TAXICAB WAR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17146, 31 December 1929, Page 7

TAXICAB WAR

OVERWORKED DRIVERS "MENACE TO THE PUBLIC" (Special to the Herald.) OHRISTCHUROH, this day. Contending that the contract arrangement under which two city firms are now working represents a menace to the public, besides being a breach of the principles of the Arbitration Act, representatives of Christchurch trade unions have written to tho Minister of Labor, tho Hon. W. A. Veitch, urging that the Government bring down legislation to give the Arbitration Court power to deal with such cases. The decision to take this action was reached at a largely-attended meeting ol representatives of trade unions held in tho Trades Hall. A su>L-committee was appointed to draft a letter. A portion of the letter reads as follows: "There is a good deal of price-cutting going on in the industry, and the drivers working with these firms, in order to scratch out a few shillings over and abovo what is required to pay for the lease of their cans, are working from 16 to 20 hours a day. It is maintained that this is a practice that is a distinct menace to the public who have to travel in the cabs, and also to pedestrians and other users of the streets, as a man cannot work these long hours and be in a proper state to exercise tho care and attention that is required in handling vehicles carrying passengers through busy streets. STou will readily understand that the hours provided in the award are 'sufficiently long to test the endurance of any normally strong man, and the rates of pay are only sufficient to provide a man with a family with the bare necessaries of life.

"The intention of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act when it was framed was to do away with sweating, and to ensure workers in any industry a reasonable standard of living, and had tho framers of the Act contemplated that such a position would arise we feel certain something would have been inserted to prevent it. The intention of these firms is undoubtedly to evade the terms of the award, and this must be apparent to any unbiased person, and we feel certain that your department will not be a party to anything that will tend to endorse or encourage such actions. We think immediate action should :be taken by, the Government to bring down legislation to give the Court of Arbitration power to deal with cases such as have been mentioned in this letter, which are purely devices to defeat awards of the court.."

"I don't think for a minute that any sane Government would tolerate this sort of thing," Mr. Parlane, secretary of the Canterbury Drivers' Union, remarked to a reporter to-day.