INDUSTRIAL UNREST.
LOCOMOTIVE MEN UNEASY.
Christ church, Last Night.
“If the Government will not approve of the proposals, it will mean : the breakdown of any conference which may be held,” said Mr W. Me Ariey, general secretary of the Locomotive Men’s Association, when discussing the condition of wages and the proposals of the Association with a “Lyttelton Times” reporter. “What then?” he was asked. “Well, you know, there’s only : one alternative,” he said. Yesterday afternoon over one hundred members of the Christchurch branch of the Association met and discussed the pros and eons for over three hours. At the conclusion, it was decided that the Government be asked to follow up the negotiations in respect of wages with the delegates appointed by the last grand council. Mr R. Carroll, Dominion president, and Mr W. McArley were present and outlined the demands and the reasons for making them. The Association is claiming the increase which it sought prior to the retrenchment scheme. This is approximately a 100 per cent, increase for drivers and 50 per cent, increase for firemen. “The cost of living only enters into our demands indirectly,” said Mr McArley. “We have based them on the question of responsibility. Our men have an enormous responsibility on their shoulders, which should be compensated for adequately.” Mr Carroll then mentioned that Mr McArley and himself had toured the whole of the South Island and at every town had the largest meetings ever recorded. Each meeting had carried a motion to the effect that it would stand behind the executive in any action it might desire to take. “As far as my experience goes,” said Mr McArley, “I have never seen n greater quiet determination on the part of the men. They are even more solid than they were during the strike in the North Island in 1920. As far as the policy of the Association is concerned, it will attempt to come to terms in a conciliatory manner. When the Government wanted assistance, we adopted the attitude that we would see it, through. Now we are making proposals and we expect the Government to adopt them in a similar manner. The locomotive men have made great sacrifices and they have conceded a scale of wages, which, on the finding of the Commissioner, they had no need to do.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19240205.2.16
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2691, 5 February 1924, Page 3
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387INDUSTRIAL UNREST. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2691, 5 February 1924, Page 3
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