COMPLAINT MADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 300, 18 December 1937, Page 10

COMPLAINT MADE.

ORAKEI WORKERS. CHRISTMAS PAY QUESTION. CHALLENGE TO HON. F. E. LARK Men emjfloyed by the Public "Works Department in preparing sites for the new school in C'oates Avenue, Orakei, and other works in the vicinity -who were yesterday associated in a meeting are reported to have expressed dissatisfaction with the terms and conditions of their employment; lack of confidence in I lie officials of the Xew Zealand \\ 01 kens' [ nion—which they stated that 1 hey had been compelled to join—and dissatisfaction with the method of payout before Christmas. It is reported that a circular had been it-sued by the Public Works Department under which the men are employed, making it clear that the last pay before ( hri<stma« would be completed not later than next Thursday, and that the measure up would be made at the last possible date. It was now proposed to pay them on Tuesday for the work completed since the last pay-out. The men claimed that under this arrangement the money they earn during the balance of next week will be withheld from them until after the holidays. They passed a resolution asking that the measure-up and pay-out be delayed so that they may have the benefit of the extra money over the holiday period. Method of Payment. The men had complaint also against 3. statement made by the Hon. F. E. lark, M.L.C., organising secretary in Auckland for the New Zealand Workers' Union, who, they said, had created the impression that the men on the job

earned over £4 and £5 a week. One spokesman issued a challenge to Mr. Lark to prove that any workman on any part of the job had earned more than £3 6/ a week on the average over the past twelve weeks.

An answer could not be obtained from Mr. Lark this morning, as he is at present on his way to Wellington, but one of the organisers of the union, Mr. L. C. Hair, pointed out that the men were employed, -under the co-operative contract system, being paid according to tie work they did at certain definite prices for different types of work. It depended upon themselves how much they earned. It had to be expected, of course, that some gangs -would earn less than others because .of their physical complement, but some men on Public Works job 3 earned as much as 30/ a day and others over £1. Actually the prices paid at Orakei were higher than the schedule for most other P.W.D. jobs. One party there had earned 2/7 an hour. The New Zealand Workers' Union, he said, existed for the benefit of the m£n employed, and each job had its delegate who could submit any cause for complaint to the union. The only complaint, made to the union by the men at Orakei had been made recently when one gang protested against their payout. alleging that they had been underpaid for the work they did. The measure-up had been checked, and it had

actually been found that the men had been treated generously.

| Regarding the pay-out before Christmas, he said that there were complaints there that were difficult to deal with. The Public Works Department district covered from Mangawai to PaeroaPokeno, and all that district had to be covered by the pay-out clerks. It was a tremendous. pay-out before Christmas, and it was very difficult for the Department to deal with it so that all men got as big a pay-out as possible. In this case it was a matter of two days' pay that would be held over. Public Works Problem.

Mr. F. S. Dyson, district Public Works engineer, said that it was a complaint that was heard each Christmas. The Department tried its best to help the men with a late pay-out, but practically the whole office staff was engaged this week in pay-out work. Orakei was usually among the first jobs to be paid. There were about 2500 men who had to be paid over a tremendous area of country. From another authoritative source it was stated this morning that -the men on the job had legitimate cause for complaint in the conditions of employment, in that they were paid on a gang average. In some gangs there were "passengers"—men who were not fit to do a heavy day's work. These men had to be carried by the other men, whose average was correspondingly lowered. In regard to their fees to the New Zealand Workers' Union, too. they had cause for complaint. They were engaged for these Public Works jobs from the ranks of the unemployed on the four-monthly scheme, and were paid substantially from the Unemployment Promotion Fund. When they were given the work they had to join the N.S.W.U. and pay 25/ membership fee, which was the ordinary subscription for a year's membership. Three batches of men were thus employed during the year, each for four months' work, and each of them paid the full fee. They did not consider ■this was equitable, for there was no transference of fees to any other union they might join at the end of the four months' work. They might then become local body labour era or something of the sort. °