RAILWAY EMPLOYEES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22403, 27 April 1936, Page 14

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES

STATEMENT IN COUNCIL REPLY BY ASSOCIATION [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] "WELLINGTON, Sunda.y A statement has been issued by the New Zealand Railway Tradesmen's Association regarding the debate in the Legislative Council on the Railwavs Amendment Bill. It was stated by one member of the Council that "Four or five hundred men were temporarily employed in the railway workshops just prior to Christmas, to renovate carriages. When they, were notified by the Railways Board that their services were no longer required, the Minister of Railways intervened and directed that the men were to be kept on. This wer done and the men were still employed, involving an additional expenditure of £IOO,OOO a year, which would have to be borne by the Consolidated Fund." The Railway Tradesmen's Association states in reply that the men referred to were regularly employed in the workshops for the greater part of last year and were given their notice in compliance with the Railwavs Board's policy of dispensing with th*» services of hundreds of casuals just prior to Christmas each year, thus breaking their service and preventing them from qualifying for anpual leave on pay. The practice was to re-employ these men shortly after the Christmas holiday and retain them in constant employment until the eve of the next Christmas season.

The men are now working at high pressure and are kept busy repairing rolling stock, says the statement. The shortage of waggons has become so serious that the men were kept working throughout the Easter holidays and have been working overtime continuously since then. Many waggons have been condemned as unfit, but no replacements have been made in recent years, resulting in a shortage which deprived employees in other industries of more regular work, owing to lack of transport facilities.