GRADING ASPECTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 137, 7 December 1944, Page 9

GRADING ASPECTS

RAILWAY OFFICERS AND OTHERS

"Have you ever had occasion or been interested enough to compare the number of years' service by which members of the Public Service enter grade 6 with a similar situation in the Railways Department?" was a question put to Jack O'Brien, a grade 6 train control operator at Wellington, at the sitting of the Railways Industrial Tribunal yesterday afternoon by the chairman (Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M.).

The witness replied that he had made comparisons. He had a friend in the Customs Department. They had been grade 7 clerks together. Now his friend was in grade 3. Another friend of his, who had originally been in the Post and Telegraph Department, had decided that there were no prospects for him there and had transferred*-to the Public Trust Office. He was now in grade 4. Neither of the two men he had mentioned had any outside qualifications.

Mr. Stilwell suggested that there was a greater field for interchange of officers in the Public Service than in the railway service, to which witness replied that he thought the railways would give more opportunities for transfers. Yet another friend of his, with whom he had worked in grade 7, was now in grade 4 in the Native Department.

Mr. Stilwell: You have apparently given this consideration. What do you ascribe that situation to? I understand the net conclusion you have reached is that your chances of promotion and advancement are not as great as they are in certain sections of the Public Service.

The witness, said he thought the difference lay in the grading method. A man he knew in the Land and Income Tax Department had told him that he had held the same position from grade 7 up to grade 5, so it appeared that it was the man who had been graded rather than the position. In the Customs .Department case he had mentioned the advancement was probably due to the fact that there were not so many men scrambling for the top positions. He agreed that the Customs Department was not as extensive in its operations as the Railways Department.

Evidence on behalf of stationmasters in grades 1 and 2 was given by Albert Woods Jackson, stationmaster, Wellington. He said that although there had been an enormous increase in business over the past five years, nothing had been done to improve the position of the grade 1 stationmaster, despite the considerable increase in his responsibilities. Those responsibilities had been accentuated by the existing conditions, particularly with regard to the calibre of the staff, many of whom had been directed to the station and were not of the same standard as experienced members. In reply to questions, the witness said that his salary was £615. In the last financial year a grade 6 member of his staff had- earned that amount through overtime and Sunday work. He was aware that a general regradmg had been postponed until after the war, but he thought that the members were more concerned about an improved salary schedule than regrading. He had worked a certain amount of overtime, but had received nothing extra for it, being barred by the £565 limit.