VICTIMISATION CHARGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 14

VICTIMISATION CHARGE

DISMISSALS AT ARAPUNI. ALLIANCE OF LABOUR VIEW. ENGINEERS' WORKING WEEK. An allegation that' nine out of twelve members of the union executive in office j at the time of the recent Arapuni strike had been victimised in the past fortnight . was discussed at a meeting of the Auck- ! land District Council of tho Alliance of j Labour on Thursday evening. No report of the proceedings was 1 issued, but Mr. J. Purtell, president of the council, stated yesterday the question had not been finally dealt with. His own view, based" on inquiries that had been j made, was that the nine men had undoubtedly been dismissed on account of the part they had taken in the strike, although, when the settlement was reached, the Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth Company had given a definite undertaking that there would be no victimisation. The first man dismissed had been the president of the union, Mr. J. Kelly, who had since left for Queensland. He failed to see how the company could justify the dismissals on the ground that the men's work was unsatisfactory, seeing that some of them had been employed at Arapuni for two or three years. It is understood the company upholds its denial that there has been victimisation. There is a continual flow of men to and from Arapuni, and even in normal times the less efficient workers are liable to be replaced with others capable of better service. This tendency is believed to have become more marked since the contractors began to meet with the engineering difficulties which will prevent them from completing the work until many months after the due dateSince the Arbitration Court ratified the industrial agreement covering wages and working conditions of all tradesmen and labourers engaged at Arapuni, and de clined to provide separately for the engineers and other craftsmen, there has been a certain amount of dissatisfaction among the skilled workers affected, lhe company has now approached the Ainal gamated Engineering Union with a request that a conference should be held at Arapuni upon the clauses in the present agreement which the union desires to have altered. One of these makes the working week one of 47 hours for all workers on the contract, whereas trio engineers' awards provide for a 44-hours week.