SCHEME 13 MEN PAID OFF

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22676, 3 April 1939, Page 16

SCHEME 13 MEN PAID OFF

COMPLAINT BY WORKERS IN WELLINGTON

“NOT TOLD WHERE TO GO”

(nau association tsleobak.) WELLINGTON, April 1. As announced by the Minister for Labour (the Hon. P. C. Webb) some time ago. Scheme 13 came to an end last night. Under this scheme the Employment Promotion Fund was used to subsidise the wages of men who would not otherwise have received full-time employment, and a fair, number of men were employed under the scheme by the Housing Department. Several of these were paid off yesterday and claim that there is no reason for their dismissal. Only a small percentage were over 60 years of age. The men had been excavating house sites and straightening up sections round completed houses, one of them said. During the week several men were dismissed because the foreman said their work was not up to standard, and yesterday the men over 60 were paid off.

The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) had said that these men were to receive work during the next fortnight, but they had not been told where to go to get it, one man stated. Some of the men on the job had complained and had been told that the rest, with the exception of two or three, would be put off next week. He said that as there was at least nine months’ work ahead the men considered that they should have been retained. Houses could not be built unless the sections were prepared, and the Government had made it clear that the houses must be built as fast as possible. The men considered they should have been advised what they were to do for income in the future.