PUBLIC SERVICE PAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 213, 3 June 1919, Page 6

PUBLIC SERVICE PAY

INCREASES OF ABOUT £45

SKELETON OF THE SCHEDULES' Increases in pay to the amount of about £45 _a year are to be given to members of all branches of the Public Service, including the Railway Service. In some cases the increases to bo given to individuals when the new salaries scale is complete may be slightly more than £15 a year, but iiT very few cases wjll they bo less than this amount. The increases are bein» given to cover the increased cost of living.

The scales of salaries, tho new and the old. are here set out for comparison:— NEW SCALE. Special Class ,£650 to two increments of .650. Class I, .£550 to ,£6OO, one increment. Class 11, £475 to ,£SOO, one increment. Class 111, .£125 to ' ,£450, one increment. Class IV, ,£375 to .£4OO, one increment. Glass V, *£315 to .£350, one increment of ,£ls and one of .£2O. Class VI, ,£2lO to .£3OO, three increments of ,£2O. Class VII, ,£65 to £95, by increments of ,£ls, thereafter to by increments of ,£25, .£2O, £25, £15, to £180; thereafter . to £270 by increments of £20; with efficiency bars at £ISO and £220. OLD SCALE. Claes I, £500 tp £600, two increments of £25 and one of £50. Class 11, £410 to £470, one increment of £20 and one of £15. Class 111, £355 to £42-5, two increments of £20. CIaES IV, £330 to £370, two. increments of £15 and one of £10. Class V, .£275 lo £315, two increments of £15 and ovp of £10. Class VI, £2W) to £250, four increments of £15. ' . Class VII, £120 to £220, four increments of £15 and four of £10, with eiliciency bars at £165 and £200. Class VIII, £50 to -£110, four increments of £16.

One of the objects aimed at in the new classification is that in all three branches of the services, now under different control—the Railways, the Post and Telegraph Department, and tho General Service—the basis of reward shall be the same. It has for a long time been held that in some Departments the pay has been generally lower for work of equal value and importance than in other Departments. An effort has been uiade in this new classification to remove these anomalios.

The rates for the professional division of the service are not being altered in the schedules, as it is considered that the scale is wide enough to allow of variation. The general division scale, covering employees who are fou the most part unskilled, may bp altered from time to time by the Commissioner, anil it is not fixed by statute as are the other scales. Wheu tho new classification is announced these men will know their fate, but the basis of increases to these workers is 1 not yet disclosed. The schedules will be based generally pn the salaries for the grades as aet out above.