AWARD FOR TALLY CLERKS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28888, 7 May 1959, Page 7

AWARD FOR TALLY CLERKS

Wages Increased By

3d An Hour

The minimum rates of wages for tally clerks have been increased by 3d to 5s 7Jd an hour under the provisions of the Northern, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago Tally Clerks’ Award issued by the Court of Arbitration. This is the first combined district award covering this type of worker. Several local industrial agreements operated in the past.

The new award embodies an agreement arrived at in conciliation between tally clerks and the New Zealand Waterside Employers’ Association. It applies to casual tally clerks employed from day to day at Auckland, Gisborne, Tauranga, Whangarei, Wellington, Lyttelton, and the port of OtagOj and to permanent tally clerks at Auckland, Gisborne, Tauranga and Whangarei. It does not apply to permanent tally clerks elsewhere, or to the tallying or watching .of cargo or coal by ships* officers or members of ships’ crew br winchmen but, notwithstanding such provisions, the tallying of bunker coal into overseas steamers shall be given to casual tally clerks.

The award provides that all clerical work done in connexion with receiving and delivery of cargo shall be performed by tally clerks who are members of the union, unless it is performed by permanent employees or by ships’ pursers or officers.

The award also fixes the daily and weekly minimum hours for the four main ports, and sets out retaining fees. It provides that initially a roll of tally clerks at Lyttelton shall comprise 45 members and that a committee representing employers and the union shall decide from time to time the number of workers necessary to ensure that the work at each port is carried out promptly and efficiently. The increase in wages was made retrospective to March 23, 1959.