TRAMWAY BOARD

Feilding Star, Volume 11, Issue 4180, 1 March 1934, Page 5

TRAMWAY BOARD

APPEALS UPHELD REDUCTIONS IN GRADING AND PAY (Per Press Association) Christchurch, February 28 The Tramway Appeal Board gave judgment tonight in 23 apeals by members of the traffic staff of the Christchurch tramways against reductions in grading and pay. All the ajipeals were upheld, with costs against the Tramway Board. The appeals were made against the decision of the recently-elected board, on which there is an overwhelming majority of Labour members. When the tram strike occurred in May, 1932, the. trams were manned in part by non-union labour, with a proportion of members of the union who refused to go on strike. When astrike settlement was reached by arbitration, tile arbitrator (Mr A. T. Donnelly, a barrister) directed that, in fulfilment of the promise made by the board to the volunteers who helped to keei> the service running, that they would be permanently retained if suitable, that a proportion of these mfeii Avould lie (retained, and that other vacancies would be filled by the re-employment of union men. Because of the strike some of the union men were re-engaged at lower grading and pay, and some volunteers and some non-strikers were given a higher grading than they otherwise would have achieved. The new board directed the manager to regrade the staff according to seniority, disregarding the strike and not counting that period as a break in service. The result of this regrading was that the appellants were reduced in seniority and grading.