extremely difficult one," said the Minister in replying.. "I have only been hero a few weeks, and I have not been able to deal fully with all the economies which are absolutely necessary in view of the present financial position of the Department. .The loss this year will be £1,300,000." Referring to the reorganisation of the .workshops, the Minister said the Eoyal Commission woud inquire into that phase of tho problem and would decide whether a blunder had been made. It would be quite unfair for him to say that such a blunder had been made until he found how it was working out. The workshops had. been employing a groat many more men than it was possible for them to employ continuously. That was obvious from the figures which ho had before him. During the last financial year the amount expended on the maintenance of railway stock alone was £256,754 more than in the previous year, showing clearly that the repairs had Tjeen allowed to get badly behind during the period of transition from the j old workshops to the new. Ho was j sorry that the change had ever taken place. It seemed reasonable to assume that the arrears of repairs had now been overcome, and it was now quite impossible to keep 'all the men in full-time employment. A GREAT RELIEF. Th« Minister said ho would be quito willing to consider any practicable scheme of rationing of work throughout the service. If such a scheme could be devised it would be a great relief to him, as the most painful part of his job as Minister was to meet deputations such as" the present one. lie could see no reason why a rationing scheme could not be devised, and he would be prepared to discuss tho 'matter in conference with the leaders of the various railway organisations. Economy of any sort wfts always unpopular, but in the long run it was likely to prove of service to the Department, as it would j place its finances on a sounder basis, j There was not enough money in the Railway Working Account at present to keep the wholo staff going full time. Those woro the figures that confronted him, and it was impossible to get away from .them. Even the amount of capital money that was available to tho Government was very limited, and revenue was also limited. Financially, the position of tho Railway Department was worso than that of any other Government Department, and it was essentiaf that there should be drastic curtailments. If any more humane way could be found of meeting the situation he would be de- j lighted to adopt it and' make a success of it.

Mr. Nash: "You couldn't find a less humnno way tJian the present." The Minister said ho would bo prepared to discuss with Mr. M'Uvride and Mr. Ingram any purlieuinr cases of hardship, although it had to bo ad-

mitted that every case was a caso of I hardship. It had been claimed that there was sufficient work available in the Department to keep all the men going, and it was possible that if they anticipated necessary work tho present staff could bo kept on. However, the point was that it was financially impossible to do it. Mr. Nosh: "You could keep them going if you got the money." Mr. Vciteh: "Yes, by anticipating necessary work that might bo possible." Ho assured tho deputation that tho leaders of their organisations had done everything possible in the interests of 'the men, and if anybody was to be blamed for the position it wasnot those leaders. A suggestion had been made that the Minister of Finance should be asked to provide more money, but Mr. Forbes was in even greater difficulties than he was as Minister ot Railways. Kovenue this year was very low, probably a reflex of tho unfortunate position prevailing in Australia. Mr. Forbes was as anxious as anyone to prevent hardship, as he was a practical man, and had been up against difficulties himself. The question of providing alternative employment was not one for him. That was tho job of the Minister of public Works, wliowas shouldering tremendous responsibilities at the present time in an endeavour to keep everybody in employment. NOT INEFFICIENT. As far as possible he would like to keep all the men in the -Railway Department, and a scheme of rationing would probably bring that about better ,than anything elf)e. Ho wanted to make it plain that the men who had boon dismissed already were not inefficient. The only reason for their dismissal was that the money was not available to pay them. The Minister was pressed by members of the deputation to give an undertaking that the men at, present under dismissal would lie retained, and oventually Mr. -Veitc.h. agreed to retain them until' Wednesday night next in order to give the ' various organisations an opportunity of expressing a definite opinion on the question of rationing. Replying to Mr.' M'llvride, the Minister said that his idea, of rationj ing was that every man in the Eerj vice, from the . General Manager I .downwards, should do a week's Work without pay. In this way it might be possible". to. reabsorb all the men who had been dismissed. Before leaving, members of! the deputation expressed keen appreciation of the attitude which the Minister had taken up. :