RAILWAY UNION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7048, 9 February 1910, Page 6

RAILWAY UNION

TTj OTXRISKIKG POSITION OF THE A.S.R.S. THE BIENNIAL CONFERENCE. dressing service grievances. On Eriday the biennial conference of tho Amalgamated Society of Railway Ser-| rants ’commenoea in ‘Wellington, and iti will probably last ia fortnight. Holegates have been elected from all parts of tho Dominion, and they trill have, placed before them statistics showing) that their society ia in an exceedingly l flourishing condition. There aro branches, with a total | membership of. 6500, while, apart from branch funds,; tho accumulations to credit of tho head- 1 quarters of tho society total .£3633, au| increase of -E790 compared with the corresponding period of tho previous year. A RESTLESS SERVICE. GRIEVANCES NOT REDRESSED. That tho conference will be faced with a nurhber of pressing questions ia indicated by tho Amalgamated .Society's journal, which refers to a long list of railwaymans grievances awaiting adjustment. “Tho coming conference," it states, “will have to consider how best it can place 'the railwaymen’s demands before tho people’s representatives. At present, the issues are liable to bo swamped by other questions which would be regarded as more pressing by an ordinary party man." In consequeuco of financial stringency last year, tho society, states tho "Railway Review,” made po demands for increased wages, but concentrated upon tho ’betterment of work-, ing conditions, and carried out a long campaign, not for new things, but merely, to wrest from tho Railway Department privileges already granted by the

people's representatives in Parliament. ‘'Ministerial encroachment upon the privilege of the Appeal Board has almost shattered that former bulwark against official injustice to individuals, and it will be for conference to suggest a modification of tho law to mako that Court in very truth a Court of Justice," continues tho '’Review." ‘‘Are tablet porters to continue to be at tho department's beck and call for twice tho duration of the ordinary working day, just because their work is intermittent? If th© Minister did his own thinking, a settlement of this grievance would be easily effected. Are surfacemen to continue workingfrom Monday morning till Saturday night, with no holiday, and no allowance for time spent examining their lengths? Thcso conditions are surely too unjust to be tolerated by the Minister of Labour. On© would imagine that th© dangerous work of shunting would only bo done by men who receive shunters’ pay, but in this topsy-turvy /railway world" of ours, porters at a lower rate do m very large percentage of th© work." After enumerating other matters calling for redress, the railwayman's journal states that for two years these questions have awaited a settlement. "But," it adds, "th© Ministerial head has been turned the other way, towards tho West Coast perhaps, where State employees with a grievance have »a bettor weapon than -th© railwayman, and are conciliated accordingly*"