UNREST IN SYDNEY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 306, 20 August 1932, Page 5

UNREST IN SYDNEY

(Press. Assn.-

wages reduction TEN PER CENT. CUT ON RAIL AND TRAMWAY MEN GOVT. ECONOMY MEASURES

-By Telegraph — Copyrigrht).

Rec. Aug. 19, 7.50 p.m. Sydney, August 19. Considerable unrest has been caus'ed in the ranks of railway and tramway men to-day, by the announcement that the Stevens Government, as an economy plan, has decided to apply immediately a ten per cent. cut in the wages of all railway and tramway •erftployees whose awards were recently set aside hy the Commonwealth Arbitration Court. The Federation basic wage of £3- 13/6 however, will be observed as the minimum. Application will also he made to the Court for a ten pef cent cut in the wages of members of the Federal Union, whose awards were not set aside. The Premier, Mr. B. S. Stevens, announced that the Government was reluctantly compelled to take action

within the existing legislation limit in order to reduce the.rail and tramway losses which are the major factors in the State deficit. At the conclusion of the conference between the Government and the financial institutions, mostly pastoral companies which make advances to farmers, the Premier announced that the companies concerned had agreed to reduce the rate of interest on advances made since October 1, 1931, by one half per cent.