SUNDAY STOCK TRAINS

Southland Times, Issue 23677, 28 November 1938, Page 7

SUNDAY STOCK TRAINS

To The Editor Sir, —In your report of the .business of the meeting of the Southland provincial executive of the Farmers’ Union in today’s issue of your paper Mr W. H. Ward is credited with making the statement that the Railway Department, through its decision to run Sunday stock trains, was playing into the hands of the staff who wanted to earn overtime rates of pay. Now, sir, while I do not intend to enter into a controversy with Mr Ward or anyone else regarding the department’s wisdom or lack of wisdom in running Sunday trains (stock or passenger) I cannot let such a grossly untrue statement go unchallenged. Mr Ward says he is opposed to the principle of Sunday trains. Of course we are not. Oh, no, all we want is to be given an opportunity to earn overtime rates of pay. It does not matter whether we, who have to work any hour day or night to meet the exigencies of the department, the primaryproducer and the general public, have Sunday at home with our wives and families so long as we get this overtime he talks about. I would like to let Mr Ward or anyone else who may be interested know that the members of my branch of the service have as much respect for the Sabbath as he or anybody else has. The department in an earnest endeavour to meet the requirements of the primary producer and the general public has for the past year or two been running trains on Sunday, but as yet the locomotive men have not been consulted in the matter, nor are we likely to be as we have no say as to what hour of the day or day of the week trains shall run. We simply have to report for duty at the time we are booked on. Our principle is forty hours’ pay a week, and if that is not sufficient then it is the rate an hour that is wrong and not the number of hours we work. Before making such an unfair statement I think Mr Ward should have first made a few inquiries from the District Traffic Manager as to why it is proposed to run Sunday stock trains. In conclusion, I would like to ask Mr Ward is he also opposed to the principle of carting stock by motor transport on Sunday.—Yours, etc., A. M. EDWARDS, President, New Zealand Locomotive Engineers’, Firemen’s and Cleaners’ Association. November 26, 1938.