P. & T. OFFICERS

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 124, 26 May 1920, Page 4

P. & T. OFFICERS

RENEWED DEMANDS FOR HIGHER ■ PAY IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION SOUGHT. . A special meeting of the members of the Post and Telegraph Officers' Association was held in the Masonic Hall last evening to consider questions to be^ placed before delegates to .the annual Dominion conference of the association to bo held in June. Mr. N. Cummins presided, and there' w&s a very large attendance. The Chairman detailed matters brought up by the. deputation which recently waited upon the Prime Minister to place before him their .demands for higher salaries. He rea-d a letter received by the secretary of. the association from the Prims 'Minister, wherein the latter intimated thr.t the questions raised by the association and other .branches of the Civil Service could not be decided until matters in connection with the Railway Service had been settled. The association should 6ee, said the Chairman, that steps were taken at once to obtain' their demands; they did not want to wait a year or more for an answer, but wanted a. decision at once.

A motion brought forward by Mr. S. Mason, and approved by those present, expressed appreciation of the untiring efforts of the Executive in the. matter, of obtaining higher salaries to. meet the increased cost of living, and pledged the

association's wholehearted support of the executive in any action it might take to overcome- any- set-back. Mr. R. Reynolds, Chairman of the Executive Committee, thanked the members for their appreciation. He considered that more power should be vested in the Executive"Committee, and moved: "That the rules of the association be so amended as to allow of the appointment of a. more widely representative Executive Committee." There were, said Mr. Reynolds, some members of the executive who did not take as keen an interest m association affairs as they should, but Ije was glad that the suggestions of a. general " spinelessnsss " had been withdrawn. , A rather warm attack was .made upon a- section of the executive, and Mr. J. D. Burns held that certain members had been " passengers, pure and simple." The motion was carried. ANSWER WANTED.

The next motion followed the same liiiQS as mot-ions passed at the last meeting of the association; it was worded: 1 That this meeting of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand lost and Telegraph Officers' Association is of the opinion that the Prime Mhriste; 1 is again side-stopping our demands, and calls upon the executive to demand a, i reply, within seven,days, to the recent ■ deputation. Failing a satisfactory reply within tho stated ti;ne it bo an instruction to Wellington delegates to conference to press for immediate drastic action. . i With three dissentient voters the meeting supported tho motion. One of tht speakers urged that no drastic, action should be-taken for it was apparently the .intention of the Government to give all officers of the Public Service the same treatment an the rnilvrsy men." Tt was, in his opinion, of no use to "demand" an answer, for no answer would be given before tho Government was ready, and should the association go on strike—a voice: "go slow"—-it would merely be kicking against the pricks and getting hurt. REMITS. Among other remits adopted and to bebrought before conference were: — That the system of fines for errors committed, at present, in vogue, be abolished. That failing the introduction of aSaturday half-holiday, overtime be paid on that day for ail duty performed exceeding three hours. That should there "'be a breakdown in negotiations for increased salaries necessary -te meet the increased cost of living (increase of 62 per cent, if confirmed), this branch favours the setting up of a tribunal similar tq the present railway tribunals . That this meeting . . . is in favour "of instructing the delegates to the forthcoming conference to include in their demands the claim of the members who went abroad with the N.Z.E.F. and did not receive half-pay in excess of military pay, to be put on a level basis with the more fortunate officers who received this benefit. That this meeting prefers the Board of Promotion Control to the old^.system of Commissioner Control.