LESS WORK OFFERING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20640, 12 August 1930, Page 8

LESS WORK OFFERING.

RAILWAY RETRENCHMENT. STAFFS AT GOODS SHEDS. SHORT TIME INTRODUCED. THE "PERMANENT CASUALS." All the casual hands, 73 in number, employed in the Auckland inward and outward railway goods sheds received notice yesterday that they would no longer be treated as "permanent casuals," with a guarantee of 48 hours' work weekly, but would be placed on the list of " emergency casuals " and called upon when required. The men receive a wage of Is lOd an hour, and the guarantee has assured them a wage of £4 8s a week. The effect of yesterday's notice will be to institute a system of short time, under which, presumably, all will be treated alike. The alternative would have been to discharge, say, 20 of the men. Goods traffic lately has been slack, as it usually is at this time of year. Consequently the staffs of some country stations have been reduced and a certain number of permanent porters transferred to the Auckland goods sheds. It has thus became necessary to cut down the slied staffs, and the department has chosen the short-time method of doing so. Some of the m<n affected have been " permanent casuals " for many years. There :is a good prospect that when spring arrives and the dairying season gets into full swing the position will very largely right itself, and there will be enough work to yield the men, nearly, if not quite, the former guaranteed wage.