THE RAILWAYS AND UNEMPLOYMENT.

Southland Times, Issue 20834, 24 July 1929, Page 3

THE RAILWAYS AND UNEMPLOYMENT.

To the Editor.

Sir, —It is a well known fact the unemployment position has assumed alarming proportions. Married men and their dependents are the greatest sufferers in that respect, because on account of their responsibilities married men cannot go any great distance from home. Again a wage which barely keeps a married man, especially if he has a family, keeps a single man in luxury, and a single man, if he is out of work in one place, can go, or work his way almost anywhere until he secures a suitable job. At election time, sir, we heard a great amount of talk from some of our Liberal and Labour members of Parliament about what they were going to do for the man with a family. Yet, I understand an officer high in the railway service recently stated the Department was not going to discriminate between married and single men in the matter of employment. Well, if this is the policy of the Liberal or United Party the quicker we have another election the better from a married workers’ point of view. It certainly seems over the odds when single men are given equal preference with married men in such unskilled work as surfacemen -or navvy jobs, porters, labourers in workshops and other unskilled jobs. I am aware of two instances where single men who are at present in steady employment as farm labourers, applied for railway surfacemen’s positions, and were notified when vacancies occurred they would, if suitable, be appointed. Roth these men are young men and have no responsibilities, and as well as receiving a good wage receive free board, lodging, etc. Y'et they are to be given an equal chance in employment with married men with families. Surely, sir, married men should receive preference. From a business as well as a humanitarian point of view many private employers give the married men first chance, because they know married men will not leave their jobs for days at a time on the least possible excuse. Permit me to state, sir, that if this present Government is sincere in its election pledges to give every assistance to married men with families the departmental heads will give them first preference in the matter of unskilled work in the railway service and elsewhere, also make careful enquiries what w'ork single men are engaged at immediately before they are employed in the unskilled branches of the railway service. In conclusion, sir, permit me to state that if married men out of work will fill in the few words on the necessary application forms for unskilled navvy or other work in the Railway Department and ascertain the position at the end of say six months or more they will probably find single men have been employed in preference to them.

So much, sir, for the great Liberal or United Government’s election pledges.—l am etc., A WORKING MAN’S WIFE.