The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1933. THE P. AND T. SERVANTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 287, 5 December 1933, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1933. THE P. AND T. SERVANTS

r pilE thanks of the P. and T. Service are due to the Chronicle

for its fair and constructive criticism of the position, but although this is indicative of the growing appreciation of the work and the efficiency of the department, the employees must look to their own organisation to press for Government’s acceptance of the principle that the rate of wages should be commensurate with the value of the services rendered”

The foregoing is the concluding paragraph from the leading article in the Katipo, the official organ of the N.Z. Post and Telegraph Employees’ Association. The full article in question is published elsewhere in this issue, and presents to the public the point of view of a body of men whose services to the public have been maintained at such a high standard of excellence for so long that they are now taken for granted. The wrong delivery of a letter is unusual, the loss of a package is exceptional, the erroneous transmission of a telegram is a rarity. Telegrams, packages and letters together must run into stupenduous figures, and the percentage of error in the deliveries is extremely small. This service cannot be established and sustained save by a careful selection of the personnel and a long and industrious training of all of the officers in each of the grades. It is safe to say that were the officers of the P. and T. Department, engaged in competitive businesses, where several establishments were competing with each other to secure efficient employees, the general average of salaries would be higher than they are to-day. The P. and T. officers have no criterion within the Dominion wherewith to support their claims for greater consideration by way of salary increases. They are, therefore, driven to support their case by reference to charges made for similar services by postal services in other countries, and it would be of interest to have some comparisons made with countries whose conditions approximate to those which exist within the Dominion. The Katipo is, of course, justified in pointing out that "the rates and charges for various services provided have actually been reduced during the period 1931-33, while during the same period the National Expenditure Commission reported to the Government that the Post and Telegraph Department was providing certain unremunerative services at a loss of £64,660 annually; that it was providing free services worth more than £6OOO, and was giving concessions on other services to special institutions of as much as 50 per centum off usual charges.” These concessions are in the form of a free gift to the recipients, and when 71 per cent, of the department’s operating costs is paid in wages, and those wages are not commensurate with the services rendered by the officers of the department, it is clear that the benefits conferred arc, in the ultimate, the giving of the employees’ wages in the form of presents to sections of the public. Such a process cannot be carried on too long, nor too far; for although because of their specialised training the officers in this service may be compelled to grin and bear it, the new recruits to such a service will assuredly fall below the present standard. Such an outcome is to be guarded against in the public interest. Treating employees unfairly is a game which can be played on the short run, but it has a boomerang effect in the long run, and long-run effects take an equally long period to eliminate.

There are officers in the Post and Telegraph-Service who are by no means being adequately paid, and the service, as an avenue for employment, can hardly be regarded as attractive to-day. If the unattractiveness continues then the quality of the officers will decline, and the efficiency of the service will be impaired.