STOP WORK MEETING

Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22246, 15 January 1944, Page 6

STOP WORK MEETING

DRIVERS’ DISCUSSION A letter from the secretary of the : Auckland Tramways Union received ! at the stop-work meeting of the i Auckland Drivers' Union in the 1 Town Hall yesterday stated that h the writer had been instructed 1 1 t> forward the committee's unanim- j | cus reylution “pledging the union’s \ every support in order to secure a i satisfactory conclusion of the issue.” j Speaking cf the proposal that all drivers should cease work after to- < morrow, the union organiser, Mr * Muller, said that the men, like < ether unions, had it in their J power to create considerable incon- f venience because of the manpower c shortage. They did not want to 3 cause chaos, however, or open up a ] general strike until there was no hope of getting an agreement other- J wise. It could not be said that the r union had been unreasonable if it J gave 10 days for the restoration of registration. The Minister of Lab- i our, the Hon. P. C. Webb, had f jumped to the employers’ side, he said, but that was nothing new. “What is to stop the Government I, putting Army drivers on civilian i buses?” asked a man. The union secretary, Mr L. G. j • Matthews: I’ll leave it entirely to i the speaker’s intelligence. Would 1 the soldiers do it?

When a proposal was made that bus drivers who had suffered financially or would lose wages on coming Sundays be reimbursed by the union or by striking a levy, the bus drivers cried that they did not want it and the matter was dropped. Mr N. B. Spencer, president of the Auckland Omnibus Proprietors’ Association, had no comment to make yesterday afternoon, but said a meeting of the proprietors would be held early next week.