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Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21366, 10 March 1941, Page 6

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SUSPENSION APPLIES RAILWAY WORKSHOPS DISPUTE CONFERENCE TODAY (By Telegraph.—Prew Association) WELLINGTON, Monday The suspension of the men who failed to turn up at the Hutt Railway Workshops on Saturday was carried into effect this morning, when they were refused entry to the shops. It is reported that representatives of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and the Railway Tradesmen’s Association, are conferring with the Minister of Railways, the Hon. R. Semple, this morning. The Minister of Railways, the Hon. R. Semple, said today that he understood about 200 were affected by his suspension order. The Minister said he was convinced the trouble was caused by a handful of men, whose views were tinged with a foreign philosophy. The next move was not his. It was that of the men concerned. Mr Semple said that when he was advised of the position last week his instruction was that a notice was to be posted advising the men that if they did not turn up for work on Saturday morning, in conformity with the arrangements made before he became Minister of Railways, they would be suspended ®n the following Monday morning. The men, therefore, were warned. Despite that, they refused to turn up and defied their own union officers, who advised them not to take action. Mr Semple added that he was not going to be bludgeoned into doing anything by any section of those employed by the Government. If the kind of conduct that had been adopted on this instance by the men was proper, then it would be the end of self-government and democracy and the beginning of anarchy, which could only lead to chaos. It was not going to happen in New Zealand.