CORRESPONDENCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 29 May 1919, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE LOCOMOTIVE MEN

! (To the Editor.) Sir,—l make no apology in asking ' for s Pac« to reply to your leader of attitude ot, the locomotive men, for 1 £S™. tha _-you' Hke the rest of tte general public, nave condemned them oeiore knowing the. actual facts. The Minister tor Railways has made a very •nasty-tasting piil, liberally coated with s^gar; bat tue sugar was handed to tlie press to be distributed among the public, and the pill was given to the loco men. Oi course the difference is that the press and public are hoodwinked by the sweet taste of the coat- !!!% aili the loco. men are writhing under the action of the piil. x No one but a loco, man can understand tne loco, man's calling, and no one but . they can see through the trickery of the new conditions, which the public think should satisfy anybody and everybody In your article you say tnat tne Government has undertaken ,to give the men increased pay and i conditions. The Government may ' nave shown an earnest desire to improve the conditions of the men " ,but, like the two girls did with their pretty mouths when they yawned tney spoiled them. The press announced that the war bonus was to be . added to the wages of the men, and j that a number of first grade men ■ would receive 17s a day. (A little of the sugar, sir.) The actual numuer ia 12i per cent of the drivers, about 75 altogether. These men will be selected according to merit efficiency, qualification, and suitability, and will be placed on such trains as the Departj ment may determine. This means that the men will be selected according to j seniority, and the men will be near the I end of their career. They will be obliged to transfer to some other centre, after having made a home for theniI selves, and after probably establishing their children in some employment in the town. This will all have to be broken up for an extra 6d a day for the last few days of a man's service. I have no hesitation in saying that tne extra 6d would be forfeited by 99 per ; cent of the drivers concerned. If a driver should prove unsuitable for main line work the Department reserve the right to reduce him to , shunting engine work and pay 15s a day. This means that when a man has ruined his health through the conditions under which he has worked for over 30 or 35 years, gets crippled ■ with rheumatics througn exposure to j weather, or has lost his nerve through ] causes which would fill a book, tho j Department will put him on lighter work and pay him 2s 6d a day less, lt must here be also stated that a driver has very little chance of getting into the first grade under about 25 years' service, and even then the Department are not bound to keep 50 per cent in the first grade. Many years ago the Act stated definitely "50 per cent of total number of drivers (or firemen) SHALL be in grade 1," but when the new schedule of wages was brought down the Department printed "50 per cent of total number . . . MAY be in grade 1." All the efforts of the union have not been able to get the original wording restored, although the Department made a piecrust verbal promise to keep the grades filled as far as practicable. Now what does this mean? Simply that in times of stress the Department would not promote a single ma_ (or a married one, either) to the first grade until they felt inclined to do so-, and men who were at the top of the second grade, expecting to be promoted to grade 1 at 16s, and 16s 6d the following year, would still be coaxing the old hot-water carts along at 15s. The same applies to the fireman, You mention that Act after Act has been passed to make conciliation and arbitration workable as between employer and employee, and ask if the loco, men would loyally accept a decision of the Court. I am perfectly satisfied that they would. Nearly two years ago the loco, men decided by ballot, by 83 per cent, to gome under the Conciliation and Arbitration Court. Eighteen months ago a petition was presented to Parliament, asking that the Act be amended so as to allow the loco, men to come under the Act. lhe Railway Department opposed it tooth and nail, but the Railway Committee in the House reported "that the petition be referred to the Government for consideration." It was considered by Cabinet, but the Loco. Union was denied the request. Why? They knew that the Court would improve wages and conditions. The loco, men do not wish to cause damage to the trade and industry of the country or inconvenience the public. This is proved by the fact that they have used every other means available for the last five or six years to obtain improvements in certain conditions; but they are so heartily sick of the "I regrets" of the Minister that they have lost patience, and although, personally, I do not favor strikes, I cannot blame them j now. Do you realise that in 100 l senior engine-drivers were getting 13s a day, and that a laborer got 6s Ou.-' The wages of drivers were reduced in 1890 to 12s a day, and they have received three 6d increases between tnat date and March 31, 1919. Compare that with the increase in a laborer s wages during the same period. Compare it with the wages of any outside labor—carpenters, joiners, painters, bricklayers, etc. Think for a moment of the' increased responsibilities and the increased earning capacities of the modern locomotive. The modern locomotive, driven by a 13s 6d a day man, will haul 200 and 300 per cent more than the ancient type would with a 13s a day man. The above-mentioned tradesmen enjoy regular hours, whereas the loco, man is the absolute property of the Department, according to , their ideas. He must not work tor wages outside the service m his spare < time; must not write stories for magazines, etc., or teach music to help increase his daily earnings. He must not run any business; m fact, tne Department says he must devote his time exclusively "to the railway service Even when he is off duty he must get the permission of his superior (r1) othcer before he can go away from his home station. He works at all hours, and can bo called out at any old hour. He cannot enjoy the same holidays as the outside worker, for when there are public holidays he has to run trains, and when he gets his annual holiday it is in the dead of winter. Then, it there are excursions on, he is not allowed to travel on mail trains The eight-hour day is another bit of the sugar coating too, sir. The Departmen has agreed to pay overtime rates after eight hours' work, but they j make the provision that "standing time" shall not be taken into consideration when computing overtime. "Standing time" counts from such j time that the engine is put into the | loco, yard until it is brought out again," regardless of the fact that the fires smoke box, and ash pans have to be cleaned, coal, sand, water and' stores have to be taken on board for j the return trip. The engine must be , examined and oiled, and any spare time is usually occupied in doing some of the thousand and one little jobs which never grow less on a locomotive. ( The old method was to pay overtime i rates on ;ti_e worked in excess of 48 |

, hours for the week. For example, if a driver runs a train to Wanganui, taking four hours to do it, waits for three hours to return (standing time), and then takes four hours to return, he { would work 11 hours. Take six such days' work. Here are the old and present methods of computing the time< Old method—Six days at 11 hours, 66 hours; rate and one-quarter' on 18 hours' overtime, 4£ hours; total,. 70-i hours. New method—Six days of eight hours' "running time," 48 hours; six days of three hours' "standing time" (ordinary rates), 18 hours;. total, 66 hours. So you will see, sir,, that the new method of giving an eight-hour day is doing the men outot tour and a half hours' payment aweek. The Department is making a. meal allowance of Is to men absent trom headquarters for over 11 hours. As a man is booked on an hour before his train leaves (for preparing his engine and shunting), and works about an hour after return (to shunt and"^engine away), he is really on ?h y «.il3J\? urs. ¥ fore he is entitled to the bob. A big grievance with th_ men, also, is the Minister's veto in appeal cases. When a board, consisting or a representative for the appellant, another for the Department and a magistrate as chairman, hear all the evidence m an appeal case and give then- verdict why should the Minister ol Kailways be allowed to exercise hie veto and disallow the Appeal Board's finding? Only a few days ago the Press published the information that the Minister had exercised his veto and oecided against appellant, although the unanimoa_ decision of the goard was in the appellant's favor. srtiu another grievance is that insufficient time is allowed for preparing and putting away engines. From personal experience I assure you that on_£- lOCOi man gives iM Department anything from 15 to 30 minutes' eerI^gr^1S l aily for this Particular work. On the completion of a day's SS * <Wr must render his timesheet for the day's work, setting out all particulars, such as section, depot, date, number and class of engine driver and fireman's name, time or startmg and finishing work, time of departure from home station and arrival at terminal station, and vice versa; the actual running and shunting mileage under various headings, the total and actual running, standi ing, shunting, preparing and putting; away time the amount of coal taken at various depots, the amount of each kind of oil and stores used, and the condition of engine to be stated. (IF the wheels will revolve it is in working order.) Reports must be rendered m connection with certain incidents of nf «_? runnmg, and probably somesilly "blister" has to be answered, such as "You used for period ending March 30, 1919, 3.72 pints of castor oil per 100 miles. As this is .22 in. excess of schedule, your explanation is. required." The loads of all engine*.have been considerably increased of lat e 7^ ars ' the engines are mostly in a bad state of repair, and the coal hasbeen very much below standard for some considerable time. The late arrival of trains due* to these causes i_ responsible for a lot of writing, and all this clerical work is thrown intothe Department as discount. The efforts or the union have not in getting an average allowance of even 10 minutes for this work. . Another item causing a lot of discontent is the number of transfers. Men who> have. made a home in a town have often been shifted away when it was. absolutely unnecessary, and cases havebeen brought before the management time and again without any improvement being shown. The irregularhours of meals, the exposure to weather, the heat and vibration of the engine, the change experienced when going from the hot cab into the cold. outside, and the dust and dirt swallowed along the track all help to undermine the strongest constitution. The strain of the'day's work ; getting, heavy trains along the road with faulty ' engines, bad coal, and very often an inexperienced fireman, the dangers always in front of one, the anxiety of taking trains along bad roads in bad. weather on pitch dark nights, the accidents that fall to the lot of nearly all loco, men, the narrow "squeaks" at-crossings (especialy with motor cars) all help to break the nerves of the sturdiest man.' Cast your memoryback over the chapter of accidents, which occurred on the Main Trunk during the past few years. Take even the experiences of' several Hawera. men. One went over a bridge into a river with his engine; one had his face scalded with boiling oil escaping, from a lubricator; one had an artery in the neSk severed by a bursting; gauge glass; one had a leg crushed between two buffers; another was in hospital for months owing to scalds received through a boiler plug blowing out. Every depot has men with similar experiences. It has always been conceded that the man who faces danger or has a responsible position should receive* more than the average wage. I was seventeen years in the service, and was then rated at 12s a day, and, as far as I could see,, I might have been from five to seven years getting into the first grade at 13§ 64, at the present annual rate of promotion. That is what I really do call Government stroke! . The fact that there have been about 1000 resignations, from a branch of the service which employs about 1800 men will show that the service is rotten, and that, there is real good cause for the pr^. sent attitude of the men. Don't be" mistaken. The men have voted' but the union officials are delaying its operation in the hope that the Department will accede to their requests. If it was not for the great public inconvenience caused the engines would have been rusting long ago.—l am, etc., H. _. CHADWICK. Hawera, May 24, 1919. [In an article, published on March 3, we placed several of the points contained in our correspondent's letter before the public. We are hopeful that' the men will receive fair treatment, but the method of gaining improvements which we are willing to support must be along constitutional lines, and not one which would seriously disorganise the country, and which the men themselves must know would weaken their position in the eyes of the public.—Ed.]