RAILWAY WAGES

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29985, 21 November 1962, Page 20

RAILWAY WAGES

A.S.R.S. To Meet Today

A special meeting of the Canterbury branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (900 members) will be held in the Carlyle Street Hall tonight to discuss wages, the change in application of general wage orders proposed by the Government, and conditions in the A, C, and D goods sheds at the Christchurch railway station.

The president of the branch (Mr G. Finlayson) said yesterday that proposed changes in pay procedure meant members would have to wait until the end of each month to get overtime payments due to them. There had been protests about this change, and some members had wanted a stop-work meeting called for it.

He said that the meeting would discuss the Government’s proposal that railways workers, as well as some other Government employee*, will not in future benefit from Arbitration Court general wage orders but will, as the Public Service Association does, have their wages adjusted on ruling rates surveys. Mr Finlayson said there had been complaints amongst members working in the goods sheds that the flooring was not satisfactory and that this should be improved forthwith.

The Addington workshops branch of the ASUS, held a lunch-hour meeting yesterday which was attended by between 600 and 700 members, according to the branch secretary (Mr A. A. Adcock). The meeting unanimously resolved to support any action the national council of the union might take on the wages issues in dispute. The meeting also discussed the Government’s proposal to change the legislation which gave railwaymen the right to benefit from the Arbitration Court general wage orders.

The proposed change in legislation was opposed by a meeting of the East Town branch of the A.S.RR. in Wanganui yesterday.