Dispute On Margins N.Z.R. Tradesmen Vote For Strike

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31237, 8 December 1966, Page 1

Dispute On Margins N.Z.R. Tradesmen Vote For Strike

“The Press” Special Service

WELLINGTON, December 7.

Members of the Railway Tradesmen’s Association by a large majority have voted for a strike action in their dispute on margins for skill and responsibility.

The results of the secret ballot on the strike issue held by 2400 members of the association were announced by the general secretary (Mr A. G. Goldsmith) tonight after nine members of the R.TA. national executive had met the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) for two hours today.

The R.TA. president (Mr J. R. Ritchie) said: “The meeting was not very successful.”

The R.TA. said in a statement tonight that it would not “penalise the public” by stopping work until early in the New Year.

Mr Shand said later that the word “stoppage” had not been used during the meeting. “Throughout the discussion, we confined ourselves to discussion of the fundamental problems,” he said.

“At no stage was there any mention of the possibility of industrial action being taken, although the officers of the association left me in no doubt of the depth of feeling within their organisation.”

Describing the problem as “extremely complex,” Mr Shand admitted that in all the advanced societies in the world, there had been a tendency over recent years for the margins for rkill and responsibility to be eroded.

“This erosion is not, of course, confined to tradesmen, but also affects professional and sub-professional groups to an even greater extent.”

He said he had come to regard the erosion in margins for skill and responsibility as the greatest single industrial problem of the present time.

“This is a clear indication of the feeling of our members and the mandate given has been very carefully considered,” the R.T.A. said in a statement tonight. “Reluctantly, it has been found necessary to reply to certain misleading public statements on the position of the R.T.A.

in this dispute. In particular we must refute the suggestion of non-co-operation with the A.S.R.S. The R.T.A. will cooperate and has co-operated with the A.S.R.S. and other fraternal organisations whenever it is possible to do so. “This will always be so when our policies are in harmony, but on this occasion our approaches are fundamentally different. “When faced with differing policies we would not take the initiative in airing them publicly. “On the question of margins for indentured tradesmen, we see it simply as one of whether a youth should be rewarded by receiving sufficient incentive to serve an apprenticeship, attend technical and trade schools, sit trade examinations and become fully qualified or be placed on a par with those who have not undergone similar training. “Todaj’ apprentices are in open revolt throughout the country against insufficient incentives and see no future unless the position is rectified. “If A.S.R.S. policy on margins is as publicly stated by their general secretary, we cannot agree as far as railway conditions are concerned and must pursue a course we believe will be more adequate in recompensing youths who have served an apprenticeship. “If we are wrong and those who have served apprenticeships are not entitled to such rewards, we invite all to campaign for the abolition of the apprenticeship system and the end of the exploitation of teen-age labour. “The Prime Minister refers to the tribunal having been set up more than 20 years ago for “the very purpose of decidint, such issues.’ We remind him that, in 1962, the tribunal granted indentured tradesmen 2jd an hour as an additional margin. Yet in the very next year, 1963, the

Government ‘absorbed’ a penny of it in the ruling rate survey.

“In 1964, the R.T.A. had to conduct a stoppage throughout the country to prevent the remaining ljd from similar ‘absorption.’ So much for the Government’s adherence to the tribunal. “To Mr Collins, who stated the A.S.R.S. was responsible for retaining the l)d, let us say that the R.T.A. also had a claim before the tribunal at the same time. The tribuna’ accepted our submission that the l)d —we suggested it should be more—be paid to those having served an apprenticeship, but not broadened as suggested by the A.S.R.S.

“There are not many railwaymen who would disagree when we State that none of this would have been possible if the R.T.A. had not stopped work in protest.

“The A.S.R.S. statement and the statement attributed to the Prime Minister that the R.T.A. has no claim before the tribunal confuses the public as well as our membership. “Last July, the executive council advised the Prime Minister and the Railways Department of its claim for an additional margin for the skill and responsibility of indentured tradesmen. However, the department was ‘strait-jacketed’ by Government control and thus was not permitted to conciliate properly and the Government was requested to take certain action. Negotiations have proceeded since but could have been determined as sub judice if a claim had been officially lodged. For this reason the official lodgment was withheld as long as possible. The tribunal will now hear the R.T.A. claim on December 16 and 19.

Govt. Policy

“This is the crux of the matter. “In conciliation with the department and discussions with the Government we have bitterly opposed a restrictive Government policy as applied to tradesmen’s rates. The Government’s policy does not permit an adequate margin over and above the average ruling rate as disclosed by the defective survey system. The absorption of the Id in 1963 is indicative of the way the policy works.

“It would appear that tradesmen as a group are the only ones inhibited by this restrictive policy and it is the effects of this which are so angering our members today. “To illustrate the position in which we are placed, it was necessary for us to refer to certain examples in other groups not so inhibited. This is being misunderstood in some quarters. We support the right of any group to lift wage rates and allowances.

“Having given full consideration to this, the national executive condemns the restrictive policy of government on margins for its own tradesmen and calls upon the Government to give more than lip service to their concern for the tradesmen’s position.”