EMPLOYEES OF POST OFFICE

Southland Times, Issue 25502, 24 October 1944, Page 3

EMPLOYEES OF POST OFFICE

STAFF TRIBUNAL TO BE APPOINTED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, October 23. The establishment of a staff tribunal to inquire into and report to the Minister upon matters relating to the Post and Telegraph Department is provided for in the Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill. The tribunal is to be known as the Post and Telegraph Staff Tribunal and shall consist of three members to be appointed on the recommendation of the Minister, one to be appointed on the nomination of the Post and Telegraph Employees’ Association, one to represent the Minister and the third to be an independent chairman, agreed upon by the Minister and the association or by the Minister in the case of non-agreement. In his explanation the PostmasterGeneral, Mr Webb, stated that the Bill would establish a permanent tribunal in place of the provision of Section 5 of the Post and Telegraph Act 1936 under which a special tribunal could be appointed from time to time at the discretion of the Minister. The new tribunal would differ from the one set up for the Railways Department, which had mandatory powers. The Post and Telegraph tribunal would have powers only of recommendation and members of it could be officers of the department. The reasons for the difference between the two tribunals were that the departmental set-up in the Post Office varied from that in the Railways Department, said the Minister. By having a tribunal with powers of recommendation only no alteration whatever was necessary in the existing departmental arrangements for the handling of service matters. The chief object in establishing a permanent tribunal was to allow both sides access to an independent body in cases in which agreement could not be reached by conciliation proceedings. Provision was made for the appointment of assessors to assist the tribunal in its deliberations.