JUNIORS DISMISSED

Evening Star, Issue 22026, 11 May 1935, Page 19

JUNIORS DISMISSED

WHEN TIME FOR RISE COMES ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CHRISTCHURCH FIRMS . A serious allegation against a group of large employers in the city —that they dismissed juniors from their, staffs as soon as they qualified for higher wages—was made at a meeting of th» Boys’ Employment Committee yester* day (says the Christchurch ‘ Press ’)* It was stated that a number of boys placed by the committee three and four years ago. had come back to the bureau and, stated that they had been discharged because they had reached tha stage at which they should be paid higher wages. Considerable alarm was expressed at the action of the employers, who, it. was claimed, were undoing the work of the committee. Reporting for the Welfare and Education Committee, Mr A. J. M'Eldowney said that boys who had been placed three and four years ago were coming back to the bureau for further work. They stated that when they qualified for higher wages they were dismissed. It remained to check their statement* and obtain details of each case. Mr G. M. Keys, vocational guidance officer, said that this difficulty did not arise with the majority of firms, but with a group, and it was most aggravating, These employers did not give the bureau any indication of their intentions, .but simply left the officers to become aware of it by bitter experience. These people always asked for the very best of the boys offering. He knew one business—a hardware firm—where no junior had survived a third year. Mr M'Eldowney said that it might be possible to keep a list of names of the offending employers. Publicity would help to overcome the problem. Mr G. J. Lancaster: We nead masters are hoping to get lists of these ( employers and dissuade boys from accepting positions with them. 1 Mr J, S. Barnett said that the practice complained of had been going on for many years in'semi-skilled trades, and it seemed to have been aggravated during the depression. It was common at one time for employers to train boy* up to the adult stage, then to. dismiss them, but nowadays there were employers who did not even fully train the hoys,,apd.were taking advantage’of them. Some of those firms showed big balance-sheets.. He thought the committee might do a good deal to improve the situation. At the suggestion of Mr M'Eldowney it was decided to defer any action until a full report had been prepared by th* Welfare and Education Committee.