NEGOTIATING WITH MEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17460, 3 May 1920, Page 6

NEGOTIATING WITH MEN

REVIEW EIY MR. MASSEY. - ENGINEDRIVERS' DEMAND. ,' -, (; 2_ ' v< " - ■ ..'■:' : " i T'\>. ' --■*.;x ~'. '■REASONS FOR REFUSAL. f [BY TELBJaAPH.—PMSS ASSOCIATION:] j> I- '= i • WELLINGTON, Saturday. . - Prior to the settlement of tho strike the, Prime Minister endeavoured v . this morning'to get into, communication with the' secretary of tho,Enginedrivers, Firemen and Cleaners' Association to inform him of his proposed course of action, but neither by telephone nor messenger could .; he succeed:' After less than half an hour for lunik the Prime Minister returned to his: office, and shortly afterwards issued the following statement: • " I think it is generally understood that ( I had no difficulty whatever with either , the-Railway Officers' Institute or the, ' Amalgamated Society of Railway Ser- , vants., Both were willing that the mat- , tew in dispute should be dealt with under tha provisions of the Labour Disputes In- : litigation Act; 1913, with any necessary ; modifications that might be required. The , position was, however, very different , with those who claim to represent the , locomotive men. They, also, were in ; favour of a conciliation commission or committee, but their ideas of details were, according to my experience, unworkable. After discussion they,, however, agreed to a form of tribunal which I could accept, but. one point about which we amid not agree *as their proposal to make the operation.! resulting from any recommendation of the tribunal, retrospective. I met the locomotive men first on April 29, but on April 30 tits executive, of the■ ' EngUfidrivers, Firemen and 1 Cleaners' AsK«-yition made a new demand, < which had not been mentioned by them j at the interview on the previous evening, ( namely, that whatever increases in wages , or conditions were recommended by toe j conciliation committee must be retrospec- j five from April 1, 1919. «*■'■.'*?, ■ 1 U* Essential Matter, for Agreement. : "I pointed out that the date for the i commencement of the new rates and con- < diiioiß.waa one of tho essential matters ( to be considered by. auy tribunal which J might be established. I said the Govern- [ inept would not think of itself naming as \ a condition to an agreement a, certain * time from which the increases should com- , meiice/and could not consent to that con- j dition of agreement being imposed by the executive of the .;Enginedriverß, Firemen j Aid Cleaners' Association. But lat once ofered to leave to the*; conciliation com- ! mittee, - without limitation, power to recommend the date from which' increases . . in! wages and improvement in conditions , should retrorwctively commence. I j emphasised th*t the - conciliation committee would ,f b*'representative of both J parties and that the Enginedrivers, Fire- j men and "Cleaner?' Association would have { the fullest opportunity of contending that April 1,1919, was the date which should : be recommended, and that if their con- * tention was fair and just in that respect j there'was no doubt it would bo con-' sidered as such and recommended by the , tribunal : I said I could not agree on behalf of the Govermrient to withdraw from any tribunal which might be establisted the power to consider and deter- , mine the date from which any increases 1 recommended by it should' commence i Unfair to the Other Men. !

', "The other two branches of the railway service were quite satisfied to leave this matter to the tribunal to make a ; recommendation, but the representatives of the snginedrivers were obdurate, and insisted on retrospective action from the date mentioned, thus taking a decision with regard to this important point out of the hands of the commission or tribunal to be appointed, To this I oould not agree, as being wrong in principle and unfair to the other men who had waived this point. To get over this difficulty I proposed to accept the following : The Conciliation Com-; mission, in reporting the result of its deliberations, to ***° report at what data in its opinion any iacrease in wages and any conditions chould wirospectively commence.' think any intelligent, unbiased man will agree that was a fair proposal try make, but the men who profess to speak for the engiiiedrivers refused to consider it in any way whatever. At this stage the deliberations came to an end, and it became my doty to ask the people of the 'country to support the Government in getting the railways to work. I have always been of opinion, both as Minister and private member, that people in the employ of the,- State should have fair play and justice done them, and I think so still. But we cannot allow any small section to stick up the whofe business of the Dominion,

Earaic{;s and Overtime. "The railway system is a complicated one, and difficult for outsiders to understand, but I have before me at the moment an official statement from the assistant manager of railways with regard to the average weekly earnings of enguiedrivers in the North Island for the first three months of this year, and it shows that first-grade enginedriverf, of whom there are 110, who worked fill time earned on a weekly average £6 (Is 9d, and secondgrade enginedrivers, numbering 120, work ing full time, earned £5 18s lid. It may be said that this includes overtime, It certainly does, but then overtime in the case of an enginedriver means any work after tea o'clock at night, even when he has done no work at all previous to that. That is to say that y«rv often, and especially in the case of the Slain Trunk enginedrivers, the whole time they are at work is paid for as overtime. I "might sav I hare no fault to find with the men of the Railway Officers' Institute or the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, but I must express the opinion that the locomotive men have been very badly advised in forcing a strike upon the country and afterwards, when a settlement was b;ing considered, taking up an utterly unreason able attitude on a vitally important question of principle. I am afraid there is .some influence at work which has not yet appeared upon the surface."