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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 1 (May 1, 1928)
Payment By Results — A Reply from the Canadian Pacific Railway
Payment By Results
A Reply from the Canadian Pacific Railway
We have been asked by the Australian representative of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, Col. J. Sclater, to publish in our magazine a reply to a report which appeared in several papers regarding piecework conditions in the Canadian Pacific Railway shops.
Col. Sclater sent a cutting of the report to Montreal, and the reply from Mr. C. H. Temple, Chief of the Motive Power and Rolling Stock, to Mr. Grant Hall, Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, is as follows:—
“The statements made are almost too absurd to merit denial: The arguments raised are:—
First: ‘That the premium bonus system in other parts of the world invariably resulted in the employers reducing the rate paid to the workmen.’ At Angus Shops, where the bonus system of payment has been in continuous operation, the rate paid to the workmen has increased 89.8 per cent. in the last ten years.
Secondly: ‘That the worst feature was the risk to the men working under the bonus payment system. In one morning in a Canadian Pacific Railway workshop five men were carried out.’ The number of serious accidents at Angus during the past four years has been as follows:
| Year 1923 | 5 |
| Year 1924 | 3 |
| Year 1925 | 11 |
| Year 1926 | 6 |
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N.Z. Railways To Have Modern Workshops.
View of the Department's big new workshop in the Hutt Valley, Wellington, shewing the completion of the steel frame-work construction of the locomotive-erecting shop, and the heavy and light machine shops.
This represents the following percentage of the total force employed:
| Year 1923 | 0.07 p.c. |
| Year 1924 | 0.04 p.c. |
| Year 1925 | 0.15 p.c. |
| Year 1926 | 0.08 p.c. |
The above figures indicate about one serious injury per year for every 1500 men continuously employed during the year.
Thirdly: ‘All the men were fighting for tools and cranes and it was a case of every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.’ Of course the outstanding feature of our workshop practice is the entire absence of confusion, due to the fact that each man knows the work required of him and how to perform it, and is furnished by the shop with adequate facilities in the shape of tools, cranes, etc.
Fourthly: ‘That there was no time to do things properly and a terrible risk at all times.’ This statement, of course, is directly opposed to the general policy of the company, both as regards workmanship and safety.
Fifthly: ‘That the bonus rate was reduced as output increased.’ It is our practice for years never to interfere with a job price unless either the method of performing the work, the material, or the class of journeyman called for is chanced.”