RAILWAY SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 134, 4 December 1944, Page 6

RAILWAY SERVICE

COMPARISON OF EARNINGS

"Due to conditions arising out of the present staffing arrangements it is not unusual for such members of the staff as chefs, cooks, and sleeping-car attendants with short-term service of a casual nature to draw much larger amounts fortnightly than do officers of the first division with long service," said Mr. P. W. Gasson, Wellington district supervisor of the railways refreshment branch, when giving evidence for the Railway Officers' Insti^ tute before the Railways Industrial Tribunal today. .

"Indeed, there have been many occasions when the gross earnings of the chef at Wellington have exceeded those of the comptroller of the branch," Mr. Gasson continued. "Members of the first division in receipt of less than £565 a year are not permitted to receive by way of overtime a "sum which will exceed in the aggregate £565, but this restriction does not apply to the casuals employed in the branch.

"It is my considered opinion that there is an urgent need for a drastic overhaul of the salary schedules and conditions of employment of the staff of the first division in order to provide reasonable standards of living and place officers performing exacting and arduous duties in a position of economic security for the ultimate good of the country in general."