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Post by davidd on Apr 30, 2017 23:17:04 GMT 12
The New Zealand-wide strikes in the RNZAF occurred between about April and September 1946, and were triggered by wartime-only personnel being retained to maintain the internal passenger services (which the govt of the day saw as "essential services") while all the civilian aircraft maintenance jobs (Union Airways/NAC, TEAL, Airwork, and other smaller companies) were being snapped up by luckier, earlier releases from the service. However the terms of service under which these airmen were serving at this time permitted the govt of the day to hold onto them legally for a period of up till 12 months after the end of hostilities for "essential duties", which did not go down too well with the dissatisfied airmen. However they did have a point, but there were never going to be enough jobs for all that wished to get into civil aviation engineering. Unfortunately Papers Past does not yet cover these early postwar periods, and probably won't in the immediate future either. However if you can get access to the actual physical papers (or microfilmed versions) in libraries, this material can still be obtained, just requires a bit more legwork. David D
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 1, 2017 10:55:01 GMT 12
Well that explains why I could not find much on Papers Past, but it now leaves me wondering where it was I was reading articles about it, a few years back. I think I must have read those articles in the NZ Herald on microfilm when I was searching for details of my great uncle's death in a boating tragedy as that was in 1946.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 1, 2017 11:09:10 GMT 12
Aha, I went back through my files of photos I took of microfilm search results and I found the September 1946 strike/mutiny articles from the New Zealand Herald: From the 17th of September 1946:
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 1, 2017 11:12:19 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 1, 2017 11:16:09 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 1, 2017 11:17:12 GMT 12
From the 21st of September 1946
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 1, 2017 11:25:58 GMT 12
It is interesting that the newspaper refers to this as a 'strike' but as there is no union and no legal position for Defence Force personnel to go on 'strike', this is actually a mutiny under military law. At that time mutiny was still punishable by death, as it was up till around 1990 or so when it was changed to 'life' in a military prison which would be a slightly slower death.
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Post by davidd on May 1, 2017 14:33:57 GMT 12
A few extracts from Wigram's ORB regarding maintenance "difficulties" in the RNZAF during 1946, with one oblique reference to the status of other stations in New Zealand. However I cannot vouch that all of the earlier mentions are in fact referring to "industrial" troubles, although one or two unmistakably are. The RNZAF was experiencing great difficulty in maintaining sufficient aircraft serviceable to meet multiple postwar requirements, including the Dakota and Dominie passenger services which were to be later taken over by the new National Airways Corporation. In fact Brazier Brothers (Airwork) took over maintenance of the passenger Dakotas in late 1946, with De Havillands having taken over responsibility for the Dominies some months earlier, but there were still too few to maintain the remaining technical work underway at Wigram, Ohakea, Whenuapai and Hobsonville, as well as Lauthala Bay. To replace experienced technical staff already discharged, the Government ordered the RNZAF to urgently start training replacements under postwar conditions but with a very short term of service, something like 18 or 24 months (will have to check). Obviously such a short guaranteed engagement meant that such personnel would need a lot of supervision for quite some time, which would stretch the patience of the remaining experienced NCO tradesmen. These short-term men were enlisted under what were named as "Interim" conditions, until a proper "peace-time" regular RNZAF could be planned, when further recruiting and proper full-time training instituted on the postwar RAF pattern could be commenced with new, longer-term conditions of service. The plight of the "Interim" men and their advertised conditions of service are covered in the articles earlier on this thread. So far as I know, the RNZAF never included the death penalty for mutiny in its regulations, at any stage, and certainly not in peacetime for having sit-down strikes, etc, by airmen wanting the Govt to honour its advertised conditions of service rather than bulldoze them into working longer hours when the country was not in mortal danger of being overrun by anybody. Somebody will have to read the "Manual of Air Force Law" to answer the death penalty question. Although New Zealand tended to slavishly follow the lead of the British government when it came to military regulations, etc, I don't think they were quite so keen on the death penalty for servicemen, even in war. And the politicians of WW2 and after were not too enamoured of it either.
17/4/46; Due to maintenance staff problems, CO has directed that no flying other than recognised exercises and essential flying was to be carried out, and night flying only one night per week.
30/4/46; Nine airmen at Taieri Section refused duty - protest at delay in demobilisation. Taieri at this time was not a station, but a "Section" of Wigram and therefore under their administration, command, etc.
6/5/46; CFS (Central Flying School) refresher flying training temporarily suspended owing to maintenance staff difficulties.
30/7/46; At Taieri Section, DH 82 (Tiger Moth) assembly in progress, but retarded owing to the shortage of manpower.
18/9/46; There was NO MUTINY at Wigram! Last mention. There may have been others which I failed to note at the time. Hobsonville and Ohakea histories may have some jucier entries, but Whenuapai's for this period is missing.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 3, 2017 11:26:00 GMT 12
So far as I know, the RNZAF never included the death penalty for mutiny in its regulations, at any stage, and certainly not in peacetime for having sit-down strikes, etc, by airmen wanting the Govt to honour its advertised conditions of service rather than bulldoze them into working longer hours when the country was not in mortal danger of being overrun by anybody. Somebody will have to read the "Manual of Air Force Law" to answer the death penalty question. Although New Zealand tended to slavishly follow the lead of the British government when it came to military regulations, etc, I don't think they were quite so keen on the death penalty for servicemen, even in war. And the politicians of WW2 and after were not too enamoured of it either. When I joined in January 1989 and was at the General Service Training School, we were taught during the Military Law phase that the death penalty was still in place for Mutiny and for Treason. This was most definitely taught to us. Also it was certainly mentioned again in late 1989 in that secret meeting I got dragged into, just the very discussion in secret could have been seen as conspiring to mutiny. I was not too happy I'd been told to be there to be honest. Having thought some more, that may have been about the Armed Forces Pay Review at the time where longer served members were about to be royally shafted by the Government. I seem to recall in about 1991 when I was at Wigram it came out in routine orders that policy had changed and mutiny was no longer punishable by death, but instead by life imprisonment.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 3, 2017 11:38:47 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 3, 2017 11:47:21 GMT 12
Actually I just found when the Death Sentence under Military Law was repealed, it was earlier than I thought, it was according to this document legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1971/0053/latest/whole.html#DLM403805"Execution of sentences of death [Repealed] Section 167: repealed, on 26 December 1989, by section 5(1) of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 1989 (1989 No 119)." So it happened only months after that meeting I was dragged into. I looked through the document about mutiny and it states committing mutiny or knowing about a mutiny and not taking every step possible to stop it is punishable with life imprisonment. Before December 1989's repeal, that wording would have said punishable by death.
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Post by tedheath on May 4, 2017 20:30:40 GMT 12
I think treason was the biggie that would attract the death penalty like a Kiwi Quisling up to the 1970s. A mutiny or desertion since WW1 I doubt it thanks to the Poms executing (murdering) five of our soldiers in France.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 5, 2017 15:33:14 GMT 12
Ted, I just posted the exact date that execution for mutiny was repealed, it was 26 December 1989.
Those five soldiers in France were not murdered, they were dealt with under military law. Murder is unlawful, but the punishment dealt was not. Four of them were executed for desertion, one for mutiny.
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