SALARY SCALE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23082, 22 December 1944, Page 6

SALARY SCALE

Railway Officers Adjustments Desirable (N.Z.P.A.) WELLINGTON, Dec. 21. Some adjustments to the salary scale for officers in the First Division of the Railways Department were justified, and the desirability of submitting counter-proposals in response to the claims of the Railway Officers Institute had been considered, but it had been decided not to do so because the disparity between the scale claimed by the Institute and the scale which the Department considered itself justified in suggesting was so wide that the Department thought its scale would be regarded by the institute merely as a starting point from which it could claim further increases, said Mr K. G. Reid, advocate for the Department, in presenting to the Railways Industrial Tribunal the Department’s reply to the claims of the linstitute for a new salary schedule. It preferred to follow the course adopted in the wages claims by the Second Division organisations of authorising its assessor to discuss the matter at an appropriate stage of the proceedings. Mr Reid said that the question of whether promotion might be prescribed according to years of service was subject to the Department's submission regarding the scope of the Tribunal's jurisdiction. The making of such a recommendation by the Tribunal was opposed on its merits because of the difficulty of applying the principle in respect of employees other than clerical employees, and because of the vital objection that if the recommendation were given effect to it would cause the efficiency of the service to deteriorate. The cost of the innovation, added to other improvements in . salaries and conditions throughout the service, might cause users of the railways to pay higher freights and fares to keep men in positions which were not worth the salaries. The general manager desired to emphasise that no one was more desirous than he of having the claims dealt with free from technicalities, and he gave it as his unqualified opinion that justice could be done to all members and probationers of the First Division within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal merely bv the determination of the scales of salaries appropriate to the existing grades and sub-grades. Some adjustment was desirable in the salary scale for officers of long service in Grade 6 in order to improve the morale of the service and. therefore, its efficiency. The method or the amount would depend on a consideration of the salary scales as a whole. The cost of applying the salary rates contained in the claim to the 2853 members and probationers at work in the Department on April 1 would be approximately £407,850 a year. The Tribunal will resume its public sittings on January 8.