CITY RELIEF WORKERS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 109, 10 May 1932, Page 8

CITY RELIEF WORKERS

STOPPAGE AT. tfOON

OBJECTION TO NEW SCHEME

BOARD'S LAST WORD

All relief workers in the city, as far as can be ascertained are out on strike, as the result of the mass meeting held yesterday and adjourned until to-day. Throughout the proceedings it was evident that a ponderable proportion of relief workers were averse to remaining on strike, and would have been content to resume work to-day, having made their gesture, but these counsels were only timidly hinted in view of the strong desire of a section of the gathering for an immediate strike of all relief workers, the more heated arguments carrying the day. The announcement by the Unemployment Board that the new scheme must stand no doubt helped the strike emissaries to the gangs from this morning's meeting, and a mass meeting was in progress this afternoon, the intention being to organise a huge procession to Parliament.

The meeting of relief workers at the Basin • Reserve yesterday afternoon proved interesting, if only from the number' of varying opinions expressed.

It was apparent in the early stages that a. large section of those present had little faith in organisations which had jhitherto given themselves the task of seeing to relief workers' welfare. The U.W.M., the Relief Workers' Section of the: General Labourers' Union, and the official Labour Party were all subjected to criticism, and a resolution was moved and seconded that a committee of actual relief workers be formed, to work on purely honorary lines to' place matters in their true light before the authorities. . Two delegates, it was stated; were interviewing the Unemployment Board, and the chairman asked for the postponement of any action by the meeting until they had made their report. Resolutions, however, were moved that a rent and levy strike be undertaken by those present, and .that a strike committee be formed, including a delegate from each relief job, three single unemployed workers, and three married unemployed workers. , ; ' rank; and pile wins. Considerable discussion revolved round the respective virtues'of the rank and file and any form of committee, a section of those present evidently desiring an immediate ''decision. Some protests were.made that the report of the delegates' to the Unemployment Board should first be received, but eventually it was decided that the sug: gested committee of delegates and representatives of single and married unemployed should be duly constituted ,as a strike committee to meet at'7.3o in the Trades Hall, and report to a further mass mjeatingi.in the Basin Reserve at 9 a.m. {o-day. .""■'•!'■.; "When you do. things at abig.meeting you do not know where .you will end up," said one speaker, who pointed out _to_ the married men /that a rent and> levy strike would automatically mean a cessation of work for an uncertain. period. Apparently this carried some weight, as the rent and levy strike did not receive ag wholehearted support as other matters raised, though it was evident that a majority favoured it. " : •'■■■' NO SECRET BALLOT. Suggestions for a secret ballot on the strike on the jobs were put forward, but were turned down, and after several fluent speakers had addressed,the meeting, a motion in favour of a strike forthwith "was carried by a, most convincing show of hands, a dislike to being the last man to put his hand up being very noticeable. After this, speeches were de trop, and an uninteresting hiatus ensued while waiting for the delegates, the crowd, which- had been seated.on the grass, walking around to keep warm. The delegates, on arriving at about 4.30 p.m., stated that the decision of the Unemployment Board would not be announced until later, and the crowd dispersed. • The single and married members of the strike committee were nominated and accepted at the meeting, the delegates from jobs being subsequently elected. It did not, however, meet in the Trades Hall, being informed that, all the rooms were occupied by other meetings. . The committee.was. accommodated at the U.W.M. rooms in Viyian street. .•_ . TO-DAY'S DEVELOPMENTS. When the appointed committee arrived at the-Basin Reserve at 9 a.m. te-day it was very evident that -it was far from,unanimous after its consultations of the preceding evening, and it retired into a corner to. evolve a pronouncement to the meeting of some, seven hundred relief workers, which rapidly grew to about two thousand. OFFER OF MEDIATION. The chairman announced that', the chairman of the Unemployment Committee (Mr. J. I. Goldsmith) had offered to meet delegates at 10 a.m./and these, "to the number of-some thirty, went to the Unemployment Bureau in Buckle street, where Mr. Goldsmith was made aware of' what had happened. Ho frankly told them that he could do nothing unless the men went back to their jobs, bnt if they did so^he would meet delegates'at the meeting of the "Unemployment Committee at 2 p.m., and do what he could for them. As far as he was able, he would see that no man was victimised for striking, and he would endeavour to see that the time they had lost was made up. Unless they went back to their jobs, however, he could do nothing for them. This resolution, was conveyed to the crowd at the Basin Reserve on the return of the deputation, and the chairman put it to the meeting -whether they would go back to 'their jobs or not. As he understood it, they were still on strike, as decided by the meeting ad--ijoirrned the previous afternoon, and he wished to be sure of the wishes of the meeting after Mr. Goldsmith's offer. "ENOUGH PROMISES." It was evident that the meeting was opposed to returning to work. The fact that the announcement promised, by the Unemployment Board at 6 p.m. yesterday was- now deferred until. 12 - noon to-day was unfavourably commented upon, and several speakers said that they had had enough of promises. A motion that the meeting adjourn until 2 p.m., delegates in the meantime to visit all jobs and bring the men still artwork in, was carried; only a score or so of hands being raised against it, the minority being jeered. An appeal was made to all relief •workers to bring their wives and Children with them to the afternoon meeting; in order to make" a worthwhile demonstration to Parliament. Various speakers addressed the gathering. Orie'drew-'attention to the discrepancy between the amount of a maintenance order and the relief wage,

and all were.. emphatic that the time had come to make a stand against the new scale. : BOARD ADAMANT. Early this morning the only jobs which were not being worked, as far as could be ascertained, were: Hataitai, 219 men; Earoa road, 6S men; Aro Street Quarry,, 26 men; and Northland, 87 men. More must have come into town as the morning progressed, however, even allowing for the single men who have not gone into camps, who have been out of work for about a moiith. \__ The work of the "delegates to the various jobs was rendered easier by the announcement by the Unemployment Board that the^ new scheme must stand, which was conveyed to all the gangs by 12 o'clock, and all tho relief workers of \7ellington, as far as could be ascertained at midday, came out on strike.