WAGE CHANGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 243, 14 October 1935, Page 9

WAGE CHANGES.

TRAMWAY RATES. " HIGHEST EVER PAID." CHAIRMAN'S EXPLANATION. i Interviewed this morning concerning , reference to wage alterations proposed at > meetings of the Auckland Transport : Board, the chairman, Mr. H. G. R. • Mason, M.P. stated that the board at s present pays £5 3/2 regularly week by ■ week to the average motorman working 1 on straight shifts and on broken shifts £5 2/9. It pays the average conductor ; working on straight shifts £4 19/3 and on broken shifts £4 18/9. Tramway 1 passes, uniforms and overcoats were > added, and subsidies which provided sick pay at a higher level than usually l obtained, and other benefits, sports and 1 social activities. 5 The board's policy was to maintain [ the highest possible standard of wages f and conditions for all employees. The present agreement, which included the ■ restoration made by the board in Feb- • ruary, 1935, gave 2/0 i per hour for ! motormeu and 1/lli per hour for con- ' duetors. These rates were jd per hour higher than had ever been paid prior to the "cut," but in addition the board now L paid all men Id per hour above these rates whenever the men were working ' on broken shifts, making l ; jd per hour 1 more than before the "cuts." This did • not mean that the men received more > wages per week than previously. The explanation was that the traffic characteristics had altered, meaning that the city theatre loadings and traffic of a similar kind which previously obtained were much reduced, bringing in its train a reduction of hours worked beyond eight, i.e., in overtime. Further, Sunday work, which was once paid as double time, was now paid as time and a half. No other system paid more than time and a half for Sunday work, which was the highest rate in New Zealand, and even with this reduction Sunday operation was still unpayable. The board had instituted a 40-liour week for certain men in the workshops, and would do the same for the others there as sooii as their respective unions desired it. Finances. The estimates for the current year had shown an initial deficit of £14,000, not including certain provision for subsidised workers. The provision of 40 hours per week for these men in substitution for the No. 5 scheme scale was costing the board £13,900 this year. Some contention had been heard as to whether tlie board should first increase the wages of the traffic men receiving roundly £5 per week mentioned above, or first consider the claims of the subsidised men on the No. 5 scheme scale. It was very difficult to do either, let alone attempt both at once. The subsidised men who had served the board well and faithfully for many years under the conditions of acute poverty involved in No. 5 scheme were all married men and no one understanding the question would be jealous of the modest wage of £1 18/4 per week the board now paid to those men by way of addition to the Government subsidy of £1 15/, a total of £3 13/4. The board was not creating reserves of any description. The employees and the public were receiving the fullest benefit that could be given under the conditions imposed upon it by the Government's exchange policy, which meant at least £20,000 per annum to the board. Board's Limited Powers. The board had not the powers of the Government and could not use the national credit in its problems. If political changes in the near future brought about a change of Government financial policy, then the board would undoubtedly review the position created and satisfy all reasonable claims for better fares and good wages. Meantime it was a source of satisfaction to the board that it had been paying the men employed on its trams at a rate per hour believed to be the highest ever paid in a tramway system in New Zealand, viz., 2/0 i and 2/li for motormen on straight shift and broken shift respectively and 1/lli and 2/0} for conductors on straight and broken shift respectively, constituting a wage which could only be exceeded by that paid to the engine drivers of highest grade in the railways—the senior men with many years of service who worked all hours of the day and night driving the main trunk expresses.