Telegraphists Protest Against Dismissals

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 859, 31 December 1929, Page 9

Telegraphists Protest Against Dismissals

PENALTY TOO SEVERE PRIME MINISTER .APPROACHED The dismissal of six members of the telegraph operating staff at the Chief Post Office at Auckland has raised a storm of protest from their fellow workers. The dismissals were the result of the recent departmental inquiry. Nine officers were concerned in an inquiry which was held privately in the Magistrate’s Court, before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M. As a result of strong feeling among the telegraph staff, the following protest has been forwarded to the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, who also holds the portfolio of PostmasterGeneral, recently relinquished by the Hon. J. B. Donald: (1) Post and telegraph rule 69 states j (inter alia): “Nothing bordering on espionage or action likely to injure the self-respect of any employee is desired or necessary to enable responsible officers to keep in touch with the habits of the officers and other employees of their staffs.” The breach of this rule by superior officers is not conducive to harmony and efficiency of the staff throughout the Dominion. (2) There is more, than a suspicion that the present charges were instigated by a .bookmaker. This rumour is bound to suggest a hypocritical attitudo on the part of the department on the qpestion of betting and bookmakers. Plow can the department punish junior officers with . such severity when its own actions are not above suspicion? (3) It is also strongly suspected that the department’s attitude in the matter of supplying telephones to bookmakers and the receipt of betting telegrams is inconsistent With the brutal treatment of its unfortunate servants who have been adjudged guilty of breaches of regulations touching the same question. (4) It is strongly felt that the magistrate who heard the charges should have been empowered to make recommendations regarding penalties. Even a jury can recommend mercy. Apparently this experienced magistrate was not permitted to. This procedure also debarred the charged men from having the assistance of their able counsel on the question of extenuating circumstances and mitigation of penalties. It is hoped that the regulations will be amended so that such a miscarriage of justice will not again bo allowed to occur.

(5) It is a fact that the general population of New Zealand Is permeated with betting. While' this may be a deplorable state of affairs it naturally follows that the postal staff (being representative of the public) is infected with the same virus. In such an environment it is as futile for the Government to expect a non-betting staff as for a brewery to employ no one but teetotallers. This comment is made not as an answer to the present charges, but must weigh heavily in mitigation. (0) It would be equally idle to disguise the fact that the same or similar offences have been committed thousands of times throughout the Dominion. If the department wishes to scotch this practice the junior officers pledge tlierfiselves loyally to assist, but feel it ver ybitterly that the present victims should be made scapegoats. (7) All the men concerned have good records, some with war service. Three are married men; yet the extreme penalty is inflicted in almost every case. (8) Except in one case, no differentiation has been made, although some cases were quite different from others. (9) Attention should be drawn to the desperate condition of the dismissed men. The older ones particularly are specialists and quite unfitted by their life-long training for any other occupation, either commercial or manual. The Auckland staff strongly suspect that the secretary overlooked this aspect when dealing with the cases. (10) A rough calculation has been made of the monetary loss involved in the penalties. The younger men will lose, say, 30 years of their chosen and suitable employment at, say, an average of £2OO per annum plus, say, 20 years’ superannuation at £2OO per annum. This totals a loss of roughly £IO,OOO apiece. Of course, these younger men may b© lucky enough to obtain congenial alternative employment. In the case of the older men their possibility of alternative employment with so many out of work is very small indeed. Their average loss may be roughly computed as follows: Say, 10 years’ loss of employment at £2BO per annum equals £2,800, plus, say, 20 years’ superannuation at £2OO equals £4,000, a total of £6,800, less the small refund. _ (11) Finally it must be remembered that these penalties of £6,000 odd and upward have been inflicted upon poor men, men with little or no financial resources, and in some cases with families dependent upon them. (12) Their brother officers plead for a reconsideration of the penalties for after all there are many alternative punishments that would meet the cases. Both the staff and the public realise that the men have only been guilty of minor breaches of regulations, and that they could not have been more severely dealt with had they committed some criminal or dishonest act.