TRAFFIC OFFICERS' DISPUTE P.S.A. rejects appeal

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32838, 11 February 1972, Page 1

TRAFFIC OFFICERS ' DISPUTE P.S.A. rejects appeal

(By our industrial reporter)

The Government traffic officers’ dispute, now in

its third week, is as far as ever from a settlement. Their employer — the State Services Commission — has appealed to them to return to normal duties and resume negotiations on their wage claim. Their “union” —the Public Service Association — considered the appeal last evening and rejected it out of hand.

The Secretary of Transport (Mr R. J. Polaschek) said yesterday that the department was not at present contemplating any action against the officers.

The dispute, he said, was between the S.S.C. and the P.S.A., and the department had no authority in wage-fixing procedures.

More than 700 traffic officers are now refusing to carry out any of the duties introduced since 1965, and more than 50 meter wardens are on strike —and receiving their normal pay from the P.S.A. instead of from the Government.

Wellington meter wardens stopped work yesterday in line with action taken by wardens in other centres. Nine officers in Southland and two in North Auckland have refused to accept the P.S.A. directive and are still undertaking normal duties. To the public Yesterday the P.S.A. took its case to the public, with advertisements published in newspapers throughout the country and with pamphlets —thoughtfully headed “This is not a ticket”—which were placed under motorists’ windscreen wipers. The advertisements were captioned: “If you had to give a breathalyser to a belligerent drunk on a lonely road at 3 a.m., you’d be asking for a pay increase too. “Breath and blood testing is just one of a dozen or so difficult, time-consuming, highly responsible and sometimes dangerous extra duties that Ministry of Transport traffic officers have been asked to shoulder since 1965,” the advertisement continued. “But since 1965 traffic offi-

cers have received no financial recognition for these onerous extra duties.” This submission about the increased duties is the mainstay of the officers’ claim for a wage increase of 16 per cent, and up to the present it has been rejected by the State Services Commission. In a telephone interview yesterday afternoon the commission chairman (Mr I. G. Lythgoe) said he was satisfied that the duties of traffic officers had not increased more than those of comparable workers—such as the police, prison officers, and mental health workers—and therefore they were not entitled to more than the standard Government increases.

Government wage increases since 1965 amounted to slightly more than 20 per cent over and above increases in the cost of living, said Mr Lythgoe. He was asked if the development of motor-cycle gangs and the general increase in violence since 1965 had not added to the danger

of enforcing traffic regulations, and said this was a point which might be given further consideration. Reply given A similar reply was given to the suggestion that traffic officers received comparatively less compensation for overtime than the police. The police receive a builtin overtime allowance of 23.5 per cent and at times this is the only compensation they receive for long hours during searches and major criminal inquiries. Normally, however, they either do not work overtime or receive compensating time off later. Traffic officers receive a built-in allowance of 30 per cent but are normally required <o work 48 hours and six days a week. If they were paid for this at standard overtime rates—four hours at time and a half and four at double time—they would receive an extra 35 per cent in wages. Ready for talks Mr Lythgoe said that the action of the traffic officers was not calculated to put the commission negotiators in a good frame of mind. Nevertheless the State Services Commission was prepared to resume talks with the P.S.A. at any titpe. Asked about the assocfc,

ation’s insistence that resumed negotiations should be “meaningful,” Mr Lythgoe said that if this was a request for a major concession in advance it could not be granted. However, the commission was prepared to wipe the slate clean and start again. Last evening Mr Lythgoe’s proposal was considered at a special meeting of the national executive of the P.S.A. and was rejected. The executive reaffirmed its support of the stand taken by the traffic officers and moved to other business.