WHY WORKERS LEAVE FARMS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30759, 25 May 1965, Page 1

WHY WORKERS LEAVE FARMS

Some of the reasons for farm workers tending to leave their jobs at an early age were given by one of them in a statement to “The Press” yesterday. He said he had been concerned at the position for some time, and had been prompted to come forward by the comments made by the Assistant Secretary of Labour (Mr N. S. Woods).

Mr Woods told the Lincoln College farmers’ conference last, week that “when farm workers reach the age of about 35, they start to leave the industry.” The farm worker, a man in his forties, who asked that

his name be not printed, was accompanied by his wife. They work as a married couple on a North Canterbury farm, and the man himself claimed 25 years’ experience of farm work in Marlborough, Canterbury, and Otago, including the high country. “I’ve got quite a few answers to why farm workers leave their'jobs,” he said. “Being an experienced man with sheep, I am used to working sheep with dogs, not in a car or utility vehicle- 1 try to do the job properly, and 1 am quite satisfied that you can’t do it properly behind a wheel. Dogs are definitely quicker and better, and it’s frustrating not to be allowed to use them.”

Milking the house cow was another bugbear, he said. Generally, this had to be done outside working hours, and every week-end. His wife said she saw no reason why the job should not be done inside

normal hours, instead of at the finish of a day’s work. Young men straight from agricultural college, with a lot of theory tut little practical experience, were another annoyance, he said. “Even though they are dealing with an experienced worker, they won’t take advice, and it is impossible .to work with a lot of them,” he said. The inability of the farmer, in many cases, to delegate authority, was another common complaint, he said. The “boss,” he thought, should be able to sum a man up, and give him responsibility if he was capable of taking it.

Another frustration was the virtual impossibility of getting promotion, he said. The man without experience received the same pay and bonuses as the experienced man.

“And,” his wife interrupted, “if there is a manager’s job going, the young chap

straight from Lincoln College gets it.’’ His wife also referred to what she called “the problem of the boss’s wife." There was too much class consciousness between the farmer’s and the farm worker’s house, she said. In some cases, the farmer’s wife never spoke. There should be give and take. Some of the homes they had lived in, she said, were excellent, others far from good. Their present home had two bedrooms, and was badly arranged. Their liv-ing-room was virtually the passage for their four children. Both husband and wife agreed that a big problem for farm workers was the education of their children. She cited cases of primary schoolchildren leaving home by bus at 8 a.m., and gelling home at 6 p.m. She said that she did not yet have to worry about secondary education, which in many cases required removal to the city or provincial town. Both said that their views were shared by othe’- farm couples, and the husband said that he considered farm workers as a group had not been vocal enough in pressing demands for better working conditions.