TRAMWAY TROUBLES

NZ Truth, 5 October 1918, Page 4

TRAMWAY TROUBLES

The Mayor and Industrial Rebels

When the officials of -the Wellington Tramway Employees' Union first intimated that organisation's intention of seeking an increment m the minimum wage paid its members, the day-lie press pooh-poohed the suggestion as a canard.' Then, as the murmurs of discontent became more distinct and,, insistent, the "Evening Post" was constrained to admit that, , ~; The tramwaymen are quite serious m regard to their demand for a minimum wage of Is 4d per hour. ' It is a great pity that the Tramways' Committee of the. City Council Were not thus early seized of the seriousness of the tramwaymeri's intentions'/ It might have saved them much unnecessary worry, the public much inconvenience, and his Worship the Mayor, J. P. Luke, Esq., M.P., C.M.G., much ] OS g o f dignity , • and esteem. Indeed, despite the above admission, the Willis-street Wobbler and the other day-lies did not a little to convince the members of the Tramways' Committee that the demands of the men were the reverse of serious, and that they would be satisfled with much less than their officials were asking m their name. The City Council, through the tramways management, had made two bids, one of five per cent, and one of ten per cent., to seduce the men from standing by the demand made on their behalf by their credited officials, but each such offer has been met with the same reply from the men. Their demand for ls-4d an hour is a bedrock demand, and they declare they will stand by that till the City Council grants it m- full. There is not the slightest doubt that the men have the sympathy of the public m great measure, and all the efforts put forth by the management of the .tramways to camouflage the true position and real earnings of the mcii "is so much time wasted. It has occurred to "Truth";" that from the number of prepared reports, analyses of wages, and statements of ,the position that have been communicated to the press purporting to be from the general manager of the tramways, that that individual must be giving up the whole of his time to "press propaganda" m order, if possible, to defeat the. just claims of the men. # # * But let us analyse one or two of the statements contained m the general manager's analyses, so that the true position may be made still more clear to, the average citizen. In most of the awards made by the Arbitration Court the claim of the various trades and calling for a forty-five hours' week has been granted. And the granting of such hours, with the "penalty clause"of time-and-quarter, or time-and-half for. all overtime, is a proof that m the opinion of the court, a worker m return for such number 1 of hours' labor, is entitled to a living wage. But as there are still a number of industries m which the week's work, consists of more than 45 hours, up to 48 hours, let us. t m this connection, and- so that we, may not unduly handicap the tramway management, accept the eight hours' day as a fair day's, work, and apply it tQ the return ot.the earnings alleged to have been made.' by.\:the Wellington tramwaymen; Mr. Morton, says that 42 motormeri; who earn the maximum, Received £8 12s for two ; weeks' work, an average: of : ?£ 4. .65- per' l week. . But. how many hours' had these m.en to put m to receive that- wa,ge?': Exactly 58 hours per week. . Arid' for that they received only. Is 4d iaiweek more than the general laborer/earning the minimum wage receives for thevsaine number of .hours -labor.' That is, the tramwaymen's maximum, .on the general manager's 6wn showing, is not a farthing 'an hour better than the general laborer's . Again: If we reckon the trajm-^aymen's working week at 48 : ho'urs, " and : his maximum wage the same" as the/laborer's minimum, we find his maxirijum earnings, less overtime (which ought not to be included m any computation 'of average '/weekly earnings), amount to £3 Gs, and that this maximum is received by only. 42 out of a possible 400! The general manager states that; . The lowest paid conductor has been in 'the habit of earning .at least £3 12s 6d per week.; But to earn that sum' "l4o minimum men' have to work 62% hours per week, which, if they were general laborers, would give them 15% hours overtime at time I 'and a-half rates — equal to £1 • 11s, > which shows that these 140 tramwaymen have worked what the Arbitration Court considers a fair week's work for £2 Is 6d....8ut the men's union officials deny that the lowest wages received fqr a week's work amount to £3 12s 6d, and they have the pay dockets of the recipients ■to confute the general manager should he persist m "making such a statement. But when the number of hours that have to be worked to secure such a sum is' taken into consideration, there is no fair-minded citizen who will not admit that the return m wages is altogether inadequate for the services rendered. «< •-■*••-■* At this opportune/ or . inopportune, moment (according to one's point of view) the Government Statistician publishes a return.showing the percentage of increases received by the various workers of Wellington, many of whom, before the said increments were granted, were receiving more than the tramwaymen now receive. Some of these have allegedly (and remember it is the Govei-nment Statistician who makes the allegation) received as high as 37.5, .35.4, 25.0, 27.4, per cent., etc., m increases since the outbreak of the war. But taking the big with the small, that is those unions which have had something like justice done them with those that, so far, have received a portion of their claims, the net average increase is over 17 per cent. And m the face of this official return, the City Council expects the. tramwaymen to be satisfied with a 10 per. cent, increase! And. because they refuse to submit and humbly kiss the rod,, his Worship the Mayor has the temerity to designate these ■men. a large number of whom have faced death on the battlefields of France and Egypt, as "rebels," and has laid down the dictum that the City Council will refuse to meet them m conference. Surely this is an altogether high-handed action on the Mayor's part, and one m which it is hard to believe he is supported by the majority of the City Council. It may be that m calling the tramway workers rebels., the Mayor meant only to condemn their action m allegedly adopting the "go. slow' 1 policy. But the men declare that they have not done so. ..They assert that they are running the service m accordance with the City Council's, or the tramway management's own timeschedule. .This point can easily be put to proof, and is not one that the men or their officials could make with impunity. So far as "Truth" is able to judge the men have so far scored all .the points yet made, and as the latest report is to the effect that the union unanimously stands by its decision to be satisfied with nothing short of an all-round minimum of Is 4d per hour, it looks, at the time of writing; that his Worship the Mayor, will have to withdraw his declaration; that the City Council will have "no negotiations with Industrial rebels."