HARD TO LIVE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20139, 8 January 1940, Page 11

HARD TO LIVE

REFUGEES IN SYDNEY ‘SWEATING’ ALLEGATIONS OFFICER TO REPORT SYDNEY, Dec. 20. Alarmed by reports of destitution, “sweating,” and award breaking among refugee migrants, the Federal Government has sent a special officer to Sydney to investigate. This step has been taken at the suggestion of the State Government, which has been embarrassed by repeated requests for assistance from refugees, who have been unable to find a place in the land which gave them shelter. There are in Sydney nearly 5000 people who fled from persecution in Europe and who are struggling desperately, and in many cases unsuccessfully, to earn a living in unfamiliar surroundings. State authorities are powerless to cope with the problem of policing the awards under which many of their activities are classed. The State Government also holds the view that the Commonwealth, having admitted the refugees, is responsible for them and should shoulder any financial burden connected with their welfare. Future action will depend on the report of the special investigating officer, who will inquire into the position of every refugee who can be traced. Ignored by Refugees The chief part of the problem is the sifting of numerous complaints to the State Department of Labour and Industry that refugees are ignoring the clothing trade awards in their efforts to make a living. About 90 per cent of the clothing trade is governed by Federal awards and State officials have no power to police these awards.

Efforts to induce the Federal Government to give State industrial inspectors this power have failed, despite the fact that the Federat authorities have no officers to watch the awards. All the policing has to be done by union officials, and they have no power to enter a factory unless they give six hours’ notice of their intention to do so. This, they claim, makes their task of catching award breakers practically impossible. State inspectors who have power to enter factories • unannounced can do no more than satisfy themselves that the Factories and Shops Act is being observed; they have no jurisdiction over Federal awards. The same applies to places where work is farmed out by large .firms under Government license. What goes on in these places in the way of award breaking nobody knows. But, while no evidence has been produced, stories of under-selling and over-working persist, and the State Government can do nothing to pin them down.