PUBLIC SERVICE SALARY CLAIMS

Wanganui Chronicle, 3 May 1949, Page 5

PUBLIC SERVICE SALARY CLAIMS

Keen Division Of Opinion In The Weliingfon Branch

WELLINGTON, Last Night (PA). —By a margin of six votes in 198 the annual meeting of the Wellington section of the Public Service Association decided tonight to demand an immediate satisfaction of “long overdue salary claims” of £57 per annum, and requested the executive to press with vigour for an increase of £lO4 per annum.

This decision was reached by ’ 102 votes to 96 after members had I heard an address by the national 1 president, Mr. J. P. Lewin, followed by keen division of opinion . in a general discussion, . Mr. Lewin traced the history of the I negotiations since 1947 for salary in- | creases and explained why there was I yet “nothing in kitty,’ for public ser- ’ vants. He told members there was very little hope of their getting the recom- | inendations of the Margins and Anomalies Committee put into effect, i “Putting two and two together,” I said Mr. Lewin, “after two years of struggle and strife and bitterness, you , are exactly where you were as far as I getting money is concerned.” He accused the Government of robbing the i civil servants of a £35 per annum increase at the skilled base which the Margins and Anomalies Committee had recommended as from October 1, 1947, to bring the Civil Service rates up to a level comparable with those | ruling in industry. He said the Public I Service would probably get £35 in I either one or two bites, but because' the Court of Arbitration had granted I £35 for all skilled workers a public servant would be left where he was before. Mr. Lewin, continuing, said the Government, by bludgeoning tribunal legislation through the House, manufacturing a synthetic Communist scare and confusing the issue with various tribunals, had sidestepped the claims. Mr. Lewin said that an attempt to smear him had been made, but it had failed and had recoiled. The responsibility for failure of civil servants to get £35 per annum recommended by the Margins Committee rested with the Government. In this he was criticising the Government as an employer, not from a political point of view. The Government had treated the j

Service Association most shabbily. There was no hope of a further pacific and reasonable approach to the Government, since the Government had closed its heart on the issue. There was a slight hope, however, that the application of the Margins and Anomalies Committee’s recommendations well'd be secured by an approach to Parliament through a petition. Meanwhile, the association had applied to the Government Service Tribunal for a pro forma application to the Public Service of the £22 per annum increase granted to railwaymen and Post and Telegraph workers. I Publicity on every aspect of the Mar- ; gins and Anomalies Committee's ret commendtions would be distributed. Later, speaking of the Holmes letter, Mr. Lewin said the job of exposing the tactics used against publio servants would still have to be performed. Although the Prime Minister | (Mr. Fraser) had said there would be no Royal Commission of Inquiry one would have to be sought, because the need to protect the individual in democracy was greater than the need to protect the Government’s face. During a long general discussion the meeting adopted the resolution already quoted. It also recorded its continued confidence In the executive and pledged its support to it. The motion in these term.- was carried without a dissentient voice. Replying to remarks of a member who said the officials of the association appeared to have been outgeneralled by tire Government and that the association might have got the £22 per annum with less trouble as the Post and Telegraph Association did. the general secretary, Mr J. Turnbull, said that the award of £22 to the Post and Telegraph workers and railwaymen was 90 per cent, due to the efforts of the Public Service Association.