ON THE ROSTER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1082, 22 March 1911, Page 6

ON THE ROSTER.

THE MAYOR. AND THE TRAMWAYMEN. UNION'S PROPOSALS DISCUSSED. NOT MUCH FURTHER ON. After an interval of over a month, tho conference between tho special sub-com-mitteo of the City Council—the Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.l'.), and Councillors G. Frost and J. Smith—anil Ilio repressnt.atives of tho Tramways' Union, arranged with the object of arriving at a basis of settlement with respect to tho union's demand for improved conditions for the employee?, wns resumed at tho Town Hall last evening, the Mayor prosiding. Councillor i. Smith was absent. Mr. L. Sutherland, secretary of tho union, was the principal speaker for his side. Tho heads of the Tramways Dopartment were also present. It will bo remembered that tho first conference adjourned on the understanding that in the interim an exchange of proposals should be arranged for, in order to unable the parties to thoroughly grain the issues involved in. such questions as tliu abolition or retention ot tho "spare list," the roster .of duties, and rates of At the outset it was agreed that the basis of tho discussion should be the comparative advantages and disadvantages of two schemes ol duties, us set forth in a rosier prepared by the union, and.which, it was contended, would very materially simplify tho working of the system, increase tho mileage of tho carp, reducing the the overtime bill, etc., while retaining all the' advantages claimiid for tho present roster, originally drafted, and tho Department's proposals for the retention of the existing roster, compiled two years ago, with the addition of what is technically known aa a spare or stand-by list. .' The discussion was a very protracted one, for the most part being of a technical nature, and lasted from about a quarter to eight till close, on 11 p.m. No finality was reached, however, and a second adjournment was made sine die. The Two Rosters. Mr. Costal, during the course of a technical explanation of the union's roster, claimed that under the system proposed .by tho union, that the "employees would be placed upon an equitable basis, the present car service would bs materially improved,■the system of "meal reliefs" could be very much improved, and the actual car mileage increased. The same number of men, 240, were allowed for, but there was no "spare list." The Mayor and Mr. Frost each interrogated Mr. Costal closely on the working of the union's roster, and then Mr. G. E. James (tramway traffic superintendent) was called upon to state the ease for the corporation. Ho complained that tho draft roster handed, to him, as from the union, was not complete as to the evidence it disclosed regarding the general working of; the tramways. There was no key, and in that respect it was different from the union's own copy, which set ; out in full the working of the cars. The copy supplied to him, being incomplete in matters of detail, was difficult to analyse, and ho had only had time to examine the working of two of the routes—"A" route and "C" route. A comparison of the union's roster with the department's showed that on the "A" route the union roster disclosed a total of .260 hours, as against tho 249 shown by-.the Tramway Department's returns. " Oiv th«- "C" route, 179 working hours fras: provided for by tho union's roster, while tho council's roster worked out at 174. On ono of the shifts—No. 29—it appeared that under the union's roster a man would have to put in 7 hours and 43 minutes' continuous duty, without a meal; while on shift 91, a continuous stretch of over 12 hours, with 20 minutes for a meal, would, so far as he. could see, have to be worked. There wasi further, ho evidence to show that the union's roster provided cars lo meet the trains. The union's roster, again, provided for a meal relief station at Rintoul Street—it was : an essential point in their system, in fact. This, he considered, would be found to be, in practice, unsatisfactory to tho. men, and expensive to the Department. Their system would require provision to be made for meal reliefs for 88 men nt Rintoul Street. There was no place available where such provision could be made; it would cost £C> per week to do it. Not Good Business. Mr. Costal, in reply, quoted from the union roster in support of his contention that a full and complete car service was provided for. Mr. Sutherland scouted the Traffic Superintendent's suggestion, that the provision of a meal relief station at Eintoul Street would bo difficult to arrange, and commented strongly upon what he considered to be the inhospitable conditions at present imposed upou the meal reliefs at Newtowri. Referring to the question of overtime, the speaker asked the Traffic Superintendent whether it was not a fact that men who had completed an eight hours' shift had been given overtime work at time and a half, despite the fact that there were others available for "call back" duty, who had not done an eight, hours' shift. Mr. James: There may have been such cases. The Mayor: That does not sound good business. Suggested Scale of Pay, The discussion' at this stage became somewhat disconnected. A reference to the respective cost of the rival rosters led nowhere, • so far as finality was concerned, but the principal item of interest was tho announcement by tho Mayor of a suggested scalo ot pay for motormen ■ and conductors. Subject to a considerable saving being effected in overtime by working under tho roster-thn same.being approved by the council-submitted by the union, tho following scale of pay was proposed tor motormen and conductors:— Motormen.of the. first year would receive Is Id per hour (tins would affect lfi men'as.tlie staff stood at present); second vear motormen,. Is. ljd. per hour (73 men" airccted);. third year, Is. 2d. per hour (24 men attested). Conductors '.-First year, Hid. (3, men affected); second year, Is. (43 affected); third year,, is. o{d. (50 affected) - . This scale, ho said, was higher than that in vogue in Auckland or Christchurch, or Dunediri. Under the council's roster, with the spare list, tho men would, have better hours, and Sundays Mr. Sutherland strongly dissented from the principle of the spare list, which, ho said, was a relic of bygone days. The Mayor drew his attention to the fact, that "the spare list was in general use in Australia, South Africa, Great Britain, and America. After further discussion, the parties •reached a point where finality rested upon a close comparison of the two rosters and it was suggested that the union should hand over its complete roster to the council's sub-committee, which proposed to go into the relative merits of tach in detail. _ The union representatives were unwilling to surrender their own copy, and contended that the merits of each roster should be argued there and then. The proceedings terminated on the understanding that tho Tramwaymen's representatives should consult with tlieir union as to the propriety of handing over their roster and key to the subcommittee of the council.