EARNINGS AND SUSTENANCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 February 1937, Page 12

EARNINGS AND SUSTENANCE

UNION’S REQUEST REFUSED

[ PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

AUCKLAND, February 15

‘•I sincerely regret to learn that be- • cause of broken time the incomes of so many workers have fallen below the basic wage, and I would willing!' assist in the direction indicated in your letter -if it were advisable to do so ” states the Minister for Employment, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong-, in replying to the Auckland Builders’ and General Labourers’ 1 Union that the earnings of casual workers should be supplemented from the Unemplojment Fund to bring them up to the level of the basic wage of £3/16/-. It was stated to the Minister that members of the union had suffered hardship in recent weeks because of longperiods of bad weather. “I can assure you that the matte) has received very earnest consideration, and I regret that it does not appear to be practicable to increase the present maximum allowable income or to vary the provisions foi the I adjustment of relief as set out in cur-1 rent regulations,” added the Minister.. “The principal reason for fixing the | maximum before relief allocations ate affected is to provide a deterrent to over-ready acceptance of relief assistance. If the maximum were appreciably raised there would be little or .no encouragement for workers to seek full-time employment, and when it is remembered that under scheme No. 5 provision is made for payment for time lost because of sickness and wet weather, there would often be an actual inducement for men to prefer relief work schemes and conditions. It should be noted, in this connection, that there is no actual limit set to the workers’ earnings except the provision for a reduction in his relief allocation when his private income ex- , ceeds a certain maximum. In other - words, the State’s responsibility becomes automatically less as the worker’s economic opportunities in- ■ crease, and it is surely the Govern- . ment’s duty to provide an incentive, for men to seek and obtain private ern- > ployment. “The provision of sustenance for waterside workers is at present being reviewed, and in view of the agieement recently reached between the employers and the New Zealand Fed- , eration of Waterside Workers, it is quite likely that certain changes will , be effected in the near future,” the Minister added.