NO BONUSES FOR BANK CLERKS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25933, 13 October 1949, Page 6

NO BONUSES FOR BANK CLERKS

STABILISATION DECISION CRITICISED (New Zealand Press Association.) WELLINGTON. October 12. The refusal of the Stabilisation Commission to give banks authority to pay a bonus to their staffs was criticised by Mr W. A. Sheat (Opposition. Patea) in the House of Representatives this morning. He said it was a dictatorial action that made the Government’s lip service to incentive payments and profit-sharing seem hollow. The whole country had to submit to the decisions of dictators in their office in Wellington. The Minister of Industries and Commerce <Mr A. H. Nordmeyer) said bonuses had been sanctioned for several years when it was recognised that bank clerks’ salaries were too low. but when bank officers recently went to the Arbitration Court and secured an aw’ard the Stabilisation Commission felt that it would be a violation of the principles of stabilisation if bonuses were authorised immediately after the Arbitration Court had determined what it thought was a proper salary for bank staffs. However. the position could be reviewed at a later date. Stabilisation was not intended to operate to prevent any group from obtaining a remuneration to which it was fairly entitled, said the Minister