PIECEWORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 233, 3 October 1933, Page 11

PIECEWORK.

NEW RELIEF SYSTEM.

WHY IT IS NECESSARY.

STATEMENT BY MR. JESSEP,

Some of the principal factors which have influenced the Unemployment Board ii its decision to institute the piecework system on relief works were outlined by the deputy-chairman of the

board, Mr. J. S. Jessep, in an interview,

"Whilst the board is fully alive to the real hardships through which many people are passing through no fault of

their own, and to' whom it is necessary

for the community to afford relief," said Mr. Jessep, "it is essential for the public —and relief workers as well —to re-

mind themselves of the reason that relief works exist at all in the Dominion. They are for the sole purpose of granting relief to distressed citizens

whose own personal efforts to obtain employment are utterly without avail. Relief works are not, and can never be, a permanent source of income. The now lengthy period over which the depression has extended has unfortunately resulted in a certain class of unemployed person attaching the character of permanency to relief work. This results in a relaxation of individual effort to obtain an independent livelihood. In the national interest this damaging tendency must not be allowed to become established as a characteristic. ■

"The money which is need to carry on relief works is not supplied from some limitless and impersonal source. It comes entirely from the wages tax and the emergency charge on the income of every citizen not on relief. These, in the main, are not wealthy people. They are the workaday citizens—small tradesmen, labourers, professional men, clerical workers, shop and factory workers, farmers, and, in fact, all those who make up the majority in every community. Every contributor to the fund has a direct personal interest in the use to which the money is put. The money is taken from them for a specific purpose and with a specific excuse. The purpose is to carry on relief works for their unemployed necessitous fellows. Trustees for Contributors. "The people who are the largest class of contributors tp the unemployment fund could not afford themselves to squander the sums they contribute, nor could they spare the money from their individual household incomes as a gratuity tp someone who cjid not need it badly/' continued Mr, Jess<jp. "The Unemployment Board, the employing authorities and the unemployment committees are trustees for the contributors, with a definite dijty to see that the money goes to people in necessity through involuntary unemployment, and that the contributors, as a community, get reasonable value in work performed for the expenditure,. Otherwise the relief money, instead of meeting a real nefjd, creates an artificial one, is taken needlessly from people >vhp can ill spare it, js wasted, demoralises those who receive it, and the taxation is perpetuated.

"Thp board, in its last report tq Parliament, made clear its dissatisfaction with scheme 5, wljicli has been the main avenue of relief employment, and its dcsjre to improve the method. Apart froip the board's respon,sihi}ity to see that a reasonable amount of useful work is faithfully performed for the rejief money expended, the negd now definitely urgent, in thq interests of rejief workers themselves, to circumvent the demoralising influence oq then) of being relieved of any need for perspnal diligence in the performance of whatever work they are required to dp in return for relief money. A private worker has to seek out his employment for himself; a relief worker has it foun<} for him regularly. A private worker has tp earn his 'yv&ges to the satisfaction of his epiployer, or is discharged; a relief workefc enjoys considerable latitude in this respect. Good Workers in Big Majority. (t Men among the unemployed whose lifetime habit and pride it has been to give a fair return for their jiay will welcome the opportunity of giving a reasonable 4ay's work for the relief money paid to them. With a lengthy experience of workers throughout New Zealand, I am satisfied that the men who are prepared to adopt this attitude are by far in the majority. On day work they have no incentive tQ apply themselves more conscientiously than the least willing ones among their fellow workers. In some cases, they are even intimidated against doing so. The best of men canpot for long maintain their standard under these conditions. The result is a process of levelling down. The men cannot afford to allow it to continue.

"The piecework and contract method gives scope for the natural individualism of New Zealanders," added Mr. Jessep. "It places q, premium upon individual or collective industry. It will restore waning self-respect. A pieceworker can feel that he has earned whatever relief money he receives from the fund provided by his neighbours, and that the value of the work he has given has discharged his obligation for the assistance he has received. I am well aware that the introduction of piecework or contract methods will be difficult in some oases, and that in the case of men vho are not too robust it may be impossible. But on all ordinary jobs it is quite possible to set Borne reasonable basis. No Reduction in Allocation. "There is not the slightest intention on the part of the board to reduce by this method the amount of relief which, according to the money available and the necessities of relief workers, will be allocated to centres. The board has put tfys proposal forward to employing bodies for their serious consideration. They have collateral responsibility with the board to see that the term 'relief worker' does i not become a term of general reproach. I wish to emphasise the fact that, despite the opposition to piecework expressed in certain quarters, I have been told personally by hundreds of relief workers throughout the Dominion that they would prefer to have the opportunity of being able to feel that they have given such return as they are I able for the relief given to them by their 1 fellow citizens. I

"Under the proposed system the men will be able to do this. Their neighbours will have done their part by providing the funds for those that need help; the employing authorities will have done their part by providing the work and arranging it on terms so that 110 man need feel any loss of self-respect in its performance. Those who really do need the assistance thus paid for and provided by their fellow citizens; will take it. The other type "will become definitely distinguishable, and if they refuse the proffered assistance of the community it will nq doubt be because they can do better lon their own amount," 4 1