THE RAILWAYS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 17 June 1924, Page 7

THE RAILWAYS.

SITTING OF WAGES BOARD. B? Telrerauir —0 WELLINGTON, June 16The Boaf3 of Inquiry set up by the Minister of Railways to mquue nit and make recommendations upon the rates of pay and conditions ot eniplojment 01 the Second Division Service, commenced its sitting to-aay. Opening. the case for the Society, Mr Connolly said that the whole trend of legislation in New Zealand during the past ten years had been to. reduce the hours of work and improve tte standard of living for working men. He quoted from, the Year Book to show that out of 41 trades in New Zealand, 17 were working 44 hours a week cr less, 14 were working 48 hours or more, and 10 were working between 44 and 48 hours. The tendency since i.jl-i had been to reduce ; the hours ©1 work and not to extend them. The fact that the Department had sought to place, the railwaymen oh a longer working week, he submitted, was a confession of its inability or incapable ness of. managing the railways properly, and running them efficiently and economically in' the interests of the people of the Dominion. He referred to the fact that the Department had a monopoly of railway transport and that it did not have to pay dividends to shareholders! He went on. to deal separately with the three branches pi railway work,’ in the .workshops, traffic and maintenance services. The workshops were granted a 44-hour week in 1918, three years before the other members of the service.. That was an indication that the Department . recognised ’that the conditions of the workshops men were exactly the same as those obtaining outside the railway service! The hours worked by New Zealand realwaymen compared most unfavourably with those obtaining in the Australian service. In trades outside the service in the Dominion all overtime work done in. excess of +ha hours specified in the awards counted as overtime, which was paid for at the rate of time and a half for the first four hours, and double time thereafter. Mr Sterling opened the Department’s case by congratulating Mr Connelly on the presentation of his side of the argument, which had been put clearly r and without recrimination. He said that what the Society asked was the re-in-statement of a 44-ho.ur week. At the present-weekly rates of pay this was equivalent to asking for an increase of 7s 3d per week, on the basic wage, with corresponding increases for other men. This would cost about £240,000 on the basic wage men, and there would be a possible increase of £350,000.' Mr Connolly had said the increase in the cost of living was 62 per cent, last February. The rate per hour in 1914 was .Is l£d, which at 62 per cent, increase, should now be Is 9.89d—£4 7s 6d a week. The men were now getting £4 7s Id, so there would be’little difference in the two amounts. The average pay of the whole of the railway frtaff in 1914, was £145, and last year it was £23B—an increase of 64 per cent. The Department was anxious that its men should have a fair standard of living, but opinions differed as to what was a fair standard. He thought that if railwaymen got as great or greater a wage than other basic wage earners, they 1 could not be said to lie receiving too little. The basic wage in the railway service was is 9 34-4-ld an hour, and the latest award of the Arbitration Court was Is 9d. Mr Hunter: That outside rate is the minimum, and labourers are getting 2* an hour and over. Mr Sterling: I am quite aware that fluctuations outside may Mr Mack: But is not that railway rate the maximum? Mr Sterling: 1 will come to that later. Continuing, Mr Sterling said that he proposed to show that men outside were not better off than railwaymen. The railway man was relieved of two bugbears—fear of employment not being permanent, and fear of an indigent old age. Those were more than a sufficient offset to any little more the .outside man might get occasionally. The railway man had his superannuation, which, despite what Mr Connelly liacf said, was a privilege and an extremely valuable one. Last year the Government contribution was £125,T00, and this year it would not be less. Moreover,* the Government stood behind tho fund, and guaranteed it, so that the men’s pensions were absolutely secured. It was absolutely wrong to say that the basic wage worker made the same contribution to superannuation as the higher paid man. Mr Connelly: The General Manager only retires on superannuation of £IBOO a year. The president said that a man who came into the scheme after 1909 might be paying on tbe basis of a £7OO pension and get only a £3OO pension. Mr Connelly: The basic wage workei cannot afford to make his payment. Mr Sterling said that 111 one yeai the men got passes and privilege tickets to the value of £149,000. Mr Mack: Arc you prepared to concede the men the money. Mr Sterling said lie was not there to commit the Department. The subject bad not been raised in the claims. He said that 25 per cent, of the men were provided with houses by the Department, and the average rent was Ss a week. In no case did a man pay more than a day’s pay for his house. If the Department were, a private landlord, it could get twice as much for its houses. Manv of the later houses were very up-to-date. In one recent year £19,600 had been spent on uniforms. ’lhi:« amount was saved to the men. These ahinr-g placed the railwaymen in ail

advantageous position in comparison with men outside. He did not think the education.test was a hardship, in a country where education was free, and he thought a medical test was necessary in such a service. He'was entitled to claim that a case had not been mado out for an increase in pay, as the railwaymen were now getting more than the Arbitration Court’s basic rate, and iii addition they enjoyed the privileges mentioned. By comparison l with otbei railway 7 services, the rate paid to workers in’the New Zealand service, was very favourable. COUNCIL OF CHURCHES TAKES A HAND. By Teleerapli—Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, June. 16. “The Council of Christian congregations regrets that the Government an ticipated the findings of. the Commission now appointed -for the settlement of the railway 7 dispute by imposing the 48-liour week upon the men. Since the 48-hour week was an item of the dispute, and since it was generally understood that the dispute was to be adjusted by a commission, tbe Council be lieves that the action of the Government was unwise and not calculated to secure that all-round contentment which is necessary to good work.” Such was a motion moved by tbe Rev. S. Lawr.v at a meeting of the Council of Christian Congregations to-night. He. explained that railwaymen had communicated with the Council, drawing attention to the fact that the Government had imposed a 48-liour week. Mr L. J. Archibald, in seconding tho motion, said he thought it was a matter of bad taste on the Government’s part. The chairman (Archbishop Julius’) said it would be impertinent on tho part of the Council to discuss the matter, as it was subjudice. However, the Council was in its rights in commenting on the fact that the Government had anticipated the work of the Commission by insisting on a 48-liour * cok.

'■lie motion was carried without fur comment.

DEPARTMENT’S COUNTER CLAIMS. By Telegraph—Pro«s Association. WELLINGTON, June 16. The Railway Department lias [irepared a number of counter-claims for presentation to tbe Board of Inquiry, of which the following is a summary. The elimination of payment of special rates for night, work in tho traffic branch, which does not coma within overtime hours. The elimination of provision for rate-and-a-half payment to the maintenance men, between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Ordinary- time worked in locomotive workshops between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., to be paid for at ordinary rates. Time worked on Sunday as part of tbe ordinary working week to be paid for at ordinary rates. Double rates payment on the Sovereign’s Birthday, Labour Day, Good Friday, and Christmas Day, to be regarded as sufficient remuneration, and tbe practice of adding to annual leave be discontinued. Tbe special allowance paid to horsedrivers engaged in shunting duties to be discontinued. The maximum proportion of apprentices to journeymen in workshops to be increased. ,