SHORT TIME ADOPTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1048, 12 August 1930, Page 1

SHORT TIME ADOPTED

Railway Goods Employees AFFECTED MEN TELL THEIR STORY WORKING at their accustomed tasks in groups of three or four, employees at the Auckland railway goods sheds this morning were discussing from all angles the adoption of short time and the loss of the long-standing guarantee of 48 hours work a week which they had enjoyed as "permanent casuals.” In all, 73 men were informed yesterday that they would be placed on the emergency casual list and called upon as required. All the men affected are married. Many have war service to their credit and some have as much as 26 years’ service in the department.

The 73 employees affected received notice that, from next Saturday, they would no longer be treated as permanent casuals with an assured wage of £4 8s a week, as in the past. The men are paid Is lOd an hour and there was a guarantee of 48 hours weekly. Under the new system of short time all, presumably, will be treated alike. It is the alternative to discharging a score or so of the men. SLACKNESS OF TRAFFIC On account of the slackness of goods traffic, usual at this time of the year, the staffs of country stations have been reduced and some of the permanent porters transferred to the Auckland goods sheds. Consequently it has been necessary to reduce the shed staff and the short-time method of doing so has been chosen. The general feeling among the men this morning was that the department had acted unwisely in terminating the agreement which it had made with the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants some years ago. The with drawal of the guarantee and the intro duction of the country porters are held to be decidedly contrary zo the efficient working of the shed. Though not strictly skilled wofs men, the men employed in the shed are more than labourers. Apart from such as list-mea. transhipping men, crane operators, timekeepers and motordrivers, the men in the shed have to be expert in the correct disposal of a load in a truck. They must also know* how to read consignment notes and have a w'orking knowledge or stations and routes. Most of them have seen from 10 to 15 years’ service and are unfitted for any other work. It is considered that if they are replaced by inexperienced men, there will be something resembling chaos in the sheds. SOME RECENT ARRIVALS

While realising that the incoming porters, of whom there are now* about a dozen in the shed, are not their ow*n masters in the matter, the retrenched men argue that they are young—many of them single, and some of them recent arrivals in the country. All of the 73 men, who received the notice, are married and the majority

of them are bringing up families. Some are paying off Government loans and they view the future with strong misgiving. “The}’ tell us that we shall lose very little of our £4 8s a week, but I don’t believe that," said one man as he tossed sacks of flour into a truck. “We are also told that this action is being taken to avoid the absolute dismissal of 20 men. That is nearly a third of us, so it surely means that we shall lose a third of our work and a third of our pay.” A second man pointed out that unless the casuals were able to average 24 hours a week, they would lose their railway privileges of free tickets for travelling on annual leave, and the regular privilege of being able to travel at any time on quarterfare. On all statutory holidays, and over Christmas and New Year, the men •would be off without pay. “In fact, we are in danger of losing all the privileges the A.S.R.S. has been Sghting for for years," he said. The unkindest cut of all, according to a third man, was the fact that men affected by the notice had to train younger men, and particularly the porters from the country, to take their places. The Sun’s informant, a married man with four children, had more than a score years’ service in the department. “The man whom I am training has been eight years in New Zealand,” he said; “he has been five and a-half years in the service, and is a single man.” UNION TAKING ACTION It is understood that a number of railway employees at Palmerston North and Wellington are also affected by the changed conditions. The executive of the A.S.R.S. in Wellington is taking action. The head of the department and the Minister of Railways will almost certainly he approached and evidence on the matter may also be given before the Railways Commission. It is considered by departmental officers that, with the coming of spring and increased dairying activity, there will be enough work to yield the affected men nearly the former guaranteed wage. The men do not share this view.