RELIEF WORKERS' PAY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21088, 13 February 1934, Page 14

RELIEF WORKERS' PAY

INCREASE DESIRED A CONFERENCE CONVENED A conference of representatives of local bodies in and round Christ- • church has been convened at the request of the Lyttelton Borough Council lo discuss the cut in the pay of relief I workers and to ascertain if something cannot be done to increase their pay. The conference is to be held in the City Council Chamber at 4 p.m. on Thursday, February 22. The following local bodies have been invited to send representatives:—The Christchurch City Council, the Christchurch Tramway Board, the Christchurch Drainage Board, the Christchurch Domains Board, the liiccarton, Sumner, Lyttelton, New Brighton, and Kaiapoi borough councils, the Heathcote, Waimairi, Halswell, and Paparua county councils, and the Waimakariri River Trust. ! LEWIS PASS NO. 2 CAMP i I ! REFUSAL OF MEN TO ACCEPT PAY i A difficult position has arisen at the Lewis Pass road No. 2 camp, at the Poplars, because of the refusal of the relief workers to accept their pay. . Since January 23 the men have refused to accept their pay because of a dispute with the Public Works Department regarding the system of carrying on the job. There are 33 men in the camp, and they have been dij vided into six gangs, working on a 1 contract basis. The men contend that i they should be allowed to work in one gang and be paid a flat rate of 10s eacn a week, and apparently will not , accept their pay for the DecemberJanuary period until their demands are met. The attitude of the Public Works Department is that the men can receive their pay as soon as they are prepared to sign for it. The system j adopted is that the head men of each [gang sign the pay-sheets, but the men | are understood to be firm in their demand that one man should be allowed to collect the whole of the money and divide it equally among them. ! Efforts to reach an amicable settlement of tlie dispute! have so far not (been successful, and it is understood |that a full investigation of the matter will be made this week by ofliccrs of | the Public Works Department.