Laid-off staff hurting builders

Press, 27 April 1983, Page 7

Laid-off staff hurting builders

Staff laid off by building firms are competing with the firms for work and undermining the industry, according to the Canterbury Master Builders and Joiners’ Association.

The association’s president, Mr M. J. Prendeville, said in a report to its annual meeting yesterday that the most tragic feature of the slump was that former employees were undercutting established businesses and forcing them to the wall.

Companies were laying off staff daily, he said. Those who lost their jobs were setting themselves up in the only trade they knew — carpentry.

However, they had no backing and no idea how to run a business properly. They were working for wages only without acknow-

ledging overheads or providing for the taxman, and they were not taking on any apprentices. “The immediate impact they have on our industry is to strip us of the continuity of work we need to provide for our responsibilities,” Mr Prendeville said.

Among the responsibilities were training, industrial co-operation, and liaison with associated industries.

"When and if the situation improves, these former employees may well find that there are no longer any fulltime, reputable construction companies left to hire them,” he said.

The building industry in Canterbury was in the grips of a depression as severe as that of the 19305, with a dramatic downturn in demand in both the residential and the commercial sectors.

Mr Prendeville said that whereas in other parts of New Zealand the industry was showing signs of a modest recovery, there was no indication that difficulty would lift in Canterbury. It had been particularly hard-hit by the slump, he said.

Mr Rex Lester, Deputy Mayor of Christchurch, addressed the meeting on council policy as it affected builders.

The council was, he said, deeply concerned about the depression in the industry and had reviewed its building programme to create more work opportunities.

Tenders would be called soon for the construction of new premises for the Municipal Electricity Department, a $6 million development.

However, when answering

a question from the floor, Mr Lester said that the council would employ its own staff on the project. He said he did not feel defensive about that decision because, while builders would be happy for jobs now, they tended to avoid local body contracts when the industry was buoyant. It was council policy not to lay off any of its employees and to maintain a reservoir of staff for when the economy picked up. Tenders would also be called soon for the development of the domestic airport terminal, a $4 million plus project which would be “let outside,” he said. Housing was the area of building in which the council was most involved, especially since the Government had decreased its commitment, Mr Lester

said. More than 50 units were either under construction or due to be built in the city, and several of the council’s older flats were being improved. Also, renovation opportunities were available to tradesmen under the community housing improvement programme, he said. Mr Lester suggested that those within the industry might help the council and assist their own cause by promoting “design and build” housing. He said he hoped that quarterly meetings might be arranged between the council’s housing and property committee, of which he is chairman, and representatives from the association. The association’s incoming president, Mr Bill Harrison, promised his co-opera-tion in that respect.