CUTTING STAFF

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21190, 13 August 1940, Page 6

CUTTING STAFF

WAGE INCREASE RESULT COUNTY COUNCIL’S POSITION INSTRUCTION TO ENGINEER The extra wages cost would simply mean that the staff must be reduced, stated the chairman of the Waikato County Council, Mr J. A. Sampson, at a meeting of the council today, when referring to the general wages increase granted by the Court of Arbitration. The engineer, Mr A. A. Woodward, was instructed to cut down on all labour possible. Mr Woodward reported that the 5 per cent increase in wages for men on awards would result in an annual increase in the wages costs of the county of £936. For the rest of the present year the extra cost would be £598. The engineer was instructed to report fully on the situation to the next meeting, together with all possible recommendations regarding staff reductions. Burden on the Farmer “We have taken our rates as high as the ratepayer can stand, but still these extra costs are coming on,” said Mr Sampson. “We will simply have to reduce our staff. The farming community has to bear the national security tax and now this increase. The burden is falling on the one section of the people all the time. “It will require the most careful economy for us to get through the year in any case,” added Mr Sampson, who stated that the council’s estimates had been prepared before any extra wages costs were expected. “Farmers were just becoming very keen on making every effort to increase production,” Mr Sampson concluded, “but now this wage order will dishearten them again. Is increasing production going to be worth while? There does not seem to be anything to encourage us.”