THE SALARY QUESTION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 28 April 1924, Page 4

THE SALARY QUESTION.

— y a:\ DEMANDS BY THE MEN. i j CONSIDERATION DEFERRED. [ (BY TELEGRAPH —PBESS ASSOCIATION.) j WELLINGTON, April 27. j The Postmasteu-Ueneral (Hon. J. G. i Coates) niatle an important statement ; to a deputation from ths executive of the P. aud T. Officers' Association i tnis afternoon: The salary schedules, i : winch it was proposed should apply to i oificers of the Post and Telegraph Department horn. April 1, and whicii were referred to the Post hud Telegraph Otticers' Association, were not regarded oy its representatives as satisfactory, ayd the association recently submitted other schedules. The Postmaster-Gen-eral, alter carefully going into the proposals made by the association,, has made the following statement: — -. it has been staled on behalf of the' , association that the schedules prepared ,by tiiat organisation nave been drawn : u«p so as to provide for a 60 per cent. : increase over the salaries paid" in 1914. .ln 1914 message boys commenced at ! £31 per annum, and after a year's ser- ! vice were paid £40 per annum; The average salary paid was, therefore, approximately £36 pear annum. The , Government considered that the prej sent salary of £57 per annum, or an increase ot 58 per cent, over 1914, was adequate, and therefore did not propose any higher payment. The association, on the other hand, claims a commencing salary of £(.5 ncr annum, i equalling 110 per cent, over 1914, and a saiary of £/0 per annum after one year's service. The latter amount is 75 per oent. above the maximum, paid i ten years ago. | Exchange attendants commenced - at a salary or £40 per annum iv 1914, and in the fifth year of their service were paid £80 per annum. In the schedules recently drawn up and forwarded to the association for comment, it was 1 proposed that an exchange attendant should receive a commencing salary of . £83 per annum, equal to 107 per cent. above 1914, and that in the fifth year such an officer should be paid £135 per annum, or 68 per cent, 'above the salary paid ten years ago to an attendI ant in her fifth year of service. v The j assoication, however, claims a general j increase of 100 per cent, on salaries : paid to exchange attendants in 1914 for the first five years' serivce. Junior male officers of tlie general division were paid a commencing salary '. of £50 per annum in 1914. In the sixth yeasr of their service they re r ceived £100 per annum, while" they ! were paid £120 per annum in \ the eighth year of service. Provision was [made in the Government's recent proposals for these officers to commence at £70 per annum, to receive £194 in . the eighth yeair, which equals an in- ■ crease of 40 per cent., 46 per cent., and 61 per cent, respectively over the ' salaries naid ten years ago. The association claims a commencing salary of £«0 per annum, representing an increase'of 60 per cc-i.t. over 1914, and a payment "of £200 in the sixth year of service, which is exactly 100 per cent, more than was paid ten years ' ago, while it is claimed that £275 I should be paid in the eighth year of ' service, which means an increase of 129 per cent, over the corresponding ( salary paid in 1914. ! years ago the minimum salary fof the clerical division was £50, and ,in his seventh year of service an officer was paid £135, while £150 was paid for the eighth year. The proposals , , placed before the association by the i Government provided for a commencing salary of £&), which . means a. 60 per oent. increase over 1914, for a payment of £210 in the seventh year, representing an incerase of 55 per cent, over . 1914, while an officer in his eighth j year was to be paid £230, or 53 per cent, more than was naid to such an officer ten years ago. The proposals made by the association, however, pro- , vide for a commencing salary of £85 Iter annum, wlucif is 70 per cent, higher , than the minimum salary in 1914. The claim is also made that an officer should receive £290 in his seventh year of service, and £340 in the eighth year, which represent increases of 114 and 126 per ', cent, respectively when compared with the payments made 10 years ago. The adoption of the association's proposals would mean that in the clerical division 157 unmarried officers of approximately j22 years of age, receiving; a salary of J £205 per annum, would receive an increase of £135 per annum, 233 officers,, of approximately 23 years of age, the larggT majority of whom are'Minmarried and receiving £225 per annum, would be entitled to an additional £115 per annum^a while 189 unmarried officers, receiving £190 per annum and approximately 21 years of age, would have their salaries increased by £100 per annum. Tne proposals also provide for 93 general division unmarried officers of approximately 22 years of age^ow receiving £148 per annum, having tlieir salaries increased by £127 per annum, and for 29 unmarried officers,- approximately 21 years of age and receiving £135 per annum, to receive an addi- , tional £105 per annum. j It was stated recently on behalf of • the assoeiatioiy-ijiat no* man of adult ag« 5 giving efficient service, should rei ceive less than £4 10s a week. If that i were agreed to, and if the schedules proposed by the association were adopted, the additional expenditure to be met by I the Post and Telegraph Department for : the current financial year would be £454,227. As the amount paid in salaries and wages for the last financial year was £8,863,424, it will be seen , that the total for this year would be ! £2,317,651. A rough estimate shows that if the association's proposals were J applied to the department's under the control of the public service commissioner, an additional expenditure for the current financial year of £350,000 approximately would be involved. Reference has been made by officers of the association to the large number of officers who are at the maximum salary of the rank and file of the clerical division (£295). There are 1306 officers at that salary at present.-^Be-fore an officer is eligible for promotion Ito the class above the rank and file of j the clerical division, he must pass the controlling officers' examination. Out of 1468 officers eligible to sit fo- that examination only 283 have passed. This means that 81 ncr cent, of those officers are not prepared to sacrifice a little of their private time in order to qualify for promotion and higher salaries. Apparently they prefer to remain rank and file officers , throughout their official lives. It is ' considered that such men would not i earn more than £295 in private life, j and that amount is considered an ade- I quate payment for the services they j render to the department. j It has been stated by the association i that outside the service a youth serves I five years as an apprentice, a yeair or two as an improver, and i.s then ontitled to the "award rate of pay. While that might be the case of those who are learning trades, the large majority of junior clerks in outside employment -

progress by annual incvesjises^ which may or may not be quite so regular as those-^ paid in the department. In ord4r that ' the position of the juniors might be! fuily understood, it is necessary to ex- i plain that the majority of officers of j the Post and TeLegraph Department j join as message bOys. Usually the j brightest boys qualify for promotion to the clerical division within two or three > yea*rs of coming into the service. - The | less ambitious boys are, as a rule, pro-; moted to positions of postmen, messengers, etc..-within a similar period. In jears gone by only 10 per cent, of boys were content to remain in the general division. The balance qualified for promotion to the clerical division. i As a result of the maximum salary of the rank and file of the general division having been increased, there is a growing disinclination on the nart of , officers to qualify for promotion to the clerical division, and, in proof of this, it might be stated that, although owing to a surplus of staff there were no promotions from the general to the clerical division for approximately three years, there are now only 13 per cent, of officers of the general division eligible for promotion to the clerical division. The remainder are losing their opportunities of receving higher , salaries. Apparently they are satisfied 'to remain in the general division. It is considered that the proposed maxi^ mum salary of £240, which is equal to £4 12s a week, is adequate remuneration for a man who is not prepared to qualify for a higher salary. ! It has been stated 'by the associa-, tion that an officer mignt remain at a salary of £295 for ten years. If the officer fails: to qualify toi promotion or is considered by the promotion board, on which the officers have representation, as unsuitable for advancement, he might remain at the maximum saL; ary for even a longer period than ten years. It is not usual, however, -for a good officer to remain for that term. Out of over 100 officers recently promoted, only six had completed ten years at a salary of £295. Had these officers reached a higher standard of efficiency they would have been promoted at a much earlier date. The majority of those recently promoted have been five years at the maximum salairy, while a number have served a shorter period. It is observed that in 1920, when -the Government Statistician's figures showed the combined food groups as being 62 per cent, above 1914, the association accepted £320 and £258. as the maximum of the rank and file of the clerical, and general divisions respectively. Now, when the Statistician's figures show the food groups at 49.63 per cent, above 1914, the association ! claims a maximum of £340 for the rank and file of the clerical division, and | £275 for the rank and file of the general division. The association stated tfyat the staffs of the banks received a : bonus, but the information available . shows that officers in receipt of a salary of. £270 or under are not paid a bonus. 1 In spite of what might be said by I the association to the contrary, the salaries proposed by the Government . are not less generous than those paid to men whose work can be reasonably i compaired with the work done by officers of the department. In Saturday's Times Mr Combs is reported as having said that the association's proposals provided for an increase of £45 for the . clerical division officers, and £42 for the officers of the general division, . based strictly on the 1914 schedules, i plus the cost of living increase since j that yeair. The association's proposals I were said to average £30 per officer , over the whole service. ' As shown above, the total salaries . and wages paid for the year ended j March 31 last was £1,863,424. If the association's proposals were agreed to, the expenditure on salaries and wages i during the current financial year would be £2,317,651, an increase 0f\£454,227. As the permanent officers and temporary employees number 9137, it will be seen that an average of £49 14s per man has been claimed by the association. In addition, stated the Minister, the general average increase to the rank and file, as proposed by the department, was 50 ncr cent, above 1914, whereas the average general increase under the P. and A. Association's proposals was 90 per cent, over 1914. As promised, he had placed the whole position before Cabinet, which had asked him to convey to the association •the view that Cabinet is not prepared to further consider the (requests' ot tlie P. and T. officers until the present difficulty with the railwaymen is out .of the way. That was about all he could' say at? the moment. Mr Combs (secretary) asked if Cabinet's communication did not mean that the P. and T. case for an increase in wages and salaries was wrapped up in the railway efforts to gain "an increase, and that negotiations were suspended. The Minister said he could not see that. It meant that Cabinet did not feel like taking the mat-tea- in hand until the railway trouble was out of the way, but he was prepared to continue the negotiations. They had his statement to consider. "Well, it seems to be," said Mr Combs, ''that in effect we are told to go about our business until the raihvay dispute is over." "You may make what deductions you like," renlied the Minister. "I have told you what the position is. I am not telling you to go about your business." Mr Combs: "Cabinet has, though." The Minister: "I have conveyed Cabinet's decision."