[119] Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, March 12, 1906, p. 867.
CHAPTER IX
The Post Office Employees Press the House of Commons for Increases of Wages and Salaries
British Government’s policy as to wages and salaries for routine work, as distinguished from work requiring a high order of intelligence. The Fawcett revision of wages, 1881. Lord Frederick Cavendish, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, on pressure exerted on Members of Parliament by the telegraph employees. Sir S. A. Blackwood, Permanent Secretary to the Post Office, on the Fawcett revision of 1881. Evidence as to civil servants’ pressure on Members of Parliament presented to the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments, 1888. The Raikes revision of 1890-91; based largely on the Report of the Committee on the Indoor Staff, which Committee had recommended increases in order “to end agitation.” The Earl Compton, M. P., champions the cause of the postal employees in 1890; and moves for a Select Committee in 1891. Sir James Fergusson, Postmaster General in the Salisbury Ministry, issues an order against Post Office servants “endeavoring to extract promises from any candidate for election to the House of Commons with reference to their pay or duties.” The Gladstone Ministry rescinds Sir James Fergusson’s order. Mr. Macdonald’s Motion, in 1893, for a House of Commons Select Committee. Mr. Kearley’s Motion, in 1895. The Government compromises, and appoints the so-called Tweedmouth Inter-Departmental Committee.
At the time of the transfer of the telegraphs to the State, February, 1870, the average weekly wages paid by the telegraph companies to the telegraphists in the seven largest cities of the United Kingdom, was $5.14 for the male staff, and $3.56 for the female staff. That average for the male staff includes the salaries of the supervisors; if the latter be excluded, the average for the rank and file of the male employees will fall to $4.80.[120] In 1872, two years after the transfer, the average wage of the male telegraphists in the offices of Metropolitan London was $6.56, while the average wage of the female clerks was $4.30. For the United Kingdom exclusive of London, the average wage of the telegraphists was $5.46 for the male employees, and $4.50 for the female employees.[121] The latter averages record a larger increase of wages in the period 1870 to 1872, than would appear at first blush upon comparison with the average of 1870, namely: $4.80 for men telegraphists and $3.56 for women telegraphists. For while the figures for 1872 record the averages for the whole United Kingdom exclusive of London, those for 1870 record the averages of the seven largest cities only.
The increases in wages and salaries in the years 1870 to 1872 were due mainly to the all round rise in wages and salaries that occurred in the United Kingdom in the period from 1868 to 1872. In the case of the telegraphists the rise in wages was postponed until 1870 to 1872, for the reason that the telegraph companies, as much as possible, adhered to the past scale of wages and salaries on account of the pending transfer of their properties to the State.[122] The companies were able to pursue the policy in question by refraining from increasing their forces materially, working their old staff over-time. In part, however, the increase in the wages of the telegraphists after the transfer of the telegraphs to the Post Office was due to the fact that the Government was obliged to pay the employees in the Telegraph Department something more than the rates of wages prevailing in the open market. For, previous to the acquisition of the telegraphs, the Government had established the policy of paying its employees more than the open market rate for work requiring only fidelity and diligence in the performances of routine duty, as distinguished from work requiring a high order of intelligence and discretion. Shortly after the Post Office had acquired the telegraphs, it was compelled to extend the aforesaid policy to the new body of State employees. As a matter of everyday politics, it proved impossible for the Government to discriminate between the several classes of public servants, paying one part of them “fancy” wages, and the rest of them wages determined by demand and supply.[123]
An episode from the reorganization of the Civil Service in 1876, in accordance with the recommendation of the so-called Playfair Commission, affords insight into the British practice of paying the public servants something more than the market rate of wages and salaries. The Playfair Commission had recommended that the pay of the lower division of Government clerks begin with $325, and rise by annual increments to $1,000, for seven hours’ work a day. Thereupon the Government had fixed the rate at $400, to rise by annual increments to $1,000. The Playfair Commission had stated that if it had been guided by the “voluminous” evidence which it had taken, it would have fixed at $750, the maximum to which should rise the salaries of the lower division clerks. But it had desired to attract “the elite” of the classes that the Government could draw from, and therefore it had fixed the maximum at $1,000.[124]
Fawcett Revision of Wages, 1881