NO WORK TUESDAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21550, 1 November 1944, Page 4

NO WORK TUESDAY

DISABLED MEN’S FACTORY PROTEST OVER STATE (P.A.) AUCKLAND. Oct. 31. No work was being done at. the Disabled Servicemen’s Re-establishment League’s factory and training centre in Hopetoun street, Newton, to-day. The 61 employees and trainees arrived at the usual time this morning, but returned home shortly afterwards. They will return to-morrow. The decision to do no work to-day was the last and most direct action the men considered they could take tc draw attention to what they described as the shocking working conditions ihey have endured for some years, and also to register the strongest protest against the delays and neglect of the Government in providing Auckland with a suitable vocational training centre and the delay in removing the present centre to more hygienic premises. The premises were inspected by the city sanitary inspector yesterday. The of the Auckland R.S.A.. Mr A. P. Postlewaite, also inspected the premises and stated that he could only describe them as slums. The premises, he said, were actually dangerous, and one amputee had been injured owing to the stairway being m an advanced state of decay. The premises, would never pass the requirements of the Factory Act. It was to the everlasting discredit of the Government that disabled servicemen were asked to work in what could otvlv be described as a hovel. The root leaked badly, the place was draughty and damp, the sanitary conveniences were inadequate, and the only tap on the premises was outside. Representatives ot the men stress the fact that the action taken was not regarded as a strike, but as the last means open to express their discontent and disgust at the continuance of highly unsatisfactory conditions.