RAILWAY ENGENEERS

Taihape Daily Times, 16 August 1919, Page 3

RAILWAY ENGENEERS

STAFF SHORTAGE ‘ANTICIPATED. RESIGNATIONS THROUGH ' . DISCONTENT. The “New Zealand Loco. Engineers’ Journal’; of August 1 indicates a dimculty in returning to a full pre-war time—table on the railways, quite apart from the present diflicuity of lack of coal. A shortage of engzneers and an unwillingness to work extended overtime to compensate for this shortage is the difficulty that confronts the Department_ That the man—pewer of the locomotive department is much below normal in spite of the return of hundreds of our "men from the front is quite an open secret in the sc—rVicc (says this trade journal editorially).

The question often asked is, will the men in the‘ Service be called upon to work an extraordinary amount of overtime in order Ho instul pre-war services?

The next query is, will {he 111511 work an abnormal amount of overtime without protlestor will they decline ta do so, seeing that no special effort has been made to induce men to rentain in the service.

We all know that the Minister has been depending upon a wave of dopressioii throughout New /.oaland forcing those who resigned to seek their old nnsitions in the service.

Certainly, the Minister has made no attempt to deal with the resignations from the locomotive department in an effective manner, and which were in hundreds of cases during, the last few years, and they are still resigning. At. the present time the outlook is indeed of the blackest description and everything points to a breakdown in the man power in the future and not in the coal power as at present_ That there are few recruits cm:-iiig forward for future engineers is well known, and the reason for such is the poor inducement offered fcr such an important post. However, there is a. general feeling amongst the men that they are not going to suffer both 'ways-—put.ting up with a lowering wage (and which was the re'a’son‘;for many resigning) and havili'g'to“'work an ex(:ess;ivo amount of overtinie at: the cheapest Overtime rat'es‘i'n' New Zealand to can-_v on the Service without these men. who took the ‘first opportunity to get away .t'l'.')m an uiiclerpaid job. _