Pay Research Unit Sought

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31669, 3 May 1968, Page 20

Pay Research Unit Sought

(N Z Preu Association) WELLINGTON, May 2. Deficiencies in the ruling-rate survey could be lessened if its machinery was supplemented by a pay research unit, the deputy general manager of the Railways Department (Mr J. H. O. Tiller) said today. Mr Tiller was presenting Railways Department submissions to the Royal Commission on salary and wage-fixing procedures in the State services. He said that one of the main deficiencies of the ruling rates survey was its restriction to builders and engineering labourers, welders and some other trades. This restriction inhibited the application of the principle of fair relativity in the widest possible way to State services rates of pay. -First Consideration If the principle of fair relativity was to be given wider application in the State services the existing fact finding machinery had to be augmented, Mr Tiller said. "The Railways Department accepts the view that fair relativity with external rates should be the primary consideration in fixing State rates,” he said. “But the policy of having one rate for all trades in the State service departs to some extent from the principle of fair relativity with outside rates.” This variation was not only as far as' the rate for each trade was concerned, but also applied in the rates for various parts of the country, Mr Tiller said. “It is not envisaged that

setting up a pay research unit will eliminate entirely the need for some other method of adjusting rates of pay of surveyed occupations between surveys,” he said. P.O. Submissions “It would be impossible for the unit to carry out annual surveys of all the various occupations involved.” Post Office submissions heard today also support a pay research unit. The Post Office has less direct interest in the unit than

other Government departments because of the number of employees who had no counterparts elsewhere, ;the submission said. >'■ But a greater degree of sophistication in determining key rates would be extremely helpful. As far as the Post Office was concerned the most important consideration in setting levels was obtaining the greatest amount of authentic data on salary and wage movements over as many fields as possible.