reducing the staff, which had been greatly increased since the war by large entries of ex-service men and of ten1porary workers (about 25,000) to make good the damage and deterioration on the lines during the war ; and under the old regime the Chamber had unanimously passed a resolution in favour of better observance of the eight-hour day. But the present discharges are open to objection in the following respects : (i) They have been resorted to as political or personal reprisals. Almost the whole of the first batch of discharges was made up of those who had taken part in. Socialist associations or movements. The Fascist daBy, ll Nuovo Paese, wrote on February~, 1923 : "A first batch of subversive railwaymen got rid of. . . . To-day begins what we will call the political purge. . . . This is a first group of railway servants, including the most uncompromising extremists. '' (ii) The best elements were dismissed without cause shown. One man, discharged for 'insufficient output,' has the following certificate of character : '' Maximum output, very great zeal, very high capacity. Has been doing two men's work for the past two years. 350 hours of unpaid overtime. Only ten days' sickness in many years' service.'' ·Another, re-employed by arrangement after a serious injury while on duty, has been discharged for 'insufficient output.' Another was discharged while doing superior duties to his own ; he had 14 wounds in 28 months' service at the front, and bore the medal for valour. Another, who had served 1 1 years in a malarial region, was discharged for 'insufficient output' in the very week in which he received a gratuity granted by the Railway Commissioner for good work during 1923. (iii) 'fhe discharged men have had no remedy, existing guarantees against injustice or even illegality being ignored. 43 Biblioteca Gino Bianco
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