PLEA TO WORKERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 14

PLEA TO WORKERS

HIGHER WAGES CLAIMS REQUEST TO " GO EASY " government troubles MORE PRODUCTION NEEDED An appeal to the workers of the Dominion to co-operate m increasing production and stabilising costs to assist the Government m overcoming difficulties which it at present faced was made by the Minister of. Ra ,lw »J s ' the Hon. D. G. Sullivan at the o3rd anniversary celebration of the Otahuh branch of the Amalgamated Soc.ety of Railway Servants at last ni<rht. Workers were asked by the ister "to go easy with their claims iu the immediate future. The Minister said he thought they would agree that the past three years under the Savage Government had been more prolific of improved conditions than any other period in the history of the society. During its term of office the present Government had granted to railway employees concessions in working conditions, the total cost of which was approaching the £3,000,000 mark. Improved Conditions

Included in the improvements were the restoration of wages to the 1931 level; the 40-hour week; the adjustment of anomalies arising from the 40-hour week; the payment of night rates to workshop employees on regular night shifts; payment for emergency leave; pro rata annual leave ior employees resigning; restoration of night rates to cleaners; pro rata advanced capacity pay for annual leave; payment of skilled labourers' rates to labourers assisting lifters; wages increase for the lower-paid employees; and Easter Monday granted as a departmental holiday. This was not all, the Minister continued. Recently the tribunals which he had set up in the railway service had been considering claims from tradesmen and Amalgamated Society men for still further increases, as the result of which it was probable that the wages bill would be still further advanced. Nor would they* then reached the end of the road, for it was the objective of the Government to provide for its employees the best wages and the best conditions that the country could afford.

Attitude ot Opponents "I would, however, ask railwaymen, as well as other workers inside and outside the Public Service, to go easy with their claims in the immediate future," the Minister said. "You will have gathered from recent developments and statements by Ministers of the Crown that the Government is today experiencing some difficulties, although I have not the least doubt that they will be overcome." They weret difficulties which the enemies of the Government were hoping would result in its destruction, Mr. Sullivan added, but he had sufficient faith in the ideals and policy of his colleagues and in the loyalty of the overwhelming bulk of the workers of the country to believe that Mr. Savage and his party would win through to a great success. Stabilisation of Costs

The way. in which the workers could assist the Prime Minister and liis Government was in the way of stabilising costs and stimulating production to the best of their ability as far as it was reasonable to do until they got over the difficulties that were being experienced, the -Minister continued. If there were any in the country—the Leader of the Opposition, the Tory press or the Tory politicians—who thought the Government had its tail down and that it was quailing before the difficulties, tlK?y had another think coming. There was no more optimistic group of people in the Dominion than Mr. Savage and the Ministers that surrounded him.

The co-operation of the workers in meeting problems would consolidate the things they had already gained and would ensure incomes and stan-r dards of living for the future even better than those of the past, Mr. Sullivan excluded. The ideal of the Government, and particularly the Prime Minister, was that, so long as the present Government was in office, increased production would moan increased wages and incomes and better standards of living for all the working people.