The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-06-25 00:00:00

THE TELEGRAPHISTS AND POST- .
OFFICE SORTING CLERKS.

On Saturday there was published the report of the
Postmaster-General to the Treasury, dated June 13,
1881, proposing certain improvements in the pay and
regulations of the sorting clerks and of the telegraphists
of the Post-Office; and the Treasury reply thereto,
dated June 16, 1881.
In his letter to the Treasury Mr. Fawcett lays
before their lordships the measures which he considers
necessary for improving the pay and the general posi-
tion of the telegraphists and sorting clerks employed
by the Post. Office. He says :
"As you are no doubt aware, widespread discontent has
for some time past manifested itself in the telegraph ser-
vice, and although the postal staff have, to their credit, re-
frained from associating themselves with any public demor-
stration of dissatisfaction, the numerous memorials which
have reached me are evidence of the existence among them
of a similar state of feeling.
The principal complaints from both branches of the ser-
vice are—

(1) Inadequacy of pay, arising to some extent from stag-
nation in promotion.
(2) The excessive amount of overtime, the small rate of
pay allowed for it, and the severity of night duty.
(3) The insufficiency of the amount of yearly holiday.
(4) The deductions made from pay during absence fro in
sickness.

(s)The absence in the case of the provincial staff of extra
payment, as made partially in London, for work performed
on Sundays, and as regards the telegraphists at the cen-
tral office, for work performed on Christmas Day and Good
Friday."
The Postmaster-General continues :
" For several months past I have been collecting in-
formation from all sources, not only as to the alleged
grievances of the staff, but as to the conditions of service
an rates of pay of persons In private employment whose
duties seem most nearly to correspond to theirs.
The whole question has been examined at conference of
the Post-office surveyors, who have unanimously come to
the conclusion that substantial grievances calling for
remedy exist, and who put forward proposals for that
object. I have most carefully considered all the evidence
which has been obtained, includinv the statement made to
me by the representatives of the telegraphists at a
lengthened interview, and other statements subsequently
submitted by them in writing. I have also on several occa-
sions discussed the whole question with many of the
practical officers of the department, and it is evident to me
that, while Lo such comparatively high rate of pay as that
afforded by the Playtair scale, lower division, is warranted
the time has come when some general improvements must
be made in the position and prospects of the telegraphists
and sorting clerks."

Mr. Fawcett goes on to explain the measures which,
in his judgment, are necessary to remove all well-
founded grievances. These meazures are summarized
in the Treasury reply. After adding that he is not
prepared to increase the allowance of half-pay during
absence from illness, Mr. Fawcett says :

"As regards the question of annual leave of absence, I
am now considering a scheme the effect of which I hope may
be to give one month's leave in the course of the year to
many who now have only three weeks, and to give three
weaks to many who now have only a fortnight.
"Should your Lordships approve of the several measures
proposed, arrangements can be adopted without delay for
giving effect to those relating to payment for overtime work,
to work done on Sundays, Good Fridays, and Christmas Day,
and to subsistence allowances; but a considerable time
must necessarily elapse before the new scheme of classifica-
tion and scales of pay can be applied definitely to every
office.

"I recommend that a common date be fixed for giving
effect to the readjustment of each such establishment, so
that all the officers may be treated alike, and 1 think it ad-
visable that the date thus to be fixed should be the com-
mencement of the present financial year—viz., the Ist of
April last. Under such an arrangement every officer bene-
fiting by the measure would receive at once the difference)
between his present pay and that yielded by the readjust-
ment of the establishment of the office, for the period elaps-
ing between the let of April and the date of the authority
for the readjustment."

In reply to the above the Lords of the Treasury
state that they accept the proposals submitted to
them a for improving the pay and general position of
the telegraphists and the sorting clerks employed in
the service of the Post Office in London and in the
country, with the understanding that effect is to be
given to the new classification and to the new scale of
wages from the Ist of April, 1881, as fast as they can,
with due consideration, be applied to the several
offices.

1. A new classification and scale of wages, which is to be
uniform for the postal staff of the sorting branch and for
the telegraphists, involving an increased immediate charge
of nearly £44,000, and an increasld average charge of
£128,000 per annum, as soon as the new rates advance to
their normal limits.

2. The cost of the reduction of night attendance to seven
hours, involving an increase of more than 0,000 per annum.
3. Improvements in the rate of payment for overtime, and
particularly in respect of allowing it on Sundays, Christmas
Day, and Good Friday, involving an increase of more than
£15,000 per annum.

_
The joint effect, therefore, of these measures is to increase
the cost of the postal and telegraph service at once by
£67,000, and prospectively by £152,000 (on an average) per
annum.

After some observations on the proposed changes,
the Lords of the Treasury conclude their letter by
saying that they entirely agree in the opinion that
the great body of telegraphists are simply misled in
being encouraged to contend that, because the Tele-
graph Act of 1868 (30 and 31 Vic.. cap. 110, sec. 8 (7)
has declared that such of them as Were transferred from
the service of the telegraph companies to that of the
Postmaster-General should "be deemed to be, to
all intents and purposes, officers and clerks in the
permanent Civil Service of the Crown, and should be
entitled to the same, but to no other privileges," there-
fore they became entitled to be paid in conformity with
what is generally known as the Playfair Scale, Lower
Division, rather than with any other of the numerous
scales which are shown in the estimates annually sub-
mitted to Parliament for the salaries of the many
thousands of persons who are, equally with these tele-
graphists, "to all intents and purposes, officers and
clerks in the permanent Civil Service of the Crown."
The Playfair Scale, as it is called includes but a very
small part of the scales which are to be found in those
estimates, nor have the telegraphists the shadow of
a legal right to claim it as peculiarly applicable to
themselves. •

The telegraph clerks are greatly dissatisfied with
the new scheme promulgated by the :Treasury for im-
proving their position, and it is said they imtend to
'continue their agitation. On Monday a deputation
of the clerks waited on the Controller at the Post-
office, and in the evening a ;lumber of them had an
interview with several members of the House of
Commons to explain the grounds of their dissatisfac-
tion.

At a meeting of the London Committee of Tele-
graph Clerks held on Tuesday night it was unani-
mously resolved : " That the object for which the
last general meeting ordered a cessation of overtime
having been attained, the committee hereby recom-
mends the staff not to abide by the said resolution.'
At the same time steps are being taken to express the
great dissatisfaction with which the new scheme has
been received.

At a meeting of the central committee of telegraph
clerks held in Liverpool on Tuesday it was resolved to
issue a manifesto in a few days, pointing out where
Mr. Fawcett's scheme fails to meet the demands of
the clerks. The document will be sent to all mem-
bers of Parliament.