CITY COUNCIL WAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20897, 12 June 1931, Page 12

CITY COUNCIL WAGES.

JTEN PER CENT. REDUCTION. EFFECTIVE FROM TO-DAY. CLOSE VOTING ON QUESTION FURTHER SALARY REVIEW. 'A decision to reduce all wages by 10 ' \ler cont. as from to-day was made by the Auckland City Council last evening. The proposal was keenly debated and an amendment that no married man's wage should bo reduced below £4 a week was defeated on the casting vote of the Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison. Tho Auckland and Suburban Local Bodies' Labourers' Union wrote asking that the council givo tho same treatment to its outside staff as that given to the indoor staff, viz., that no reduction be made in wages which would bring them below the level of £250 a year. Tho Mayor moved that all wages paid by the council, including piecework, overtime and special payments, be reduced 10 per cent, from June 12. Mr. Hutchison said he brought forward / his motion with regret, but lie considered that the council could take no other course than follow tho lead of the Government. When the council some weeks ago had come to a decision reducing tho salaries of tho graded staff the Arbitration Court had not made its pronouncement. At th«' next meeting of the council he proposed to move that the 10 per cent, cut apply to nil salaries as well as wages, thus setting aside the former proviso that salaries bo not reduced below £250. Employment Aspect. "If any of us had any doubts about tho necessity for conserving the conncil's resources," added the Mayor, "the information we have received to-day of tho stopping of the No. 5 scheme should show us that we must treat the matter seriously if we are to relieve the ratepayers and avoid dismissing men. That can ba done only by reducing the remuneration of the permanent stavf." Mr. H. R. Jenkins said ho had very much pleasure in seconding the motion. Mr. E. J. Phelan: Pleasure! Mr. Jenkins said the farmers had suffered a reduction of at least 40 per cent, in income, while business people had lost 50 per cent. It was not too much to ask the workers to lose 10 por cent. Opposition to Proposal. Tho motion was opposed by Mr. E. J. Phelan, who said many old and faithful servants of the council who had been receiving more than the award minimum had recently had their wages reduced to the minimum without the council being consulted. Mr. W. H. Murray advocated a sliding scale of wage reduction. Mr. M. J. Coyle believed no cut should bo made below £250. He had great pleasure in opposing tho motion. An amendment was moved by Mr. T. Bloodworth that the request contained .n the letter from the Auckland and Suburban Local Bodies' Labourers' Union l.ie giveri effect to. Citing the decision of the Presbyterian General Assembly not to reduce the stipends of its ministers, Mr. Bloodworth said: "I understand there are some gentlemen of the Presbyterian persuasion around this table and I suggest that instead of following the Government's stupid lead, they should follow the lead of the men they arc accustomed to follow in matters of importance." Mr. B. Martin seconded the amendiner t. Mr. D. Henry held the council had no option but to reduce wages by 10 per cent. Difficulty With Estimates. Mr. I). Donaldson said an all-round 10 per cent, reduction would inflict undue hardship on tho lower-paid workers without hurting tho better-paid employees. He suggested the question should be referred to tho Finance Committee to evolve the most equitable method of economising by salary reductions. Mr. H. P. Burton emphasised that business people had had to make a big sacrifice. Mr. Burton mentioned that in going through the estimates during the past few days the position seemed to be worse than at first thought, and the question was how to keep all the council's men employed. The "pros" and "cons" of the question had been put very ably before the Aibitration Court, said Mr. A. J. Entricin. and ho thought tho Court's decision should be carried out. Every man in the country should take his share of the wage reduction. In framing its estimates the council was faced with the prospect of having to ration labour and discharge men, said Mr. G. Grey Campbell. A cut was preferable t-o that. He advocated in the meantime, however, that the matter should be deferred until" the estimates were brought down. The Mayor had not indicated whether the savings effected were to be passed on as, for instance, by a reduction in rates. If it could be shown the cut was essential to keep men employed he wculd support the motion. Wages of Married Men. M iss E. Melville endorsed Mr. Campbell's views, and said it was better lo keep people in work than to make any appreciable reduction in rates, acceptable as the latter might be. . Mr. J. Robertson thought it should be possible, by making the cut, lo retain all the present employees and make a reduction in rates. lie supported the motion. • Mr. G. Lawrence Taylor said the counril would not be consulting the*wishcn of the majority of ratepayers unless it acted as the Mayor proposed. .Mr. Bloodworth's amendment was lost by 14 votes to 7. The minority comprised Messrs. Donaldson, Murray, Coyle, Phelan, Bloodworth, Martin and Bartrum. A further amendment was then proposed by Mr. F. N'. Bartrum to the effect that- the wages of no married man should be reduced below £4 Mr. Phelaji seconded. Replying to a question, the Mayor said there were 565 employees in tho engineer's department, and the average wage was £4 13s 6d a week Mr. Bloodworth: The wage o! a labourer working 48 hours a week is onlv £4 0s 8d The amendment was defeated on the Casting vote of the Mayor. The division list was as follows: For Amendment (11).—Messrs. Donaldeon, Murray, Coyle, Phelan, Donald, Blood worth, Taylor, Martin, Bnrtrurn and Campbell, and Miss Basten. « Against Amendment (11). —Messrs. Ilenry. Coakley, I'aterson, Bennett, Leonard, Jenkins, Robertson. Burton, Entrican. and the Mayor and Miss Melville. The Mayor's motion was then carried on a show of hands. No division was record ltd.

WAIKATO NURSES. " A STARVATION WAGE." PLIGHT OF THE JUNIORS. ONLY £1 I 0» 2d A MONTH. [from ouh own correspondent.] HAMILTON. Thursday. I A plea for some remission in tho re- | duction mado in the boarding allowance I of nurses at tho Waikato Hospital was ' made in a petition signed by 84 of the ; nursing staff, which was considered at a I meeting of the Hospital Board to-day. i The petition stated that, while acceptj ing with resignation tho necessity for a 10 per cent, reduction in salaries, the nurses felt that the further reduction ! embodied in the board's proposal to include in tho cut their board allowance, was equivalent to a 20 per cent, reduction in salaries and imposed an undue hardship. The effect of the proposal would be particularly severe in the case of junior nurses. For example, the firstyear nurses would receive only £1 10s 2d a month. Out of this sum they had to supply part Of their uniform, including shoes, stockings and cardigan, and books. The board must appreciate the fact that after paying for these items there was practically nothing for personal require- ! men ts. " I feel sure every member of the board ! will appreciate the very difficult position in which the drastic cut has placed tho first, second and third-year nurses," said the chairman, Mr. J. J. Ryburn. " I do not think anything can be gained by the board personally meeting the nurses and talking the matter over, and it can hardly undertake to grant a remission. If the board's finances were in order by about October it would be quite justified in abolishing the cut." " Tho girls are on a, starvation wage to-day," said Mr. A. Livingstone. "If thero is a way to help the nurses at all it should be done." The board decided to inform the nurses that the reduction would be reconsidered not later than October. REQUESTS FOR EXEMPTION. APPLICATION BY UNIONS. Only two applications by unions for exemption from the 10 per cent, wages cut, empowered by tho recent general order of tho Arbitration Court, have been filed with the clerk of awards at tho Supreme Court to date. These are from the cooks and stewards employed in tho coastal shipping trade and the Bakers and Pastrycooks' Union. It is anticipated, however, that applications will be filed on behalf of members of several other unions, as many have intimated their intention of taking that course. There will be no special sitting of tho Arbitration Court to hear the arguments of those seeking exemption, but each caso will be taken in its sequence at the next ordinary sitting of tho Court, which probably will be held about the end of July. THAMES BOROUGH EMPLOYEES. REDUCTIONS AND RATIONING. [by telegram.—own correspondent.] THAMES, Thursday. The Thames Borough Council last evening sanctioned reductions in wages and salaries and other economies totalling £1736 annually. Thirteen members of the maintenance staff will each stand down one week in four. Tho water supervisor and his assistant were relieved of their duties, tho present foreman being made supervisor in addition to his present duties. All salaries and wages in the electricity department, with tho exception of switchboard attendants, were reduced by 10 per cent., and all free electricity was discontinued. Office salaries over £4 a week were reduced 10 per cent., also those of the abattoirs staff. All readjustments take effect from June 18. The Mayor, Mr. S. Ensor, expressed sympathy with the staffs, but stressed the necessity for reductions. Tenders for carting and refuse collection were opened, and the ' lowest was accepted, showing a reduction in costs of over £2 10s a week.