TRAMWAYMEN'S WAGES.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 July 1920, Page 4

TRAMWAYMEN'S WAGES.

NEW PLYMOUTH PROTEST. THE BOROUGH .COUNCIL FIRM. It is unlikely that the Now Plymouth Borough Council will deviate from its decision not to enter into negotiations with the tramwaymeni on the question of wages, until the decision .of the Arbitration Court in the Christchurch. dispute is made known. ' The President of the Union (Mr. V George) yesterday received "word from the Napier Tramway men's.Union to the effect that the members of that union are being paid according to the Auckland scale. This, Mr. George states, means that the minimum rate of Is 9d per hour has been adopted on all the North Island systems, with the exception of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth men are now asking that they should be paid on this scale, but the Borough Council has decided to be guided by the Christchurch award instead. When asked for an expression of opinion on the matter by a Daily News representative yesterday, officials of tha tramways department declined to say anything, beyond the fact that the question was entirely one for the Borough Council to deal with. Further enquiries elicited the information that the Borough Council are not inclined to give way in the matter. There are eighteen men in the traffic branch of the New Plymouth system, and the rates of pay at present vary from Is 8d to Is lOd per hour, as compared with the men's demands'of from la fld to 2s p-;r hour. It is contended, on behalf of tha Borough Council, that as the conditions in the smaller centres are much better than in the cities, the rates of pay should not be on an equal footing- Because Auckland pays a minimum of Is Od an hour, it should not necessarily follow that every other system should pay the same. The rates of pay in New Plymouth will be determined on the same basis as in Christchurch, whether that be a minimum of Is 8d or Is fld.