WORKER CONTROL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26842, 5 August 1948, Page 4

WORKER CONTROL

MOVE BY/ RAILWAYMEN

VOICE IN MANAGEMENT DESIRED Industrial Correspondent WELLINGTON. Aug. 4.

Worker participa ti<in in the management of New Zealand railway undertakings is proposed by the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. Means of securing official action to give the workers representation on the management of the various workshops will be considered by the Executive Council of the society, which is meeting in Wellington this month. Railwaymen’s representatives have for some time been seeking an extension of the principle of worker-con-trol to the railways. They have asked for a “responsible partnership in the improvement of the efficiency, output and industrial relationships in this State-owned industry.”

Works councils have existed in the various workshops for some years past, but union spokesmen say that they do not grant sufficient voice for the workers in management. The works council at the Woburn workshops recently suspended activities. The executive committees of the Woburn branches of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and the Railway Tradesmen’s Association issued a statement in which they said: “This combined committee is of the opinion that the Woburn Works Council is being treated with a tolerant, rather than a co-op'erative effort on the part of the departmental officers. In view of the lack of authority vested in the works manager, and in the absence of co-operation and lack of sympathy on the part of the _ chief mechanical engineer towards claims or remits put forward for improved conditions. on behalf of the staff, we consider any further effort by union representatives on the council futile. A union spokesman said that branches now sought a greater voice in the affairs of the various shops than the works councils had afforded. They wanted the right to elect representatives from each section of the workers within the shoos to participate with departmental officers in the management. This proposal would be discussed by the Executive Council of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants.