SICK BENEFIT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 12 April 1928, Page 5

SICK BENEFIT

FOR RAILWAY WORKERS NATIONAL SCHEME PROPOSED. SUBSIDY FROM DEPARTMENT (BY TELEGRAPH—SPECIAL TO “THE STAR.") WELLINGTON, April 11. An important innovation making for stability of railway men \s conditions ii;;s been adopted by the Minister of Railways. Employees will shortly be asked to indicate by -ballot their acceptance of a sdheme. for sick benefits on national lines through -out the service. The financial basis will be con-, hibutions from the employees of 2s 6d for each four weeks, while the Department in addition, if -the proposed society i s fully representative of all employees, will subsidise the contributions on a basis of ten shillings in £1 up (to a uiraxjimum- annual subsidy iof £BOOO. The- scheme -has been under consideration for over a year and is designed to cover the difficult conditions of .wage earners when off duty through illness. There is another interesting feature on which railwayinen will 'be asked to indicate their opinions by vote. When, accidents occur the compensation is on a statutory scale and one proposal is that the new organisation should supplement this payment to the extent of 15s per week. It is intended, however, th'at the proposed membership -of the sick benefit society shall have an epportunity of directly deciding whether this provision is to apply, carrying with it a corresponding reduction in the ordinary sick benefit, of whether the whole funds of the society shall be devoted to the benefit of members unable to work owing to : ' sickness or injury and not covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act.

It. has been calculated . that the straight but sick benefit scheme on the financial basis suggested would enable a weekly payment of £2 5s to be made, but the final figure ia -dependent on the membership of the fund, for which all second division employees, permanent or casual, are eligible. The main lines of the scheme have been framed by a committee comprising the chief accountant of the Railways Department, the staff superintendent, and me secretaries of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, the Engineers, Firemen, and 'Cleaners Association, and the! Railway Tradesmen’s Association.