CRAFTSMAN OR CLERK: WHO CREATES VALUES?

Chronicle (Levin), 16 January 1947, Page 4

CRAFTSMAN OR CLERK: WHO CREATES VALUES?

__ — . . — RAILWAY TRADESMEN'S CASE FOR HIGH WAGES WELLINGTON, Jan. 15. . "It is difiicult to conceive what line of reasoning i's used by those who assess the economie and social value of the work perforined by the average clerk at a higher level than that perfornied by the craftsman wlrose skill ' and knowledge of his trade- enables him to ereate' values wliich it is the funetion of the elerk merely to record," said Mr. T. F. Gebbie to the JEtailways Industrial Tribunal today when he presented . for the Bailway Tradesmen's Association a elaim for a gemeral increase of lld hourly iri. tradesmen's wages. The claim, one of the most comprehensive presented at the present sit- ' ting of the Tribunal, concerns directly about 3400 emplo.yees. If the eonsequences of prineipal order No. 5 as •amonded by order 71 dated July 20, .1946, prescribing the tradesmen's rate of 3s Gd per hour can be taken as a precedent then the Tribunal 's decisiou , on the present elaim could affect con- - ®. siderably conditions in outside industries. * Air. Gebbie claimed that the ti'adesmen's relative position had slipped in the past 20 years compared with the wages of tradesmen outside the railway service and that there was insuflicient recognition of the value of a tradesmau's skill,. The existing assessnient of relative values had little relalion to realitv, he elaimed. The margiual position of tradesmen in relation to other classes of workers had, worsened since the Tribunal took over from 5d an hour in Oetober 1944 to 2R1 by the time order 71 took - effect, while outside trades cases eoming before the Arbitration ('ourt irrdicated a likelihood of further increases for these workers. He suggested that the granting of the claim would cost less than the regrading of Division I positions, and added that the service today was being run on 1939 prices at 1947 costs.