NOT TO LEAVE

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21363, 6 March 1941, Page 8

NOT TO LEAVE

EMPLOY OF RAILWAY SKILLED WORKERS’ POSITION APPEAL TO GOVERNMENT (By Telegraph.—Preaa Association) AUCKLAND, Thursday A recommendation that skilled workers should not be permitted to leave their employment at the railway workshops during the war is to be made to the Government by the No. 1 Armed Forces Appeal Board. During the hearing of appeals of five railway employees, Mr J. B. Graham, the manager of the Otahuhu workshops, said that some were engaged on munition works. The workshops’ staff had shrunk from 1800 to 1400 since the war began. This, in part, was due to the Government’s call for a special railway battalion. All members of the mechanical staff called in the ballots would be appealed for, said Mr Graham. There was great difficulty in retaining staffs as skilled men were wanted to go into private work and many were attracted by the little extra pay per hour. Personally, witness thought that the departmental pay and conditions were better than those offered outside in the long run. The fact that there was no lost time compensated for the slightly lower departmental hourly rate. If they had the necessary men, the workshops could operate three shifts a day instead of two. The chairman, Mr C. R. Orr Weaker, S.M., thought that the Board might be justified in recommending that mechanics be not permitted to leave the service while the war was on. The five appeals were adjourned sine die conditional on the men remaining in the department’s service.