WAGE INCREASES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27166, 23 August 1949, Page 6

WAGE INCREASES

CITY COUNCIL’S STAFF TOTAL OF £40,000 ANNUALLY Wage increases granted by the Court of Arbitration are estimated to cost the Dunedin City Corporation an additional £40,000 in expenditure this financial year. An announcement to this effect was made by the chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee, Cr Taverner, last night. Cr Taverner said that recent amendments to 19 awards had cost the council an extra £12,584 7s 5d a year, but with 12 awards still to be altered the cost was expected to amount to about £40,000 a year. He added that none of this additional expenditure had been included in the financial estimates for the year, as the amounts were not then known.

In nearly every case, he said, the council would not be able to pass on the increased charges. The charges that were still under the control of the council were made annually, and the others were subject to price control. They could be adjusted only after lengthy delays. The £40,000 would have to be found out of the income for the present financial year. Cr E. J. Anderson: Where are we getting to? These awards go on and on.

Cr Ireland said that tremendous increases in the expenditure of departments of the City Corporation were provided for, but there was no corresponding increase in revenue, and the working departments could do no more work than in past years. “Everyone wants to see comfortable living wages paid, but one fails to see in New Zealand, in spite of stabilisation, anything that has been stabilised. Unless the Government sees fit to grant an increase in the general rate, we will get no further ahead with works,” he said.