UNION DEMANDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 February 1947, Page 2

UNION DEMANDS

DUNEDIN TRAMWAYMEN DISSATISFIED - CONSIDE.RING_NEXT STEP (P.A.) DUNEDIN ,Feb. 5. The first meeting in peaceful negotiations between the Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Tramways Union and the City Council has yielded absolutely nothing by way of increased wages or improved conditions, said the president of the union (Mr. W. B. Richards) in a statement last night, following a meeting on Tuesday night between representatives of the union and a sub-committee of the transport committee. “This we felt would be the first concern of the civic authorities in view of the fact that resignations in the tramways service are reaching an all time record,” he said. “From arguments advanced by the transport committee’s representatives it seems that the wages and conditions of tramway men are to be harnessed to the profit and loss account of a decaying transport system.” The union executive will meet on Saturday night to consider the next steps to be taken. Cr. McCrae, who presided at the meeting on Tuesday, outlined the financial position of the transport department and said that the granting of the union’s demands would mean an increase in the city’s general rate of at least 6d in the £. The committee offered the union three choices — (1) that the present award be continued for a further year, (2) that the matter be left to the Arbitration Court to decide, (3) that the union wait for the completion of the Dominion award which was in the course of preparation.