THE LOCOMOTIVE UNION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2996, 16 August 1911, Page 13

THE LOCOMOTIVE UNION.

“A RIDICULOUS PROPOSAL.” “ WOULD COST £40,000.” MINISTER DECLINES THE OFFER (From Oua Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 10.

Referring to a statement made in the House yesterday by the Minister for Railways in reply to a question by Mr Massey, the latter has now received the following telegram from the secretary of the Locomotive Union“ This union is willing to accept New South Wales and Victorian conditions and pay, provided that the conditions and pay in New Zealand are kept strictly in accordance with those of these States; also, that the locomotive men in New Zealand shall be paid the same percentage over a labourer as exists in those States.”

When interviewed this evening the Minister of Railways (the Hon. J. A. j Millar) said he had received a telegram from the Locomotive Drivers’ Union stating that the union was prepared to accept the pay and conditions ruling in New South Wales on condition that the scale | of pay was in the same proportion to that , of the labourers as in the case of the ! New South Wales railways. That pro- j posal was declined. ) There were several reasons which made it impossible for the department to agree i to the proposition. “ It has always been i the policy of the department,” said Mr | Millar, “ to endeavour to raise the more . lowly paid men to better positions. The statement is freely made that the in- 1 creased cost of living demands increased ! pay.. If the cost of living makes it hard for the man who is receiving only 8s per day to secure a reasonably comfortable living, then that man is entitled to consideration before his fellow who is receiving pay that allows q. much larger margin than is actually necessary for his maintenance. The Minister said that the increase in cost involved by the proposition was greater than the New Zealand or any other service could bear without very materially increasing both the passenger rates and the charges for the carriage of goods. The locomotive drivers proposed that their wages should be raised to the scale of payment in New South Wales and Victoria. The basis upon which the wages were to be calculated being the pay fixed for railway labourers. In Victoria the railway labourer is paid 7s per day in the second grade and 7s 6d in the first grade. The drivers are paid 11s, 12s, 13s, and 14s, nearly double the . pay received by labourers in _New_ South . Wales, and 14s, the highest in Victoria. Computed on the basis of 7s 6d per day, the highest rate paid to labourers in these Stated the wages paid to engine-drivers | in New Zealand would be 12s 2d, 13s 4d, j 14s sd, 15s 7d, and _ 16s 8d per day, or | Is 8d above the highest rate paid in : New South Wales. _ In New South Wales the labourer is paid 7$ and 7s 6d. The engine-drivers receive 11s, 12s, 13s, 14s, and 15s. In New Zealand at the present time the labourer receives 8s 4d per day, while the engine-drivers are paid in the two grades 10s 6d, 11s, 11s 6d. 12s, and 12s 6d per day. I

“If the proposal of the union, was accepted,” Mr Millar continued, ‘‘the wages of engine-drivers on the basis of 7s per day would have to be increased to 13s Id, 14s 3d, 15a sd, 16s Bd, and 17s lOd per day, an increase of 5s 4d per day in the first grade, as against 15s, the highest wage paid, and above the highest in Victoria.”

The total cost involved by this increase of waaes of the engine-drivers alone would be in class A, on the basis of 7s a day, £25,157 per annum, and in class B, on the basis of 7s 6d per day, £17,489. A corresponding increase would have to be given to firemen and cleaners, and that would involve an additional £14,600 per. annum. The total increase in the expenditure upon the wages of enginedrivers, firemen, and cleaners would be under class A £39,757, and under class B £32,089 per annum. ‘‘These,” concluded Mr Millar, “axe the demands of only a email section of the railway service. From them the public may realise what they have to face.”