SALARY CONTROL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21224, 21 September 1940, Page 10

SALARY CONTROL

STATE SUPERVISION ELECTRIC POWER EMPLOYEES ALL BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY (By Telegraph.—Press Association) DUNEDIN, Friday An instance of the extent to which control in industry is exercised by the Government is shown in a communication to the Dunedin City Council from the electricity controller advising that any increases in salary to men receiving more than £4OO a year must be submitted to him for approval. The communication follows the council’s decision to give all its employees, whether governed by awards or not. the benefit of the general order made by the Arbitration Court. Since the outbreak of the war the electricity controller has been given a fairly large measure of supervision in the electrical industry, and the powers vested in him include the right to govern wages paid in that industry. Not only is the City Council affected, but all power boards and municipal councils in the Dominion; in fact, all branches of the electrical industry come under his supervision. Moreover, the necessity for obtaining the permission of the controller to give increases in salary to men earning more than £4OO a year applies to all increments to which such employees may be entitled. The City Council has not yet replied to the controller’s request as the matter has not come before the Finance Committee, which may submit the whole question to the full council. The council has had a previous communication from the controller on the subject of electrical control, but this apparently was not taken very seriously.