PUBLIC SERVICE PAY

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 49, 21 November 1921, Page 6

PUBLIC SERVICE PAY

THE PROPOSED REDUCTION \ PROTEST BY THE ASSOCIATION Mr. F. SV. Millar, general 'secretary of the New Zealand Public Service Association was seen, by a DOMINION reporter on Saturday, and ..sited for his association’s view of the Prime Minis- ... ten’s announcement that Parliament would be asked to reduce salaries of public servants, probably by 10 pen cent. "Our view can be expressed in a sentence: The Prime Minister’s proposal, if carried into effect, is a deliberate breach of the agreement and understanding entered into in 1920 with the Public Service organisations by the Government’s agents, the Uniformity Committee, consisting of Messrs. R. SV. McVilly /General Manager of the New Zealand Railways), W. R. Morris (Public Service Commissioner), F. V. Frazer (now President of the Arbitration Court), and A. Markman (Acting-Secretary to the Post Office,)., and we are satisfied that every one of these gentlemen will bear out our statement that the definite undertaking was ,that no reduction would take place un- ' ' less the percentage increase in the cost of living (then at 62 per cent.) fell below 52 per cent., and then only by a proportionate reduction in the increase then given to meet the increase in the • cost of living. "Until that percentage point is reached the Public Service Association, in common with other Service organisations, will strive for the honouring of this undertaking. Several members of that Uniformity Committee sat 'on the Economy Commission, whose report, though in the hands of the Government for some weeks, has not yet been pub- ?; lished. We cannot conceive that as .honourable men they could have recommended to the Government the reduction now suggested. In common fairness to the Public Service this Economy Commission’s report should be published. "The Service has been attacked from many quarters. It is not permitted to defend itself, neither can the Public Service Commissioner do so. The publication of this report then would clearly show its position, which surely the public, as well us the Service, is entitled to. - . "If the Economy Commission did not recommend the proposed 10 per cent, cut, then wo can only assume that -the Government is acting off its own bat in flying in the face of its salary agreement with the Service. The spectacle we see, then, is the Government dishonouring its agreement on the one hand, and on the other granting a 10 per cent, reduction on the land tax, and suggesting the possibility of a similar reduction in income tax. To use the Primo Minister’s own words when announcing the proposed salary cut, *We must make the finances sound and reduce taxation to those who are staggering under tho load they are carrying at present.’ Ho might have added, ‘At tho expense of the employees of the State.’ Tho salaries in tho Public Service have been based on strict investigation in each individual case, not only \ by the Public Service Commissioner, but also, in some cases, by the Public Service Board of Appeal, on which business interests are represented, and bear full relation to the salaries paid for similar occupation outside— the Service. Tho effect of our salary agreement was to stabilise Public Service wages until a given point had been reached, in ihe same way as tho Arbitration Court has stabilised other workers’ wages. "To make a cut in Public Service salaries Until that time arrives places Public servants on a lower wage level than other workers. If the Prime Minister is reported correctly, his statement is somewhat ambiguous, because in the one breath he speaks of a 10 per cent, reduction .in salaries, and then proceeds to qualify that announcement by saying that he would not take a penny off unless tho cost of living goes down, that the bonuses and increases must be removed—not altogether, because he does not want to go back to the salaries of 1914. Are we to understand that tho proposed percentage reduction applies to full salary, or, only to cost of living increase in that salary? Does tho Prince Minister realise that if tho reduction applies to full salary, that in many cases more than the whole of the cost of living increase will disappear, with the result that salaries would be lower than the 1911 level? "The Prime Minister's statements require clarification. Tn the process we hope that it will be found that he does not intend to dishonour the salary agreement with tho Service organisations. To make such a proposal, without even alluding to. the existence of ouch an agreement, is a position in which we could hardly expect the Prime Minister to rest.”