HOUSING DEPARTMENT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 234, 1 July 1939, Page 12

HOUSING DEPARTMENT

Reorganization Of Staff In

Auckland

SOME WAGES REDUCED

Dominion Special Service

AUCKLAND, June 30.

General reorganization of tlie outside staff of the Department of Housing Construction in Auckland has been undertaken in recent weeks, and, as a result, about 35 employees have had their status altered and their wages reduced by amounts ranging up to 10/- a week. ' The houses are built under contract, but the department itself employs about 500 men on related work, including the improvement of sections, pathlaying and fencing. These workers are subject to various awards, including those of the New Zealand Workers’ Union and the Auckland Drivers’ Union. 'Tlie department’s inspector in Auckland, Mr. R. L. MacPhail, stated that in the course of reorganization, a number of subordinate foremen, leading hands, gangers and others haying charge of small bodies of men, had been reduced. Various awards provided extra payment for men carrying responsibility of this kind, and wages had been brought into conformity with the rates laid down. No Government department had authority to pay more than award rates. Men who were no longer required to supervise others, Mr. MacPhail said, had not been dismissed, but bad been retained in the rank and file at the wages prescribed by awards.

There was no shortage i of labour, and men who were able to obtain more than award rates from private employers were not discouraged from leaving. It is understood that the reorganization has been carried out partly for reasons of economy, particularly as subsidies are no longer payable from the employment promotion fund toward the wages of the men formerly engaged 'by Government departments under the No. 13 scheme.