DISMISSAL OF GIRLS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1937, Page 10

DISMISSAL OF GIRLS

AUCKLAND FIRMS

"DUBIOUS METHODS"

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, June 16,

Complaints that employers in Auckland are dismissing female employees in order to replace them with younger girls who do not have to be paid the basic wage were repeated yesterday by the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) in the course of his reply to a deputation from the Society for the Protection of Women and Children.

The Minister said that it was apparently the practice of the firms concerned to discharge the girls with good references or "certificates of service," as they were called, but the fact remained that they used dubious methods in dispensing with the services of these employees. It had been represented to him, the Minister added, that the method used by one firm was its usual wny o£ defeating the aims of the labour legislation passed by Parliament last year. Complaints which the Government received along - those lines would be investigated. If the facts were correct, he could hardly credit that reputable firms could be so careless of their reputations. If cases of that sort reached the society, the Government would be glad to receive reports on them. EMPLOYERS' COMMENT. A number of large employers of female labour to whom the Minister's statement was referred mentioned the difficulty of securing capable assistants. It was asserted in every case that there was no foundation for the Minister's statement as it was in the interests of a business to retain competent girls, because it was becoming increasingly difficult to replace them. It was admitted that it was necessary in some cases to dispense with the services of girls who failed to show the necessary aptitude, but only after it had been demonistrated that efforts" to train them to the desired state of efficiency had failed. Mr. J. C. Howard, acting secretary of the Auckland Employers' Association, and the Drapery, Clothiers', and Boot Retailers' Association, pointed out that the basic wage did not come into the question as many of the workers were receiving the equivalent of the basic rate a year before they came of age. Far from employers trying to defeat the Government's legislation, they were constantly seeking to find ways to comply with it. He knew from his contact with employers in both city and country districts that employers were willing to pay above ruling rates to get competent saleswomen, but in too many instances they were not available.