PAY INCREASE

Grey River Argus, 30 November 1943, Page 2

PAY INCREASE

THREE FARTHINGS AN HOUR. RAILWAY TRADESMEN’S DEMAND. P.A. AUCKLAND, Nov. 29. A long-standing grievance among a section of railway workers came to a head to-day when a special meeting of the Otahuhu branch of the Railway Tradesmen’s Association, -at which there was a record attendance, carried a resolution condemning the action of the Department in frustrating promises made by- the Government, and unduly delaying rectification of the penny threefarthing anomaly; and calling on the National Executive to seek an immediate satisfactory settlement of this issue, failing which a national ballot should be taken on strike action. Explaining the position, the Otahuhu Branch Secretary, Mr. R. W. Martin, said this trouble dated back to 1934, when there was the anomaly of the tradesmen’s section working on the 44-hour week and the traffic section on the 48-houi\ week. The latter were reduced to the 40hour week. The tradesmen continued as before. One penny three farthings was the amount that the men held thev were being short-paid. The Department had made up about one penny of the disputed amount, but still left the workers three farthings an hour short of what they claimed their pav should be. Included in the tradesmen’s section are fitters, turners, carpenters, painters, blacksmiths, boilermakers, copper and tinsmiths, bricklayers and rivetters.