THE LOCO. MEN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 211, 31 May 1919, Page 8

THE LOCO. MEN

THEIR REQUEST NOT GRANTED INVITATION TO COME UNDER ARBITRATION COURT AN APPEAL TO REASON The Clovernment has made its reply fo the request, of the loco, men of the railway service, made by a deputation from their society which waited on the Arling-l'rinie. Minister some two weeks ago. (In that occasion the men protested that they could gel: iiD distance Willi the discussion of their (inferences with I lie lnaiiageinenl in conference with dip .Minister of Hailwnys and the General Manager of Jiailways, and they appealed to the Government io appoint an outside "i-oncilialor" (for which position I hey suggested either .Judge Sim or Judge Stringer) io preside over a conference of representatives of their «oeiely and the Department. The. conciliator was merely to be chairman of the conference, charged, presumably, with tho duty of seeing that matters were fairly presented and discussed. He was not. to be. an arbitrator. The Acting-Prime Minister promised to submit the. matter Io Cabinet, and the answer ot Cabinet has been given. Following is the text of the Minister'* reply to Ihe president and the ■secretary of the Engine-drivers, Firemen, and Cleaners' Association :- "In accordance with my promise, J. referred tn Cabinet die various matters placed before, me by the deputation, which waited on. me on May 1.1. In reply I have to stale that Cabinet has carefully considered tho matter, and I. have been authorised to make the.'following reply:— "Tlin Government understands that the details of the Government scheme lnve never been thoroughly discussed in a fair and amicable, manner owing to the refusal of your association to take partin anv roiind-iahlo conference, between the Minister of Railways and the Department <and yourselves. The Government believe Unit if such a had been held many misunderstandings would have been clean..! up. Therefore, ■ the Government suggest to yoiir association that such a conference be held, in which the obieciions Io die scheme, may be fairly staled to Ihe Minister and to the General Manager. . "The Government strongly recomvnend the association Io follow the example of tins Amalgamated Society, a;id accent the scheme, and give it a fair trial, with ihe belief thntriiny injustices .that'may be found in the administration can be better remedied by round-table conferences Ihan by threats of strips.

"With respect to your request; for arbitration on the mailer: If that; means that your association desires to. come under the Industrial Conciliation an* Arbitration Act, 1 may say that the Government not only would have no objection to that course, but would brin.e in legislation to give effect to Ibis, provided that it was satisfied by ballot or otherwise Hint the majority of its employees in the Second Division were in -favour of sfich a course. "The. Government, however, could, not agree to a minority of ihr- Second Division being under'lhc Arbitration Act and tho larger portion being outside the, Act. nor could "the Government agree to any arbitrators or conciliators being appointed to act except under tho provisions of the Arbitration Act." MINISTER'S LETTER REPLIED TO '| STATEMENT BY THE SECnETATiY Oil , THE ASSOCIATION. The. following is a, statement by ihe general secretary ot the. New Zealand Locomotive, Engineers, Firemen, and Cleaners' Association (Mr. \V.. M'Arley). in reply to the Acting-rrinic Ministers letter :-

"It. would appear lo me diet the Acl-.ing-l'rinio Minister lias been misinformed us lo (ho. attitude taken up by the representatives of Ihe association. I pm , - eonnlly offered lo stnto the association's position to thr> Acting-Prime Minister before Ihe Cabinet nipf, and was under tlio impression thnt ho was going to giro me that opportunity, but ho has not done so. Tho association, has never Tjafii.«cd (o meet I lie. Minister of Railways iin<! the Department in a rounil-tlic-tablo conference to discuss tho proposals. "A copy of the reports of the interviews is available to any accredited newspaper representative, in Now Zealand, ami which will fully.bear , out this statement. Certainly tho association refused to further adv'anco any arguments in respect to their demands as they had doiio bo on so many different occasions that it looked as if they were, being made fools of. and in any case, this attitude is n<v dilVcrent from thnt taken up by other fiocielies, acr.ording to their reports, which are. also in my office for perusal by newspaper representatives. "When the Miuistcr submitted his pro . posals on April 2, the proposals wore fully discussed and o.Tolnined to the association's delegates. The men have had I In , fullest information, nml fully understand the proposals. ■ . "M. tlio intcrvjPH- with the Minister on May !), Mr. MTflly was asked if his instructions to officers of his Denartmont wer" liny different from tho explanations ina"** '<> ttie association's officers, >'*«? lie xaiJl in reply '11ml: they were on tho same lines, but final instructions dealine with the whole, matter had to re. main in mhevauee pending the decision of the association.'. "On this occasion Iho association also met: the Minister and intimated to him Hint: the men had rejected the proposals, and in his reply he said: 'I am not certain of the effect of your refusal, that is whether yon mean to open negotiations nsain,' because I can assure you that so far'as we. arc concerned we Imve Rone Absolutely as far as we possibly L T have assured the other socielv similarly, and as far as we are concerned we have put all our cards on he table, and we arc prepared to stand by our ° "The representatives of this nssoeia. lion in their statement to the AcinicPriu'ie MmisVr, stated certain detinue reason' whv thev resented the proposals, -.nilT whicir cnuli! not H H«o subject of Jinv misunderstanding on either side. The Incentive Council, vii'ch has power to act i<i the matter, will-meet as sonn as moml-'i's can assemble, when probably an official *hlement, may lie made.