CALL-BACK DUTY

Evening Star, Issue 26038, 28 February 1947, Page 8

CALL-BACK DUTY

MENTAL HOSPITAL IMBROGLIO COMMISSION AND ASSOCIATION AT LOGGERHEADS STATEMENTS FROM BOTH (P.A.y 5 WELLINGTON, _ Feb. 27. “ Misleading statements have been made in the Press and action that is discreditable to the public service cf New Zealand has been countenanced by >the executive officers of the Public Service Association,” says a statement issued to-day by the Public Service Commission. “ When in November last the new Public Service Commission entered on its duties it expressed its willingness to work in, full co-operation with the Public Service Association as a responsible body representing the public f servants generally,” the statement says. “ The commission has received numerous requests and representations from the executive of the association, many of which on being shown to be reasonable have been conceded. One request was- that certain rearrangements in respect to overtime in mental hospitals should be / back-dated. A decision had been given by the previous commissioner-that the change should operate from October 1, 1946. The association asked that it be backdated to April, 1946.” After expressing appreciation of the work being done by the mental nurses, referring to the increases in pay al- ' readv granted to them, and expresssing the “hope- that further improvements would be made in the future, the statement says that a case for back-dating overtime to April was not made by the association. “ Whence the starting date of October 1, 1946?” the statement asks. “On this issue there are two relevant documents, to both of whcih the. Public, Service Association was a party. Concerning the public service as a whole the report of the Consultative, Committee on Salaries recommended a 40-hour week. There was no .reference in this report to overtime payment from April 1 or any other date. “Secondly, applying to the staffing of mental hospitals is the report of a committee of inquiry on which the Public Service Association was • directly represented. BLACK AND WHITE REFUTAL. “ Definitely and specifically this committee in favouring the payment of overtime rates for time worked in excess of an average of * 40 hours a week recommended this innovation as from October 1, 1946. This definite recommendation was signed by a representative of the Public Service Association. It was accepted and: approved. “In spite of tjie clear statement in black and white embodied in the report of the committee on the staffing- of mental hospitals naming October 1 as the recommended (fate, Messrs Lewin and Turnbull are reported to have spoken of * an agreement ’ to pay retrospectively from April. The documents belie> their statement, and they have seriously misled members of the* association and the public.” Referring to’ the threat of direct action through the refusal to accept call-backs, the statement says: “.The executive heads of the association are responsible. It is obvious to all that the only section of the; public . who could suffer from the action taken woukl be the mental patient himself. The Public Service Commission will not deal with the. Public Service Association on the basis of threats of this sort, and will not countenance action , by which the patients in our institutions may suffer. Accordingly, on February 25, by resolution of the Public Servicej Commission, the executive officers of the association were informed that, pending their reconsideration of their attitude, the Public Ser- , vice Association will not be received by the commission, nor action taken on their representations until the position has been clarified. “The commission, at the same time, reaffirmed its decision to pay overtime on the revised basis as from the recommended date of ( ober 1, 1946. ; This applies to the prisons' service as well as to the mental hospitals.”