P. & T. OFFICERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 229, 21 June 1919, Page 9

P. & T. OFFICERS

AND THE NEW CLASSIFICATION

MUCH DISSATISFACTION

Mr. G. C. Patcrson presided at a wellattended meeting of officers of the Post and Telegraph Department, held in the Sydney Street Schoolroom .on Thursday evening to discuss tho new classification list issued a fortnight ago. x A member moved: "That _ tho Wellington branch of ihe association considers that tho 'reclassification of officers,;s any thing but satisfactory, that anomalies are apparent throughout tho list nnd are causing marked dissatisfaction, jwrlieulurly among the officers of the rank and file." He contended that the reelas.siilcation was done by tho heads of tho Department, who had not sufficient time to do the work thoroughly. Hn opinion was that tho work should have been done by experienced men who had lime at their disposal and knowledge of conditions at the back of them. Tho service as a wliolo had no knowledge oi what was the schedule on which the reclassification was based, and they all felt, that they had been kept too much in the dark. Tho association should, ho urged, havo approaciied. tho various bniichcs and sought information from them.' /f that had been done there would have been none of the present, trouble. As to the' new list, he pointed out that some had a vise of 4:260 a year, while, at tho other end of the list, one member had been reduced from £120 to ,£95. _ They wanted to knojr why tho schedule was not published, so that I hey would all know exactly whe.ro they stood. It was a slipshod arrangement, and his opinion was that it was "one of tho usual blult things from tho Department." (.Laughter and applause.) : He was perfectly convinced that there had boon a "secret hand" working against ■ them since 1912. Most of them know what te.was referring to. Then, as to Ihe cost of living, they all thought that they would have the war 'bonus added to. their salaries, but in many cases thero had been no increaso whatever, besides which some of them had even lost the war bonus. Again, he did not consider that any consideration was paid to "tr.erit'* in making up the list, although they lad been told that it was to count primarily. He did not make a fetish of merit, but he did "believe in equal pay for equal work, and when a young man was eiiual to better work he should not be graded back from JBI2O to <£95. The telegraph officers considered themselves as experts, but tho changes of hours brought about breakdowns, and they naturally s'ougnt othor branches where so many had got on better than they would have done if thoy had stayed on the telegraph branch. They knew of such men who had been transferred from the Telegraph Department to another branch, and had come liack to the Telegraph Office in superior positions. Then thero were the women on tho telegraph wires. Some of them got |£120 a year; while a cadet with it year or two of servico received only ,£95 a year. If t.ho telegraph side had been consulted they would have insisted on an operator getting at lee.st ,£3 10s. a week. He thought that what ho lmd said was a fair expression of tho opinion of the telegrapli side, which was tho largest side of tho Department. Another speaker on the telegraph side remarked that there wore letter-carriers with three years' experience getting £M a year, which was more than soiuo telegraph operators with' twelve years' experience received.

In answer to a request, tho chairman read a eervico telegram to permanent officers, in which it was stated that "tho Department has ovidenoe that a very considerable portion of the staff is Balisfled that a genuine ell'ort liasi licen made to meet the conditions of the service generally, I)ut it is apparent that 6omo officers have forgotten that in addition to providing increased emolument the object of the Act is to reclassify the officers according lo their valuo to the Department." The reading of the telegram was greeted with derisive comment. Clear Cut Opinion. As an amendment to tho original motion,, it wns moved: "That'this representative meeting of the Wellington members of tho Post and Telegraph Offi.Association, having had time lo study the classification of rhe servico as shown by the new list, considers that justice had not been done to many long: stauding grievances. The necessity for a decent living wage, after tho recognised period of training, has not been met by the salaries allotted. This, together with the many glaring anomalies disclosed, makes the list unacceptable as a fair classification of tho service, nnd the executive is most strongly urged to call the Dominion delegctes together for the purpose of placing tho general grounds fur grievanco' before the Department." This was seconded nnd accepted as a basis of discussion. The Permanent Secretary. Mr. Combs said tho motion generally reflected his' views. He commented on the fact that an expert on the mechanical side could not get mora than .£3OO a year, while the custodian of tho Post and Telegraph Department received a salary of .£315. The servico telegram practically sought to impose a gag on a service numbering about' 8000 officers; it was a-remarkable suggestion that such a body of men should not he allowed to make their representations to .'tho public who paid them. When the Reclassification Committee mot in March last it asked direct questions as to certain salaries and officers, and that knowledge he had imparted to tho service. Apparently since then tho Department had revised its ideas, and the reclassification, list was not the list which the committee had been given to understand .would bo the list agreed to. It appeared to him that the official desiro nvas to break up the association nnd insist on every mem'ber coming forward with his own grievance, and not as a member of the asooiation witlv the kicking of the association. He believed the Department had made an honest effort to Mtter the conditions of the service, but lie did not think it had succeeded in its intentions. According to tho service telegram, men were to bo graded according to their value to tho Department, and yot they found men with ten to twelve years', service getting less than men in a lower division with only two or three years' service. Speaking at Auckland, Mr. M'Namara had said that tho cost of increases would bo .£150,000. But they had been deprived of the war bonus, and ho contended that, as compared with the normal annual increases, tho now classification had resulted in a saving on salaries, of ,£IO,OOO. If tho Department had laid down aaid followed the principle followed by the Railway Department thero would havo been little dissatisfaction. As it was, many members were out of pocket as the result of a reclassification which was intended to restoro to them that of which they had been deprived for several years. (Applause.) It was idle to expect members of the service to bo satisfied with an increaso of 000, when, under the ordinary stato of things, thoy would, with the war bonus, havo boon .il0,0i)0 better off. 110 went on to say that men holding controlling positions had received increases totalling £30,000, divided among officers who had increased in numbers from 562 to 570 during the yi.ar, while tho salaries of the rest of tho servico had increased to £8000. On tnese 1 figuros ho contended that the great majority of tho service had not been reclassified, nnd it was tho groat majority of tho who needed attention. Tho servico was far from satisfied, despite what tho Department officials said lo the. contrary, and, generally speaking, tho Department was up in arms about tho list. Unless tho Secretary of Ihe Department would meet tho officers of tho association and discuss tho list there was going to bo trouble. (Applause.) So far as the list was concerned, none of I hem had been so disappointed as he had been. He hoped tho Department would either, withdraw tho list or make a public .statement that the list was going to l-o revised, and that Ihe members were poing lo bo better treated. When tho ll"i>ai'tmeni; agreed, as ho believed it would, io meet tho delegates, ho hoped the service would show Hint it was slaunelily behind the delegates. If that were done ho was sure they could make such representalions as would result in remedying many of Ihe faults which tho list disclosed, (Loud applause.) Further Discussion. Tho point, was made by a speaker that if what Mr. Combs had said was correct tiicy should call on their representative on the Promotion Board to resign.

He deprecated "this rushing lo the publie press." It was only calculated to antagonist! the heads of the Department. Who were.they going to appeal to in tho reconstruction of parties? Voices: Labour. (Laughter and applause.)

The same speaker said that under the scale the average salary, including telcgraph _ messengers, "'as. £l? 2 ,: as against £145 in 1918. The custodian's salary was doubtless a glaring anomaly, but the list contained features which were distinctly favourable to the service. The. prospects of the young men were brighter than they had ever been. (Dissent.) Any man who took the pains to improve hnilself had a better chance than ever before. The list should be accepted, and they should also keep Sic Joseph Ward up to his word that the war bonus would be continued for six months after the war.

After further discussion the amended motion was put and carried amid applause.

Another motion submitted was: ''That the action of the association executive in allowing itself to be bound to 6ecrecy in connection with the schedule of the recent classification was against the interests of tho officers generally, and the conference be urged to abstain from such an undertaking in future." Mr. Combs said the executive of eighteen months ago, when the pledge or neirecy was given, felt that it must know what the Department had in its mind, and it could not get that informition before giving that pledge of secrecy. It was essential that someono on behalf of tho service should see the schedules, and the representatives give the required undertaking. As to the motion, he was in ,hearty sympathy with it. / The motion was carried. _ /