PUBLIC SERVICE SALARIES

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26221, 19 September 1950, Page 8

PUBLIC SERVICE SALARIES

FINAL ADDRESSES TO TRIBUNAL CASES FOR AND AGAINST INCREASES (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. September 18. An allegation tnat tne Public Service Commission was merely making a mockery of the Government Servic< Tribunal and of the Legislature whicn created it and placed upon it responsibility xor prescribing salary scales toi the Public Service was made to-day by Mr J. Turnbull, the Public Service Associations advocate in the claim for increased service salaries. Mr Turnbull was making, final submislions to the tribunal. “The commissions suggestion is nothing more nor less than that the tribunal should hand over its job to the commission itself and that public servants should wait at least anothei year, after which, if they are not satisfied, they can appeal to the tribunal,’ said Mr Turnbull. “The tribunal is asked to alter the scales at present by increasing them on a general pattern, having regard to considerations which are general in their application and thus allect all groups in substantially the same way. “The national income continues to rise, and the share of salary and wage earners continues to shrink. All indications show increased prosperity. Taxation is being reduced, particularly for those whose incomes continue to rise. I submit that the increases asked for in service salaries will contribute to stability, and that their present low level is a danger to continued prosperity.” Commission’s Repiy The commission expected that before April of next year the position of the cost of living would be sufficiently clarified to enable a final cost-of-liv-ing increase to be determined, said Mr E. R. Winkel, for the commission.

“Although the commission recognises the inappropriateness of the existing scale pattern, it has not at any time admitted that salaries are inadequate throughout the service,” he added. “It concedes that inevitably, immediately before a general regrading, anomalies will exist as between groups. A general increase as claimed can only accentuate these anomalies. “Before the hearing the commission readily supplied the association with any information asked for in connexion with the preparation of its case,” said Mr Winkel. “It has supplied to the tribunal all the evidence in its possessipn relevant to the issues before the tribunal. It has also been suggested that the commission’s attitude throughout has been contentious. That criticism is not justified.

“The commission thinks that the correct conclusion is to decline the claims made from April, 1950. and from July 1, 1950, apart from those of tradesmen, and says so. The commission feels that in these deliberations it has a dual function. It is required to staff the Public Service on sa!ar\ scales determined by this tribunal. It therefore comes before the tribunal as an employer comes before the Arbitration Court, but with a vital difference It is that the money to pay increases awarded by the Arbitration Court has to be found by the emoloyer, but the money to pay increases granted by this tribunal does not have to be provided by the Public Service Commission but by the taxpayer. The Treasury Department usually acts as the trustee of the taxpayer, but as this department is not represented at these proceedings, its role is combined with that of the staffing authority.”