RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 March 1920, Page 5

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.

AND THEIR PRIVILEGES. MEN PREFER TO ACCEPT MR MASSEY'S £25. Mr. M. J. Mack (general secretary to the. Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants) prefaced a statement to a Wellington Time_s representative on railwaymen's "privileges" by repeating his offer, on behalf of each member nf the A.S.RS, to accept cash down, ! flic estimate Tiy the Minister for Railways (the TH. Hon. W. F. Mnssey), that such privileges were wouth £25 per annum. "Lcfc me just explain," continued Mr. Mack, "how these much-vauiitcd privileges are given. First, the leave is given when it is convenient for the department to allow it. not when it is convenient for the men, or when the leave becomes due. What usually happens is that, when your leave is a year or two overdue, you are suddenly tokl a few hours before that you are booked off for holidays. A man's wife may be ill, his children all at school, and he is totally unprepared to goHe can't leave his wife because she is ill, nr she has to stop home and look after the children. Or the man may have to go off ill himself. Then, as ho has no pay coming in, he takes his leave out that way; a »d his illness is more than likely to bo due to over-, work. PASSE.S AND THE "CUT." "'As to the pass, if he is in the workshop*, which close during the Christmas holidays, a railwayman's pass is crylorecd, 'not available by through mail or express trains,' which at once nullifies its value. Then, last year, when the 'train cut' was on, tho men's leave was long in arrcan;. All that could be spared were booked off, but the pass was withheld, and nothing was given them by way of compensation for such loss. The 'cut' was a godiscnd to the department in more ways than one. " Then, those children who go to Rotorua have to lie 'residing with solely and dependent on' their father, which means that if any of a man's children are earning a few shillings in order to help to keep the liom e privileges do not. applv. Here, surely, is a case of greasing the fi\t pig. The man who gets a good salary and can keep his child "oina to college, gets all the privilege for it; hut the man whose wages are so low that his child has got to go out and earn something to help, is cut out. RETIRING LEAVE ANOMALIES. "Again, a man retiring after 10 years gets four weeks' holiday. Jlut the man who stays to give further service gets nothing. 'But,' the department nays, 'lie is getting a portion of his retiring leave,' which ia three months for forty years' service. Here, again, the departmental reasoning of 'the longer you go, the less you get,' applies. One month for 10 years should fte four months (not .1) for 40 years. Surely, if a man leaving in entitled to four weeks, the man remaining should get something to encourage him to remain in and not go out, as is the case at present." Reverting, in conclusion, to "that trip to Rotorua," Mr. Mack said: "Can you imagine a man drawing 12s per day, with deductions for superannuation, taking his wife and two children to Rotorua, when his daily expenses will be at least- £1 12s, to say nothing of steamer faros from the South Island, £7 Bs. The much-talk-ed-of leave is now considerably ia nr-l-caw: and no prospect of tho men being relieved. Why, a man recently asked for two days to go to his daughter's wedding and was refused. We would rather have that £25, and I am speaking on behalf of the great majority of the'men interested."