PUBLIC SERVICE SALARIES

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26855, 7 October 1952, Page 3

PUBLIC SERVICE SALARIES

RECENT DECISIONS CRITICISED 1300 ATTEND MEETING IN WELLINGTON (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, Oct. 6. A meeting of 1300 Wellington public servants tonight declared “its utter lack of confidence in arbitration as public servants have experienced it in. the Government Service Tribunal and the Arbitration Court.” The meeting, held in the Town Hall, was marked by a number of clashes between the mover of the motion, Mr C. E. J. Lewin, and the chairman, Mr C. A. H. Johnston, president of the Wellington section of the Public Service Association, which called the meeting. A youth who supported a defeated motion accepting the decision of the tribunal, called the meeting “a pack of snarling watersiders,” and said thaft the rest of the public servants in Wellington were not present because they did not want anything to do with the meeting. The meeting was attended by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nash) and three Labour members of Parliament, Messrs A. H. Nordmeyer, C. H. Chapman, and H. E. Combs. SOUTHLAND PROTESTS (New Zealand Press Association) INVERCARGILL, October 6. “This Southland section of the New Zealand Public Service Association strongly protests against the decision of the Government Service Tribunal on our ejaim for .salary increases,” said a statement issued after a meeting of the section this afternoon. “The section considers that the tribunal should have given proper consideration to the economic factors which affect the salaries of members since the Gourt of Arbitration’s decision, and not taken the decision of the Court as the sole factor to be considered.” The statement will be presented to the national executive committee of the association in Wellington. RAILWAYMEN’S WAGES RESOLUTION BY NEW PLYMOUTH WORKERS (New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, October 6. “This meeting views with grave concern the lethargy of the Government regarding adjustments to railwaymen’s wages in line with the Arbitration Court’s decision,” says a resolution passed at a meeting of the New Plymouth branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. “Although numerous outside awards have been approved up to and in excess of the Arbitration Court’s pronouncement, and although the Minister of Railways, Mr Goosman, in reply to Mr McLagan in Parliament, stated that the margins of railwaymen would be restored, our negotiators for nearly two months still cannot report any progress. “We fail to understand why the dairy and meat producers can receive substantial price increases which automatically reflect themselves in increased living costs, while we are unable to obtain from the Government, which has studied and debated the Railway Commission's recommendations, the microscopic increase awarded by the Arbitration Court. “We reaffirm our whole-hearted support of our negotiators and executive council in pressing our just claims.” TAURANGA BRANCH’S RESOLUTION (Neto Zealand Press Association) TAURANGA, October 6. The Tauranga branch .of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants passed the following resolution at its monthly meeting: “We, as loyal members of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, deplore the apparent apathy of the Government in delaying a just and equitable decision in respect of the railwaymen’s request for the restoration of their wage margins.”