AGGRIEVED WORKERS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8352, 12 February 1913, Page 6

AGGRIEVED WORKERS

Tha Wellington staff of lettercarriers is said to bo in a state bordering on revolt. Too long hours, too heavy labour, too little remuneration, too many purposeless examinations, too much burdensome and ill-fitting clothing to wear —these are the main points of discontent. As to examinations—which seem to he causing various branches of the public service to murmur—we are told that seventy carriers have had to study in order to qualify for a position that has been available to one solitary person in the last five years. If this bo the case, it is certainly very like putting a mountain in labour for the production of a mouse. The carriers are said, to be getting quite an undue share of nightwork, which occurs on receipt of foreign mails, sometimes thrice in a week. The carriers have to put in overtime on such occasions to assist those employed in the sorting-room, and this involves a working day of over thirteen hours, excluding meal-times. As these servants do not participate in nearly all the holidays enjoyed by the' head office, they very naturally make remarks and indulge in reflections. It is , asserted that the loads of papers for stationers and booksellers given out for delivery are often excessively heavy—“fit only for a packhorso”—though there is an expressman engaged to deal with “ parcels." This arrangement, it is urged, ought to relieve the men of at least half a ton weekly, but it does not. The shakos which the department insists upon the men wearing are of cardboard, and thus increase very greatly in weight in wet weather—> “ from six to eight ounces dry to anything up to fourteen ounces wet.” The tunics are described as so ill-fitting that they could be used as doublebreasted coats instead of single. Finally, the men are forbidden, under pain of dismissal, to give any informal tion to the press. We do not know the precise terms and conditions under which this order is given. _ It may be in quite a reasonable spirit, and intended to prevent the leakage of information properly to be considered confidential. But the interrelation placed upon this interdiction by the letter-carriers themselves is that the authorities do not wish the public to learn of the conditions that prevail. This view may be exaggerated. It may be prompted by the grievances the men suffer. The whole of the circumstances, however, suggest the wisdom), if not necessity, of investigation.