TROUBLE IN NAVY

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 June 1939, Page 7

TROUBLE IN NAVY

N.Z. RATINGS’ GRIEVANCES

LEAVE SHIPS, AS PROTEST

[FEB PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

AUCKLAND, Junq 19

Dissatisfaction with their rates of pay, which has been brewing' for a long time among Dominion ratings in the New Zealand/ division of the Royal Navy, came to a head' to-day, when about 500 men from the cruisers Leander and Achilles and the depot ship Philomel, walked off their vessels and held a meeting, of protest in one of the base sheds. It has' been made clear that the men hope for an early settlement of the matter, and it is proposed to hold a further meeting in a few days if the desired increase in pay is not obtained. Representations by the men were communicated to the commodore commanding the New Zealand Squadron, Commodore J. W. Rivett-Carnac, and a report was later sent to the Minister for Defence (Mr. Jones). The commodore later left for Wellington, where the position will be discussed to-morrow. In. the last few days, the commodore has/ been ill with influenza, and. the ratings paid him a high tribute for going to the base and giving attention to their, representations. The meeting was pre-arranged. Immediately before if was held, the men in the Leander, which is at present in dock for refit, were called upon to continue with the cleaning of the cruiser’s bottom. Instead of doing so, the. New Zealanders walked off the ship in a body, and. went to a nearby shed. Here they were joined by a large group from the Philomel, and also by some of the New Zealanders off the Achilles. Others from the latter ship, however, were' not able to do so. They said later that a guard of Royal Marines was stationed; at the head of the gang-plank after a comparatively small number had left the ship. Such meetings, it was. stated, were not provided for under the Admiralty regulations. In the Navy service, complaints or requests had to be made individually, and not collectively. Fully aware of this, said some of the men later,-they,.would have hesitated to take the steif decided-on if they had not been fully satisfied) of the justice of their claims. Spokesmen for the men said other methods' of obtaining better pay had been tried in the past. Complete failure ha'd attended) their efforts, although on at /least two occasions promises to.. Ityvejthe matter attended to had been made.

Although a few attended, Imperial ratings did not take part in the meeting. It was stated, however, that the Imperial men have also'been considering several matters concerning their pay. One of these is that they are called upon in New Zealand to pay the social security charges. While they could not see the justice of paying the previous unemployment tax, and then later the employment levy, they 1 said they were even less inclined; to pay for the cost of social security! benefits, from which they did not expect to derive the least benefit.

NO INCREASE IN PAY

It was stated by ratings that their rates of pay to-day are exactly the same as in 1924, the average flat rate being 7/6 a. day. It was- also stated that this rate would not compare favourably with the 2/6 an hour paid to labourers outside. • Further, i.t was alleged that the marriage, allowance in the New Zealand Division is 14/- a week, compared with 17/- in the Royal Navy, notwithstanding that the- cost of living in England’ is far cheaper than in New Another complaint is that clothes Are Jfbt free, as is commonly supposed. An allowance of 3d or 4d a day is given the men to buy and keep 7, up. their compulsory kits.

The most that a married man may allow his £2/17/6 weekly, it is stated, which leaves, after all taxes are deducted?? about 5/- a week to pay his mess bill and o,tiler items. The men say that they ‘have to pay the same taxes as any civilian. They point out, too, that the 1 Government aims to have New Zealand-manned ships ,by 1941; but unless conditions! are improved this would be an impossibility. They state that in 1935 on two occasions, May and. October, 10 stokers were required, and 500 applied; 20 boy seame'n were required, and 300 applied. With conditions, as they are for a civilian, however, it was not possible to get seven stokers when 15 were required, and nine seamen when 30 were required. The men conclude their complaints by challenging the statement of a naval official that New Zealand: ratings are satisfied with their pay and' conditions. The men allege that the Navy has been neglected, although the Army and the Air Force' have gained substantial increases in pay and improved conditions. They claim, also, that a naval rating has no chance of meeting, on terms of equality, men engaged on work of equal skill on shore. It has been stated, that the trouble has its origin in the fact that, naval ratings have been unable to protect their interests through the formation of organisations similar to trade unions in the industrial world.

ALLOWANCES TOO LOW.

INCREASED COST OF LIVING

AUCKLAND, June 19

Comparisons with, the 1 wages earned in civilian occupations, and in the New Zealand military forces, lie behind the dissatisfaction of the New Zealand ratings with their rates of pay. Dissatisfaction 1 has been particularly rife among married men, who state that they have been finding it increasingly difficult, in face of the rising costs of living, to maintain themselves and their families on the allowances given jn the Navy. It was stated that these two factors —shore wages and the increasing casts of living—caused the two requests decided on at to-day’s meetings.

One request was for a general increase in pay of 3/- a, day. This was made for all grades or ratings, and was not varied on scale 1 from one 1 rank to another, so that lower . paid’ men would be just as capable as the more highly paid ratings of meeting the increased costs’ of living. The second request was that the’ marriage allowance should be assessed quarterly. This procedure, it was stated, would provide scope’ to megt the increased

costs of living as they, occurred' fronr ; time to time. It did. not mean that; the men wanted ani increase, in their, marriage allowance at the end of; every quarter; but"'’'that a review;, should!.then be made, and an increase! granted if costs had increased in the; meantime.'. >At- is a flat rate of 7/4 a day for all ratings. This rate is basic for the lowest-paid sea-; man. From it is,calculated pay for the higher rankings/ so that a man. with one good conduct badge would get 7/i4( plus 3d; a man with', two, good conduct badges 7/4 plus 6d; and a leading seaman, petty, officer seaman,' leading stoker, petty; officer stoker, and so on, 7/4 plus the .additional amount prescribed'for their rank. The request decided on to-day is to the effect that the basic or flat rate should be increased to 10/4. On topi of.this; amount men with higher ranks would get 'the present allowances. Considerable importance was attached! by' the men to theiri\TyiSn that- a change should be made in the basic rate, and not to the! additional allowances. In addition to his personal pay, a martiddi NeMr- Zedland rating receives a marriage allowance of 2/- a day. for his wife and 6d for each child. In the Royal Navy the marriage allowance is 17/- a week, although New. Zealand ratings state that the cost of living in England is much cheaper than in the Dominion; However, they said' they are n'ot asking for an increased marriage allowance. They thought a fail* request would be to have the allowance reviewed from time to time inpthe light of costs of living. . It is stated that particularly for a married seaman or stoker without petty officer rank, the position has become almost impossible. Even for a petty officer, for whom an allocation of about £3 a week is made to his wife, increased living costs are stated to have become such that the pay is barely sufficient to,meet . a.ll calls made upon it. High rents and State taxation on internal navy payments are cited as increasing difficulties facing married men, who state; that by the time 1 all commitments, are met their own personal allowance is decreased to a few shillings a week, from which they have to meet their own mess bill. The increases in pay of rankings in the air and army departments' have deepened the naval grievances. In addition, coihparisons are made with the wages drawn, by such men as Public Works Department employees. To this latter condition men assign the frequent desertions from the Navy. Finally, the nien> make a point of their inability, under ths regulations. to bargain for wage l increases collectively. There is a feeling, according to a number of them, that the provision for individual complaint is not sufficient to meet pay grievances, and that some better form of machinery could be established. i

MR. SAVAGE’S STATEMENT. WELLINGTON, June 19. “The Government has fcr some time been considering proposals for improving the allowances’ to naval ratings in the New Zealand division,” said the Prime Minister (Mr. Savage) when'invited to comment on the dispute at. the naval base at Auckland. “The:e. proposals have already been framed, and will be submitted -to the Cabinet within the' next day or two,” he said. BRITISH ADMIRALTY.NEUTRAL (Recd. June 20, 11 a.m.) LONDON, June 19. The Admiralty declines to comment on the New Zealand naval pay demand,, stating that New Zealand is a separate service, with its own regulations. The Admiralty could not, in these circumstances, give any opinion.