WORK IN RAILWAY SHEDS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1933, Page 12

WORK IN RAILWAY SHEDS

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Mr. Sterling stales that the Railway Board's net revenue for the period ending July 22 was £15,637, and that the decrease in expenditure was £3784. I would like to ask Mr. Sterling is he aware of the large number of men who are employed part-time at the goods department at low wages? Many.-of these men are married with families and have been in the service for about ten years— a proof that their work is proficient, otherwise they would have been dispensed with. The men are now employed for three and four hours per day, making a total of 16 to 20 hours per week, which places them.in a worse position than a relief worker. The work is there, but the methods the Department adopts takes it out of the men's hands. For instance, when we carriers go to the sheds for goods there are not enough staff on hand to attend to us, and to save time we are compelled to help ourselves. —I am, etc., CARRIER. The position as set out by the correspondent presumably refers to the delivery of goods arriving at Wellington. In ordinary circumstances .consignments arrive early in the morning and are delivered to carriers from G a.m. onwards, and the necessary staff is provided for this purpose. A 7ery little freight is_ left for delivery after, say, 11 a.m. daily, and only occasional applications are received after that hour. From the knowledge gained by experience it is found that the inward traffic can be dealt with during the afternoon by a lesser number of employees than is required in the morning, and, in the interests of clients, a proportion of the "inwards" staff is transferred to deal with the "outward" rush between 3 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. As the delivery of goods in the afternoon is very spasmodic, it would be wasteful to keep a large staff in reserve for a possible rush of business when they could be better employed elsewhere; but the organisation is such that provision can be made quickly at any time to deal with any sudden increase in traffic. The volume and incidence of the business done at present unfortunately precludes the Department from employing the casual employees for longer periods than is now the case.