Wage Scale

Trouble Over New Native

The agreement reached last Sep tember to give certain Papua-New Guinea native workers a cash wage of £3 per week, came into effect on January 2—the same day that about 60,000 rural workers also got a pay rise. The new dual system of native employment gave rise to some of the troubles that had been anticipated. (“PIM”, Sept., p. 20). It is likely to cause even more confusion.

PREVIOUSLY the employment of all natives came under the Native Labour Ordinance and its various amendments which pro vided for casual workers (who usually worked within a certain distance of their village); and con tract workers, who entered into a contract with an employer for a specific period (usually of two years). The workers were paid a monthly wage plus rations, accom modation, medical treatment, trans port, etc. From Jan. 2 the mini mum wage is 34/- per lunar month.

In September, 1959, however, the then newly created Native Employ ment Board began an inquiry into native wages. The Board took evid ence up to July, 1960, that ran into hundreds of typed pages.

The Board’s subsequent report recommended a minimum cash wage of £3 per week without rations, etc., (Over)

for unskilled native labourers in the Territory’s chief towns of Port Moresby, Lae and Rabaul. It was estimated that it would affect about 10,000 workers.

The Administration agreed to the recommendation in principle; em ployers organisations also agreed to it—although subsequently some em ployers stated that they had agreed to it only because they had been “advised” to do so for fear that some authority would introduce something worse.

Two Systems

But whether individuals were for or against the new method of fix ing wages—and it was obvious that it opened the way to wage deter mination by direct negotiation— everyone could see that while two systems of employing and paying native labour operated side by side, there were bound to be anomalies if not straight-out dissatisfaction on the part of some of the natives themselves.

The Administrator of Papua-New Guinea announced official approval for the new wage scale on December 15, to come into operation on Janu ary 2. Before it did come into opera tion, elements of the Pacific Island Regiment rioted because the Army had been dilatory in announcing similar pay increases for them. (See

story this page).

At the same time, employers of native labour in the three towns be gan to take stock of their labour position and what the new town wage scale would cost them.

It is calculated that the new scheme, without rations, etc., will probably cost the employer about £1 per week extra per head for labour, and in big labour lines where previ ously the outlay in cash wages was relatively small, a weeding process will obviously pay dividends.

Many individual unskilled workers in large labour lines frequently do very little work at all and under conditions that prevailed up till January 2 they could get away with it. Now the idea among employers seems to be that if the native is to be paid a flat-rate cash wage, h£ has got to be productive enough to earn it.

If the cutting back process goes far enough, it could, of course, re sult in native unemployment.

Criticism of Moves

The PIR riots over pay, the in troduction of the cash wage in the three towns which cuts right across the existing native labour ordinance for all other workers, has come in for general criticism in the Terri tory on the grounds that the Admin istration, chivvied around by Can berra, is nibbling at each problem as it sticks its head up above the rest, instead of getting down to a broad, overall economic plan.

In 1960, a new Administration de partment to take care of commerce and industry was supposed to be in process of creation —but so far hasn’t materialised.

Eventually something of the sort will no doubt be done. In the mean time Territory progress—if any—is by haphazard leaps that are set off by nothing more scientific than the unrelated brainstorms of people in high political places.