RESTORATION OF CUTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 201, 26 August 1936, Page 6

RESTORATION OF CUTS

CITY COUNCIL DEBATE MEN WHOSE HOURS WERE SHORTENED. CONFLICT OF ADVICE ON LEGISLATION. ( Conflict of opinion as to what the i Finance Act means in respect to the ’ 1 restoration ot wages anu salaries I caused a debate and a division at the I | Wanganui City Council meeting last i < night. On the one hand was a letter I ] from the Minister ot Labour (Hon. | H. T. Armstrong) and on the other r one from the secretary ot the Wan- ] ganui Employers - Association (Mr. t Arthur Weekes) conveying an inter- I ? pretation ot his federation. ■ ; Certain men employed by the coun-1 j cii were not omy cut in wages when I < such order was made Dy the Arbitra- I g tion Court, but, later, tney were sub- i jected to a shortening oi hours from t 47 to 44, When the recent Finance < Act came into force, restoration of the 1931 rates of pay per hour be- ( came operative anu retrospective to j July 1. But there was no provision ( made tor hourly workers whose pay ] had been shortened by three hours < per week. The City Council, when j this matter was reierred to it, de- « cided to seek guidance and obtained i an interpretation of the Act from the < Minister and from the employers’ i Association. Those opinions were de- i finitely contrary to each other in j regard to men paid on an hourly basis. 1 The Ministers letter slated that the 1931 rates of pay were to be j paid, and men were not to suner as 1 ; the result of any reduction in hours. ’ j The pay due to salaried officers, the Minister added, would have to be the 1 same as they were getting in 1931. • 1 The Employers’ Association was ot opinion that merely the hourly rate ' < of pay operative in 1931 was to be j restored to workers paid by the hour ' —44 hours per week, not as for 47.; i The association agreed, how ever, that I clerical workers (salaried officers, I : etc.) were entitled to restoration to ; - the full amount they were being paid in 1931. Two committees reporting to the I council last night (Works and Gas» recommended that the men affected I , by the reduction in hours be paid the ' equivalent of the longer hours as ‘ from July 1. Cr. G. H. Trott moved an amend- | ment to that recommendation, that i *> the expression ot opinion j -rom the Employers’ Federation, the ' men be restored to the 1931 rates of pay for a 44-hour week. Cr. A. E. Halligan seconded such amendment. He considered that there would be no harm in referring the matter back to obtain a definite ruling. Cr. J. Robertson asked where they <-ould get a higher ruling than from ] the Minister. He ventured an opin- (

ion that that was the most reliable. Cr. Trott: I beg to differ. If we want an authoritative opinion we can get it from the Arbitration Court. The Minister’s opinion is not legal. It has been proved, over and over again, that the intention of an Act is not always carried out when it is read to the letter. Quite a number of anomalies have occurred since the legislation was passed which the Minister did not anticipate when he drafted it. The Mayor: But surely we de not intend to make fish of one and fowl of the other. With one hand we are giving the clerical staff back the wages they got in 1931. Surely it is fair that we should do the same for the men? Cr. J. J. Scott said that the matter had been considered fully by the council. These men, whose pay had

been shortened by three hours, were i entitled to consideration. They were. on the bread and butter line. Leav-| ing all opinions out of the question, ■ it was a matter of equity, fairnessl and justic- that they be restored to ' what they got before the cut was imposed. “And the council knows j that the shortening of hours was a j cut, knows it as well as I do, as well as the public does,” said Cr. Scott. “I

notice that there is a quickness to fall in with restoration to the man above the bread and butter line and restore to him every threepence due to him, and it is a matter of justice that these men below, or on, the line get the same fair deal.” As the result of a division, the recommendation of the committees that payment be made for the extra three hours was carried.