Jobs summit pushes new view of work

Press, 13 March 1985, Page 1

Jobs summit pushes new view of work

From

GLENN HASZARD

in Wellington The Employment Promotion Conference ended in Wellington yesterday with a strong plea from the Minister of Employment, Mr Burke, that the 300 delegates and observers continue the dialogue begun when the conference opened on Sunday afternoon. “The frank talking and listening that has taken place over the last two days has provided the foundation for the further consultations that lie ahead, whether between you and me or be-

tween one group and another,” said Mr Burke. He pinpointed four themes which emerged. The first was the need for acceptance by the community as a whole of a wider definition of work. While the Government would have a role to play in promoting and facilitating wider definitions of work, employment, and enterprise, the calls heard at the conference would also require reappraisal . by sector groups of long-held views and attitudes “to assess whether they are in line

with the mood of New Zealanders as we move toward the 19905.” “They will also require acceptance by the community of a change in the way it regards work, employment, and enterprise. “The underlying current that I detected was that work should be accorded status because of the social worth of what was being done rather than because the way in which it was being done conformed to some traditional definition of work,” Mr Burke said. A second theme was a..

desire for decentralisation of resources and decisionmaking, in respect of jobcreation schemes and enterprise development. Mr Burke said that as part of the call for more regional control he heard a strong call for a change in the way job-creation funding was used. “What I heard was a call for a change to supporting the initial stages of new enterprises or ventures. “If there is to be such a change, it will be necessary to ensure that the proposed new venture or enterprise is

potentially viable as well as meeting the social or cultural objectives.” Mr Burke said that the Government would give close attention to managing the process of change to meet the needs of the Maori. He said he was convinced of the need for “a Maori dimension” in any new structure of assistance. The fourth theme was the value of training in increasing the skill and competence of all New Zealanders. Mr Burke chaired two days of forums, which were set up after it was realised

by the conference steering committee that there were many more people who wanted to take part than those who had been invited to the working groups.

The forums ran simultaneously with the working group meetings. People at the forums were bombarded with emotions as the unemployed and Maori groups in particular backed their oral presentations (With song and other vocal support. A member of the steering committee, Mr Ralph Love, said that those at the forum had experienced a great flood of different emotions, from exhilaration to anger, frustration, and compassion. The reports of the five working groups were presented at plenary sessions yesterday. The most radical idea to emerge was that from the income maintenance group. Mr Terry Hill, of Christchurch, told the plenary session that most of the group agreed that income maintenance should be available to all who were not in paid employment. “Those who favoured this believed that such a system would provide a genuine choice between the various options available, such as school, tertiary education, vocational training, unemployment, household activities, and community work,”

said Mr Hill. He said that one of the objections raised to the idea of an income maintenance benefit was who would pay. Those who favoured the payment idea felt that ultimately the tax system should provide the means of payment. All members of the group agreed that there should be incentives for training.

The income maintenance payment idea would help overcome the stigma associated with social welfare benefits, they said.

Most agreed that the income provided must be at a level at which housing, clothing, medical care, food, education, and community participation could be maintained. The level would be at least higher than the level of the present unemployment benefit. The working group in “causes and cures” of unemployment, which comprised people with diametrically opposed views on economic management, produced a report that avoided discussion of the causes of unemployment, which have probably had sufficient airing anyway, and reported in very general terms on some ideals which they held in common.

The group said that unemployment could be solved if the community applied the “correct” policies to

promote balanced and equitable social and economic growth.

The core of a balanced economic policy was “a sound domestic economy from which expansion by way of overseas trade can be developed.”

An indication of the compromise nature' of the group’s report was the way in which it said that both public sector activity and private investment were necessary.

The majority on the jobcreation programme working group reported that more flexible forms of organisation such as co-opera-tives, self-employment, and voluntary work needed to be supported. The group felt that the community knew best its local resources and needs.

They said that though the existing job schemes had weaknesses they were better than nothing. The group on training and education supported a comprehensive overhaul of the school curriculum. Schools should provide leaving certificates for all pupils, based on competency, it said. The conference, which began with a traditional Maori welcome to the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, ended also in the traditional Maori way, with a hymn in Maori led by the Rev. Maori Marsden.