THE CLERKS' UNION.

NZ Truth, Issue 755, 6 December 1919, Page 16

THE CLERKS' UNION.

Dear "Truth,"—l notice that the Christchurch clerks and cashiers have formed a union, and are now bargaining with their employers for better wages and conditions. It appears to me that this particular union is long overdue, as nearly everybody is well aware that it is this class of the public who have been hit the hardest owing to the increased cost of living, of which we hear so much these days. In the past the clerks have usually stood by their "bosses" during trouble, uut now that the clerks have the temerity to ask for better wages, and the right to bring up their families decently, the "bosses" turn round and squeal, and will only agreo to pay what the law compels them to do. Truly, th« big man is very grateful, but he will find to his cost that he is also very shortsighted. The banking Institutions of the Dominion are about on a par with the fat man m the matter of wages and salaries, though some of the banks have lately condescended to Increase salaries, and grant bonuses to cover the extra cost of living etc., but there is one, bank which has not thought much of its office staff m this respect, that I* the Union Bank of Australasia, Limited, whose officers are absolutely the lowest paid of any of the banka In this country. I know some of these unfortunates who are married men with families, and are expected to eke out a living and bring up their children properly on the magnificent salary of about £230 per annum, with the purchasing power of the sovereign quoted at about 12s m the £. This works out at about £140 per annum, and this after a man has put m the best part of a lifetime to reach this wage. Talk about Bolshevism and Industrial unrest. Surely this sort of appreciation of one's services is enough to make even the poor bank clerks turn and kick. It is to be hoped that when the • clerks and bank clerks get their unions going they will let the fat men and the banks have it m the neck for the miserable way they treat their right-hand men. If the big man had acted fair and square by his staff there would have been no need for unions or guilds to force them to pay a fair wage for services.—Yours, etc., "CONSTANT READER." Poverty Bay.