RAILWAY FERMENT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1097, 8 April 1911, Page 10

RAILWAY FERMENT.

>31 rj—I crave a little space in your valuable paper m order to reply to ''Iconoclast's'' letter, which appeared in your issue of the 31st. ultimo. I was amused at lus perturbation oil reading the scare headlines re railway troubles; also at his anxiety to uphold the Department's and the Minister's attitude towards the members of the service, and his tirade against the press in general. ■ tio has soiely Ijchbnum! two grievances, which he infers is all you liave been able to ralte up, and to say the least they are two sorry items to warraat such a long-drawn-out letter. Before giving him some more pressing grievances to reply to, I wisli to briefly refer to the two items in his letter: (1) The Department's refusal to supply goodshed men with uniforms; (2), tho taking away of .stores passes to members living in isolated places. In regard to No. 1, I propose to give you the men's side of the question. All men employed in goods work, either in goodsheds or shunting-yard, aro classed as goods stalf, under the control of a goods agent (1 refer to the largo centres). Only r'Jio appointed shunters arid storemen in the sheds or wharves are supplied' with uniforms. Why is this? Are they not, according to "Iconoclast," out- ot sig'.t from the general public. Vet go into any large yard, and you will find the majority of the men engaged in .shunting duties, in private clothes, simply because they aro rated as goods sheet menf Yet they aro only occasionally employed in the shed. Our railway system lias not yet developed to tho stage that other countries lias done. When tho administrative officers have deemed it expedient to 'specialise the w.ork..as regards staff, that is why the New Zealand railway man has bqen spoken so highly of. because he has had experience at ail classes-of work.- Yet, sir, picture the absurdity of the position. When a member of tile goods staff is sent away on relief'duty, having no uniform. Cases such as this have como under notice, and the member has been asked by an officer (whose duty it' is to see that members wear their uniforms) why they are not wearing it. Reply: "I liavo not got one. I am a member of the goods staff at If they are out on relief duty long enough, they become entitled to one, and probably go back to, their homo station resplendent in a now uniform, to be the envy of their less fortunate mates. My concluding argument on this question ought to be 'satisfactory. It' is this: Enginemen liavo. refused to accept signals from inch in mufti in shiinting yards, owing to their inability to discriminate betweon. them and trespassers. Now, in regard to No. 2. This matter was discussed in tho House last session. Tho Ministerial reply being that tho passes were discontinued without his authority and ho would see that they would bo restored. Did he do it? Certainly not. His reply to the executive of tho men's union was to tho effect "that tho*members affected were infinitely bettor off than settlers in the backblocks." I ask you, sir, what takes the settlor into the back-blocks? Is lie inot •going;.tliere of his-;own free will to pndoavour_tQ_niako a ..home, for himself and family Does a -railway , man go of his bwn free will; to theso isolated places? No. 13ufc at tho command of his employer to suit tho conve'nienco of the Department, and I can assure you these isolated places aro as a rule no laiid of sweet dreams. "Iconoclast" says: "Were not privilego tickets substituted for the free passes?" 1 say no. Privilege tickets' wcro given to every member of tho service and are still given irrespective of locality, therefore those living in isolated places liavo a genuine grievance in tliat they aro now on a ievel with their more fortunate mates who have no 'lieed to travel by train to tho nearest store for tho necessaries of life, and consequently live at a less cost. It looks indeed as if the Department aro taking advantage of their position to force them to contribute something towards Mr. Millar's annual surplus. The statement that theso passes have been abused I will ignore, as that is a pet argument, and coming -«s it has in the past from tho licad'of the Department, says very little for their administration. Can they mention any specific cases where tho privilege lias been abused if they can. I daresay the member concerned did not go unpunished, yet they are now punishing' all and sundry. I now propose to give you sonic additional grievances of far more importance than tho above, and which wo intend to push for. (1) A universal forty-eight-hour week. Many members aro at present working over a period from twelve to fourteen hours per day and receive two days off every three months. A man working twolvo hours per day would, in tlireo months, work 864 hours, or 288 hours in oxcess of a forty-eight-hour week basis. For this lie receives 24 hours, and as this chiefly affects tablet porters, they have to bo on duty oil tho . morning of the day that they are relieved until the relief man arrives. Again, ho.lias to bo on duty on tho after-noon-or: evening of the second day, in order' to permit of tho relief man returning home by tho last available train. I know* of cases where men have applied for relief, but arc continually informed that their work is not arduous, and regret no other arrangements can bo made. There are stations in this district where tablet porters aro at present working 13 hours per day, and get only olio day off every tlireo months. Then again, porters at country stations aro working intermittently fourteen hours per day, and I can assure you they liavo no sparo time when they are at work. Imagine a man starting at 7 a.m., booked off two hours for dinner, ono hour for tea, and in many cases have to como back for half an hour to attend to one train. Wo realiso that to a certain extent this cannot be avoided, but tho granting of a forty-cight-hour week would bo a godsend to a well-de-serving and hard-workiug body of men. (2.) The present system of punishment.—One need only_ peruse tho monthly issue of the punishment list to gain an idea of the vast amount of tho members' hard-earned wages' that are, through an- iniquitous system, being withheld, and in addition tho punishmont is recorded for all timo on the Departmental file. You know, sir, every member in tho railway servico has a record file, on which everything in tho nature of punishment is recorded. Wo ought to feel flattered, but we are not. AVliat feeling does this system of punishment engender in tho minds of tho members concerned? I will leave my readers to guess. And yet tho Department goes blindly on. Would not a system whereby a member can bo given an opportunity of removing, by his subsequent good conduct, any black marks recorded against him be more humane? Wo liavo a Punishment Board, but tho average railwayman thinks it is a myth. We have heard a good deal of the Minister's right of veto in regard to Appeal Hoard decisions, but a lot could be said of tho General Manager's power of veto of the Punishment Board's recommendations. This brings mo to another grievance— the right of veto as exercised by the present Minister in regard to decisions of our Appeal Boards. - He has repeatedly assorted that ho is not going to hand over the. administration of tho railways to two irresponsible members and a chairman. Can he mention one decision of cither hoard which lie has vetoed that can by the utmost stretch of imagination bo interpreted to having attempted to interfere with the administration? I am open to wager that the "irresponsible" members whom he refers to in such derogatory'terms'would,' 'if given an opportunity, make a much

better job of the administration than lie is doing at present. They would at any late niako an honest effort to allay tho existing dissatisfaction. I will not here trespass further on your valuable space, but perhaps at some future time I will again approach you with a few more of our existing grievances, especially if "Iconoclast" again enters tho arena. It is a good sign to see a Departmental champion awaking to tho dire necessity of making a public protest, which is sure evidence that onr arguments, are hitting home, and it also creates a lively interest in a controversy which is not all one-sided.—l am, -etc., • SEARCHLIGHT.