Auckland Railwaymen Have Ceased Work As A Protest Against Wage Increases

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 December 1950, Page 6

Auckland Railwaymen Have Ceased Work As A Protest Against Wage Increases

Strike Action Taken

AUCKLAND, Last Night (P.A.).— Auckland railwaymen went on strike at one minute after midnight as a protest against the increase in wages recently granted by the Tribunal. The action was taken in spite of a request from the National Executive to delay action until after the special meeting of Cabinet to be held this morning, when the railwaymen’s claims will be discussed. The strike embraces the district between Erankton Junction in the south and Opua in the north. Trains which had left Auckland before the strike began will continue their journeys. The Erankton-Rotorua and FranktonTaneatua services are not affected nor is the service between Frank-! ton Junction and the south. *

The strike should have little effect on food supplies to Auckland consumers, at least until after the Christmas and New Year holidays. Most city stores have already received their holiday stocks and should be able to meet all the city’s normal food requirements until next month. There will be a serious disruption in the killing programmes of the city’s export meat works tomorrow and Friday morning, while the resultant loss of condition to the stock which had begun their journey to the works will cost producers some hundreds of pounds. Although every effort will be made to secure speedy deliveries of firstclass mails, second-class deliveries, such as Christmas cards and parcels, might be delayed. FREEZING INDUSTRY Many men will be idle at Auckland’s meat works tomorrow and Friday morning. As soon as the railway strike decision was announced this afternoon, fat lambs which were being loaded into trucks to be railed to the works were returned to their farms. All lambs which reached the meat works tonight were unloaded, the railwaymen marshalling the trucks before striking so that the meat works shunters should handle them, these lambs, and others which will arrive by road transport, will be killed tomorrow, but the numbers will be too few to keep the full staffs working. Further lambs will be brought in by road transport before the slaughtermen cease killing at noon on Friday for the Christmas holidays, but their dumber will be less than half the works’ normal killing capacity. effect on industry Some key industries are likely to encounter serious difficulties in the coal famine resulting from the stoppage of the trains. An officer of the Mines Department said today that little spare coal was available and he was concerned about the freezing works which were working on day-to-day supplies and the dairy factories, some of which already wanted coal urgently. The five open-cast mines in the Waikato would be working over the Christmas break, while the underground miners were on holiday, he said. However, it was unlikely that adequate transjtort to carry this coal by road could be organised before the New Year. The output of these open-cast mines would be about 1600 tons a day. The railways themselves were desperately short of coal. The King’s Wharf power station has enough coal to run until Friday when it was planned in any case to close down for the holidays. Thera was no indication of a rush by disappointed prospective rail passengers to secure seats on the Dominion’s tiir services today. The manager of the Auckland offic/ of the National Airways Corporation (Mr. D. A. Patterson) said he had not noticed afi'y abnormal demand for bookings in his company’s aircraft after the decision to strike was announced. ROAD SERVICES As far as could be ascertained tonight no long-distance railway road service buses will leave Auckland tomorrow’ morning. Most buses to the city are also unlikely to run, although it is possible there will be very reduced services from Whangarei. Thames and Waihi. The road freight runs of the Railway Road Services between the railway goods sheds and to Auckland from Thames, Wairoa and Waihi are also expected to cease. Bus drivers employed by the Railway Road Services are members of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and the mechanics belong to the Railway Tradesmen’s Association. Most of the doubts about what services will run arise from the question of which men are supporting the strike. The strike committee of Auckland combined railway organisations wil meet at. the Trades Hill at 10.30 tomorrow morning. A mass meeting ol all railway workers will be held the Town Hall in the afternoon. The union’s representatives statec tonight that telegrams from the general secretaries of the unions asking members to defer strike action unti after tomorrow morning’s Cabine meeting were not received until thii afternoon. As they could not be con sidered in the time available no repliej were sent to Wellington. No advice had been received from other branche: on their intentions. The railwaymen have given a defin ite undertaking that all livestock now on the rail will be carried to thei: destinations. The following statement was issuec tonight by the combined organisa tions: ‘The public is now fully aware o the implications of the strike actioi taken by the railway workers ii Auckland. We have attempted t< avoid this action by allowing th authorities every possible chance t< complete negotiations within the tim< limit laid down by the railway work ers in this district government treatment. “The public will realise that th Government has treated this matte so lightly as to allow members of th Cabinet to proceed home. It is appai ent that they considered the matte of no importance, or that it wa thought the men in Auckland woul weaken and allow the matter to drop. The statement concluded: “Thi strikg affects the following organisa

tions in the Auckland area: The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. lhe Engine-drivers’ Firemen’: and Cleaners’ Association and the Railway Tradesmen’s Association. These three organisations are acting to o enrahinori frnnt_’*