REDUCED WAGES

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3315, 27 June 1931, Page 5

REDUCED WAGES

POWER BOARD GOMES INTO . « . LINE. . TEN PER CENT " CUT " IMPOSED. At last week's meeting of the Te Awamutu Electric Power Board a proposal for reducing salaries and • wages was put forward, and discussed,, but finality was not reached, the . Sjtird deciding to hold a special com- \ mlttee meeting this week. The specIs ial meeting was held on Thursday, when all members were present, Mr J. T. Johnson presiding. Mr N. M. Lethbridge's motion in the. direction of applying an employees' cut in wages and salaries was dealt with, and the chairman and sec-retary-manager tabled figures bearing on the outlay annually for wages and salaries. It was shown that the total exceeds £SOOO, of which salaries of the staff (both indoor and outdoor) account for more than £3OOO. It is understood considerable discussion arose, but eventually it was decided to make some, reduction. The chairman repeated his previous Statement that if any reduction was to be made he would insist that his own honorarium be reduced by 20 per cent. Personally he did not consider the staff overpaid, and said the board had had very excellent service all round. It was, he said, better to have a contented staff by retaining the present level of wages than to effect a"' cut" that may result in losing some of their staff. He had gone very carefully into the position, and could see no great advantage to the board or the people it represents by adopting the motion tabled. However, that had been decided upon and the task now was to apply the reduction without imposing hardship. He put forward several alternatives. . .. After a full and free discussion it was decided as under: That all salaries be reduced by ten per cent after the first £IOO per annum. This means that an officer drawing, say, £4OO per annum, will suffer a reduction of £3O; officers drawing £l5O will be reduced by £ 5. The chairman's honorarium of will be reduced by 20 per cent, making it £l6O. The fees of members for attending the monthly meeting will be reduced by ten per cent. The staff whose wages are subject to Arbitration Court awards will have exemption from the reduction for the first £2 per week of wages, and the balance will be subject to approximately ten per cent reduction. ■ At the close the chairman thanked board members for the careful attention they had given to the matter, and said that it was unpleasant to have to enforce any reduction, but he ielt they had conscientiously tackled the Pr Mr 6 Johnson said that notwithstanding the decision he was confident the happy relations between the board and its staff would continue as heretofore, and that the interests of the ratepayers and customers throughout the territory would, as always, be the first consideration, consistent with fairness to the staff.