A LABOR CASE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 27 August 1919, Page 7

A LABOR CASE

WELLINGTON, Aug. 27. In the Supreme Court)- before Mr Justice Edwards, to-day, Martin Joseph Lee, railway guard, took action «gainst the Amalgamated ; Society of Railway Servants for removing him from his position on the executive council of the society^ Mr O'Regan, in opening the case, stated Lee was elected a member of the executive, and in consequence of a letter he (addressed to the Palmerston North branch o^ the society he was removed from the executive. He had been elected by a large majority of his fellow members, and whs removed by a Bmaller and less representative body. Lee would come up again for re-election and probably be re-elected, and if the executive persisted in its action, the men he represented would be disfran-: chised. The letter which,^rag the sub--3t of the^ trouble alleged insinuations tinst chief executive officers of the Rjai. The real question was whether ihe terms of the letter constituted misconduct within the meaning of rule 11, «ntitling members of-the executive to expel Lee from his position.

Mr Myers, for the society, said the answer was that the letter sent by Lee tended to prejudice negotiations then proceeding between the executive counial, on behalf of all the members of the ('railway service, and the Railway 'Department, and that the society's executire was justified in the course it took. The case is proceeding.