PUBLIC SYMPATHY SEEMS TO BE AGAINST RAILWAYMEN’S STRIKE

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 December 1950, Page 4

PUBLIC SYMPATHY SEEMS TO BE AGAINST RAILWAYMEN’S STRIKE

From what could be ascertained yesterday, there is very little public sympathy for the railwaymen in their present intention to strike. One man approached was Mr W. H. Bates, who has just returned from Australia. He said that if the railwaymen of New Zealand could see the misery caused in Austral a, the hardships, through railway strikes, they would hesitate before taking the step they apparently intend to take in the Dominion tonight. He said that a railway strike struck very much at the low-paid workers, those who had no motor transport of their ownpeople who had been looking forward to a holiday and had to rely entirely on the rail. A railwayman spoken to was very emphatic about the matter. He saici that railwaymen generally would rue I lie day they plunged lhe country into disorganisation, at a time when the court had not given a pronouncement on wages and was hearing the case for workers under general awards. Mr Bates said that it was a common thing in Australia to see people with specially printed placards which they held up to attract motorists’ attention. “The same thing could happen here.” he said. “People lining the roads with placards: ‘We want to go to Wellington,’ or wherever it might be. In the long run the railway workers and their wives will pay ioi the strike!” What a woman said about lhe railwaymen was unprintable. I