EQUAL PAY AND WORK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 234, 2 October 1929, Page 9

EQUAL PAY AND WORK

BRITISH WOMEN’S CLAIM CIVIL SERVICE INVESTIGATION [ British Official Wireless. ] Received October 1, 8 p.m. RUGBY, Sept. 30. The King has approved the appointment of a Royal Commission on the Civil Service under the chairmanship of Lord Tomlin. The 15 members include educational authorities and pe> sons connected with the public work, and five of them are women, namely the Duchess of Atholl, who is a Conservative member of Parliament, Mrs Aryton Gould, Airs Hamilton (a Labour member of Parliament), Airs Lowe and Airs Wintringham (the former a Liberal member of Parliament). The terms of reference are to enquire into and report on: Firstly, the structure and organisation of the Civil Service, including that of recruitment; secondly, conditions of service with particular reference to the general standard of remuneration and the existing differentiation between the remuneration payable respectively to men and women Civil servants, also the ma-' chinery for discussion and settlement of questions relating to conditions of service and the position of ex-service Civil servants in established employment; thirdly, the conditions of retirement from the Civil Service, including the retirement of women Civil servants on marriage. “The Civil Service Royal Commission is a gigantic undertaking,” states one of the commissioners 11 The findings may affect hundreds of thousands. “The terms of reference have been framed to bring every matter of importance affecting the Civil Service within the limits of the inquiry, particularly the position of 75,000 women Civil servants who have long been pressing for equal pay for equal work. Such a change will cost the country £3,000,000 annually. Some of the men’s organisations are afraid that the principle of equal pay will result in a general levelling down of salaries.” The Morning Post describes the commission as an attempt to placate the trade union element of the Socialist Party. “Ever since the general strike the Civil Service unions have agitated against the law preventing Civil Service unions partaking in political movements,” states the Post.