Confusion over wage 2.7 p.c.

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33455, 9 February 1974, Page 1

Confusion over wage 2.7 p.c.

Who will get the 2.7 per cent wage adjustment order? That is the question to which the Minister of Labour (Mr Watt) and employers’ associations have provided different answers. i According to Mr Watt, the ; order is intended to be paid . on all pay—award rates,! above-award rates, and ' salaries not covered by awards—but the Auckland ' and Canterbury Employers’ Associations agree that, while the increase must be paid on

award rates, it is over to the individual employer whether ' or not it will apply to the ‘ others. “The position is perfectly ' clear,” Mr Watt said in a Press Association report yesterday. I “This order should bei 'applied the same way as the' 1 i usual run of General Wage; ‘'Orders. As the Department) l|of Labour has already ex-! ,1 plained, the 2.7 per cent in-i I'crease should be made on all ■ non-reimbursing payments. I “I am having steps taken ’ to deal with any confusion ; which may exist and I am sure the whole thing will be

sorted out in a day or two,” he said. His statement came after the distribution of a circular from the Auckland Employers’ Association advising members they did not haveto pay the extra 2.7 per cent on above-award rates or) salaries. The association’s I view is that the order applies i only to base hourly or weekly! ! rates of pay. This view is supported by the Canterbury Employers’ Association, which has given similar advice to its members. “The new order does not automatically affect above-

award rales,” the director of the association (Mr N. West) said last evening. “Under the order, employejjs’fcre entitled to pay the 2.7 per cent in all cases, but are not obliged, to do so except in the case of those on I the base award rates. ' “The order doesn’t require .payment on top of above- ; award rates, but nor does, it 1 nrohibit it.” he said.