CLAIM FOR HIGHER PAY

Chronicle (Levin), 19 December 1949, Page 5

CLAIM FOR HIGHER PAY

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Tribunal Ilearing Case For Public Service

(Per

WELLINGTON, Dec. 19. An application to the Government Service Tribunal today " by the Public Service Assoeiation' soug'ht to bring Public Service wages and salaries into line with the effect of the standard wage pronouncement of the Court of Arbitration affecting most other workers in the Dominion. The assoeiation • submitted that public servants had been left in an inferior position by the '-tribunal's amending order of Noveniber, 1949, as the result of the deduction, in relation to the standard wage pronouncement, of ' certain increa^es granted public servants in either October, 1947, or July, 1948. In the result the order issued last month had 4 increased the rates of pay in various categories 'by between' id% and IhA ffiourly, whereas the Court of Arbitration's pronouncement had meant an increase of 3id "hpnrly for unskilled and semi-skiUed workers and 4d hourly for skiffed male workers, stated the associa-' tioh's submissions. The assoeiation claimCd that the full amount of the increases involved in the court's pronouncement should have been granted to the Public Service. The tribunal, presided over by Mr. Justice Stilwell, comprised Messrs J. W. D. Davidson (etnployees) , J. A. Engel (employers) , J. Turnbull (assessor for the assoeiation) and G. Bolt (assessor for the Public Service Commission). Mr. J. P. Lewin was advocate for the assoeiation and Mr. E. R. Winkel for the commission. The hearing is proceeding.