POSTAL SERVICE

Southland Times, Issue 18848, 14 June 1920, Page 5

POSTAL SERVICE

THE OFFICERS’ GRIEVANCES. INDEFINITE REPLY FROM MR MASSEY. A CRISIS REACHED. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON. June 12, The negotiations between the Post ami Telegraph Officers' Association conference and the Government reached a head this morning, the position being made clear in a statement supplied by the conference covering letters which passed between it and the Prime Minister. The following letter was sent by the secretary of the conference (Mr H. E. Cornles) to the Prime Minister on Thursday;— “I have to acknowledge your letter of 7(h inst., and, to say that the conference of tins Association being now in session, your letter was read to the delegates assembled. I am sorry to advise you that your reply is not clearly understood, and I am directed to ask if you intended the Association to conclude from your reply that the results reached by the railway tribunals are to be applied to and become binding upon mmebers of the Post and Telegraph service. If so my delegates direct me to enter the strongest possible objection to such a proposal. This service had no opportunity of being heard by any of the railway tribunals, and its views and conditions are practically unknown to them. On the salary question I am directed to point out that the issue is a simple one so far as this Association is concerned, viz., whether the basic wage of 1914 (£16.5) should or should not be improved to the extent of the known increases in the cost of living, with consequential adjustments above and below the new basic point to cover the special skill, education, and responsibilities or to meet the case of officers being trained. As the principal business of this conference revolves around this essential point, it is hoped you can not only answer the query in the first part of this letter, but that you can also give an answer to the major point as well.” Mr Massey replied under date June 11, as follows;

“I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of yesterday, from which I am sorry to learn that my reply, to which your refer, is not clearly understood by yourself or the members of your Association. The position is to my mind very simple. As soon as the Government receives the recommendations from the tribunals which are dealing with the wages conditions of the railwaymen, the whole question of what bonus should be granted to postal officers and other members of the public service will be considered by the Cabinet, and their decision so far as the Post and Telegraph Department is concerned will be made known to your organisation. I understand that the tribunal dealing with matters in which the locomotive men belonging to the Railway Department are interested will conclude its sittings today. or not later than to-morrow. Then the Railway Officers' Institute tribunal will bn imemdiately convened, but as their business may be said to be not so complicated as is the case with the o'her two branches of the railway service, its sittings should not. take long.” The conference, when this letter was read out, expressed the strongest indignation that the Post and Telegraph officers’ grievances should be settled on the basis of the railway grievances and conditions, and not on their own merits, and absolute astonishment was expressed that the important salary question, which has been direc'ly before the Government since May 4 last, should be converted now into a “bonus” question. An urgent telegram embodying the feelings of the. conference was despatched to Mr Massey, and the conference adjourned pending receipt of his reply to the request for an interview. The delegates are now in communication with their branches, and it is expected that the whole question will he thoroughly gone into by members throughout New Zealand. INTERVIEW WITH MR MASSEY. The secretary of the Invercargill Section of the Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association was advised by the general secretary yesterday that Mr Massey agreed on Saturday evening to an interview to day or tomorrow.