THE RAILWAYS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 September 1924, Page 3

THE RAILWAYS

BOARD OF INQUIRY REPORTS

krty-four hour week is dealt with m Report No'. 2, which bears the signatures of Mr Justice Frazer and Mr \V Scott, members of the Court of Arbitration, and Mr J. Mason, Departmental representative on the board Messrs Hiram Hunter, of the Court of Arbitration, and Mr M. J. Mack, the employees representative on the board, submitted a minority report, No. 3 Mr Justice Frazer and Mr Scott recommend that locomotive shnialliim and maintenance, workshop employees anc! works men be given the choice ■ alternatives (Mr Mason dissenting)) :))—)

1. A forty-four hour week, with overtime at rate and a ,b;i]f for all time worked in excess of eight hours and three-quarters on each of the first five days of the week and fou-r hours and a quarter on Saturday. The hourly rates of wages to remain as at pi ©sent, and a guarantee to be given for 48 hours’ pay weekly. 2. A 48 hour. week, with overtime at rate mid a. half for all time worked in excess of eight hours and three -quarters on each of the first five da-vs of fbe week and four hours and a' quarter on Saturday. The hourly rates of wages to remain as at present, and. a guarantee to he given of 48 hours’ pay weekly, 1 J

We recommend that a secret ballot or the men concerned (excluding apprentices and juniors) be taken at as early a date as possible. It is recommended that the ballot be taken undeir the; supervision of the Department of Labour.

In these alternatives, we recommend a substantial increase .in the overtime rates, and recommend the taking of a ballot for the following reasons:— I. The claim, as formulated, asks for a. forty-four hour, week, with fortyeight hours’ pay. As the majority o.t the board cannot recommend an increase in the rates of pay, winch is necessarily involved in the. claim, it- is thought that the men concerned ought to be given an opportunity of- saying whether they are still in favour of a forty-four hours week.

2. A forty-four hour week is generally established in New Zealand for tradesmen and their assistants, and, though we recognise that railway conditions differ widely from those obtaining outside: the service, we do.- not desire, in the circumstances, to depart from the principle, unless the men agree. Report No. 2 recommends fortyeight hours per week for maintenance (permanent way) branch, and for traffic staff of the traffic and stores branch, with overtime. No alteration is recommended for the hours of tablet porters, crossing-keepers, bridge-keep-ers, nightwa-tchmen, female waitingroom attendants and messengers. RECOMMENDATIONS OF MESSRS HUNTER AND MACK.

Messrs Hunter and Mack concur with this recommendation, so- for as it goes. They add: “We are of ooinion that, in addition, the men are entitled to an increase in wages of 62 per (font., as shown by the Government Statistician’s figures, or 7s 3d per week, over the basic in the railway service in 1914.” They enter an emphatic protest against the recommendation that a forty-eight hour week be worked in the other branches. They agreed that to some extent it was true: that in a

transport industry an eight-hour day was impracticable; hut add:; “On the other hand, the Department has the right to- work a member as few' or as many hours as it thinks,fit on any one day* and as the exigencies of the service may require, and we are of opinion that; under these circumstances, any time in excess of eight hours, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., should he paid for at overtime rates. This is now the practice in the locomotive running branch, was the practice in’ the traffic running branch before the dispute, and we can see- no reasonable grounds for any alteration or any differential treatment of men doing the same work in the same service.” They also express the. opinion that these men are entitled to the 62 per cent, increase.

MR MASON’S RECOMMENDATION. Mr Mason, in report No. 4, oilers the following comment: —“I see no reason why an -exception should be made (from the forty-eight hour week), in regard to the workshops and works staffs, and have therefore dissented from the recommendations of the other members of the board that a secret ballot should bo taken. The forty-four hours week wa* not satisfactory, and the experience of. New Zealand in this regard was not singular, as exemplified in the. case of New South Wales -railways-, where it was abolished. If it had been shown that the forty-eight- hours week was detrimental to health, or deprived the men of a reasonable- standard of comfort, 1 would not have supported forty-eight hours; hut there is no evidence :n that direction.”

■He cited the judgment of the Full Bench of the Commonwealth Arbitration Court, on an application bv the timber and iron trades for a reduction from 48 to 44 hours. Mr Justice Powers said: “The claim for reduction was not supported by any proof that the workers were not capable of working forty’-eight hours without injury to health or without the forfeiture of a reasonable standard of comfort.” Another of the judges mentioned as onp of his reasons for ordering a return to a 48 hours week that the working hours generally' observed in other countries were 48. WAGES AND CONDITIONS.

. The majority, Mr Justice Frazer, Mi Scott, and Mr Mason, make the following observations on wages and conditions generally:—

■‘W-e nave had an ■opportunity of comparing the wages, aid condo 'uns of the New Zealand railways enipfoyces with those of the employees -f ' the Australian railway system, and arc satisfied that the comparison is all in favour of New Zealand’. A comparison of New Zealand railways wages and conditions with those obtaining in industries in New Zealand in which similar classes of workers are employed is also in favour of the New Zealand railways employee. No. body of hourly or daily workers outside the railway services possesses such advantages as payment for public holidays on v. Fell no work was none, annual leave on lull pay, free passes, privilege tickets, free carriage of provisions to isolated stations, a liberal superannuation si home, and, above all, continuity of employment and a guaranteed week’s pry •each week. All these advantages are enjoyed by the railway workers, many of whom also have the benefit <>f cheap bruising, while few workers outside the service have even one of these advantages. These all have a definite money value. Further, the actual money wages paid to railway employees have been brought into conformity with the increased cost of living. The present minimum rate c-f Is 9 34-44 d per hour represents an increase of 61.2 per cent, over the minimum rate payable in 1914, and the value of improved conditions and other concessions granted since 1914 places the railway worker on a belter standard than in pre-war years. The weekly wage rates show a similar increase, foe the present weekly hours are in no case longer than those worked fo 1914.

GENERAL WAGE LEVEL. “It was contended that the rates fixed by the Court of Arbitration were minimum rates, and that workers often received substantially higher rates, w’hereas the classified rates of railway employees were standard rates. This is true, hut an examination of the classified rates discloses that they are. . higher than the corresponding minimum rates of the Court of Arbitration, and aire probably as high as, if not higher than, the general level of wages prevailing in industries governed by awards of the Court. The present building boom and the scarcity of tradesmen have raised carpenters’ . wages lor the time being, at all events in the cities and some of the larger towns, to an unusually high level, but in the iirc.n and leather trades there is much unemployment, shortened hours are being worked, and wages tend markedly towards the award minima.. The classified' rates of the Railway Department, hcwever, arc trained without regard to boom o. slump conditions prevailing outside the service, and afford a fair reward for the work performed. For these rea r sons, and having regard to improved conditions granted since 1914, w r e have found o-uirselves unable to recommend the granting of an increase in the hourly rates of tv ages, which is necessarily involved in claim 1 of the society. HOURS AND OVERTIME. “We are of the opinion that a 48 hours week is necessary to ensure efficiency in the branches of the railway service coming within the scope of our inquiry, with the possible exception of the. workshops and the works staffs. Mr Mason is of the opinion that even this exception should not be made, and accordingly does not subscribe to it. The Court of Arbitration for several years past has prescribed a. 44 hours week for workers in trades in which the work is of a continuously strenuous Mature, more particularly the skilled trades, and a 48 hours w'eek for other workers. Outside of the workshops and works staffs .the railway employees with whose conditioius of work we are concerned come w'ithin the latter category. LIMIT OF WORKING HOURS. “We are further of the opinion that payment of overtime rates in irespeet )f all time on duty in excess of eight hours in any day is unwarranted. In industries where the work is continuous over the 24 hours of the day, and where the nature of the business necessitates the shifts being of unequal duiration, it is \customary to fix a limit (usually ten hours) to the daily number of hours that may be worked, or to fix both a limit and a span. Overtime rates are payable only in respect of time worked in excess of the number of hours so fixed as the daily limit, oir outside of the span of hours during which the day’s woik is to be perfcinned. In the case of the traffic and stores staffs, it is unnecessary to fix a daily span of hours, for the existing regulations are sufficient for the purpose; and it appears io us that the fixing of a daily Jim it. of 10 hours is reasonable in view of the conditions of railway work. SAFEGUARDING EMPLOYEES.

“The provision of a 48 hours week, with overtime for all time worked in excess of 10 hours in any day or of 48 hours in any week safeguards ihe employee against being required to work without overtime payment longer than an average of eight hours daily, and tends to restrict the minimum daily aours cf work to a number approximating to that average, it may be mentioned, in passing, that- in many industries there is no daily limit of aours, the provision of a- weekly limit yi 48 hours meeting all requirements. An exact eight hours day is unworkable in a transport service such as the railway service, and necessarily invohes a largely increased wages bill disguised as overtime. It may be taker, as axiomatic that a fair and reasonable daily or weekly number of hours of work, ascertained by reference to the nature and conditions <>r the particular employment and by comparison with available standards, should he paid for at ordinary rates of wages, and time worked in excess of. that number of hours should be paid for at overtime rates. The nature rid conditions of the. employment in the case with which we are dealing render it air and reasonable that the clay’s work should average eight hours, and unreasonable and impracticable-, that it should he exactly eight hours. Ktnee overtime rates should be paid only in respect of time worked in ex.ess of 18 hours weekly, which is . q in/a lent ;o an average of eight hours on six days of the week. In order that the oxtreme daily number of hours sin.i.ld not .unduly exceed the uve-nge, the provision of -overtime: rates after a maximum of ten hours lias been worked on any day has been recinimended for the traffic and stores staffs generally, with certain exceptions that have been specially k .erred to. INCREASE OF OVERTIME RATE. “We have recommended the discontinuance of the payment of a special aight nate. It is not customary' tc pay overtime rates to workers outside the railway' service for shift work that has necessarily' to. be performed all ■■ound the clock. The wage fixed for these workers covers an allowance for :h© necessary conditions of their emiloyment. We have, however, recommended an increase of the general ivertime rate from rate and a quarter mi 44-48ths of the schedule rates of >ay to rate amt a half on the full schedule rates of pay. This is in ac:ordance with the usual practice prevailing outside the railway' service, uid is a compensation to the men or the withdrawal of the night rate.”