SCHEME THIRTEEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 156, 3 July 1937, Page 13

SCHEME THIRTEEN.

Men working under Scheme 13 have a number of grievances, and suffer hardships which may or may not be generally known, and which, if not remedied, will leave the impression that the Government is a party to this harsh treatment. Under this scheme men are employed by, for instance, the Railway Department, the Employment Promotion Board finding £2 5/ and the employing authority £1 15/ for a 40-hour ( week. o We are not paid for wet time, and are r only allowed to make up time in the week ending on the Saturday in which the wet days occur. Thus, if we lose Thursday afternoon and Friday, we can only make up four hours. In the party * to "which I was allotted there is a man j who while on sustenance was in receipt of £2 15/. Should he lose two days in < any one week while in his present em- ( ployment he receives £2 8/, less tax, , and is, consequently, 8/8 worse off than on sustenance. The men are not respon- | sible for the weather, so why penalise ( them when permanent employees of the ( Railway Department doing general lab- , ouring work are paid, wet or dry? The | wage has been fixed at £3 16/, so why pay the poorest-paid and hardestworked section of the community less? Then, again, the work is limited, so we are informed, to three months per man. one gang being paid off after that period and by another body of men who are orr sustenance. This is all very well in theory, but in practice imposes distinct hardship all round, and does not give a man much encouragement to do his best. The placement office publishes figures showing the number of men placed in permanent, temporary and casual employment, but the temporary and casual placements do not reflect any credit on that Department; rather is it an indication that it is in ' their interests to get a man a few weeks' work and replace him with an- ' other mail. Why not publish a return • of the men originally placed bv the Department who have -been dismissed " week by week, as well as those who ' have been placed? Another point is that ' we are working under the agreement be--3 tween the New Workers' Union and the 5 : Public Works Department. Under this * a man has to have two months conB i tinuous service before he is entitled to 1 be paid for any statutory holiday. Thus 3 we lost the King's Birthday holiday be- ! cause we had only been engaged a few weeks before, and should we get work after our three months are up we will o lose the next holiday because of the , same condition. Yet private employers ll ■ have to pay for a holiday if they employ T a man for* four days in the week pnor e to such holiday. Rather ""consistent, is 6 I it not? WORKER.