RAILWAY WORKERS

Southland Times, Issue 21580, 18 December 1931, Page 7

RAILWAY WORKERS

PROTEST AGAINST DISMISSALS.

STATEMENT BY MANAGER.

(Per United Press Association.)

Wellington, December 17.

The protest by the Hutt branches of the Railway Tradesmen’s Association and the Wellington branch of the A.S.R.S. against the dismissal of a number of men from the Hutt workshops was referred to the General Manager, Mr Roussell.

“So far we have not reduced any of the permanent men from the workshops," he said. "The Railways Board is making evefy effort to comply with the spirit of the Government’s appeal to minimize dismissals, and is keeping the staff up to the fullest possible rank, consistent with the amount of money available to provide work for them. The amount available for construction purposes is naturally small. There are fluctuations of work in any big workshop, and it is necessary to engage casual men from time to time to cope with the peak periods. Once the jobs for which they have been engaged have been completed they cannot be profitably employed, and there is no option but to dismiss them until there is an opportunity to re-engage them.”