"Turned in His Toes"

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 41, 18 February 1938, Page 6

"Turned in His Toes"

Minister’s Action Criticised by Builders LISTENING TO UNIONS ALLEGED “It is a poor lookout for us when a Minister allows a scheme to go ahead in one place and yet not in another because some union secretary cries it down." This remark and others like it which suggested that the Government was being dictated to by trade unions, were voiced at yesterday’B annual conference of the New Zealand Builders' Federation during a discussion ou the failure of the subsidised train6e-apprentice scheme initiated by the aeting-Minister of Labour, Hon. P. C. Webb, last year. The conference was informed that ill reply to an intimation that the Carpenters and Joiners' Union of Auckland was definitely hostile to the scheme, the Minister had stated that he saw little to be gained by endeavouring to force the trainee system in areas where the method was not favourably viewed. The Scheme provided for the subsidy of wages of apprentices in the carpentry, joinery and bricklaying trades, and it was stated that at a conference of workers and employers it had been approved. Mr. V. A. Coyle (Auckland) said it seemed that the Auckland secretary was able to bring sufficient pressure on the Minister to squash a policy measure.

The president, Mr. W. A. Petrie (Timaru) said tho scheme had not been taken up as the industry had expected. In South Canterbury he believed there was only one under the Bcbeme. He had heard that there were 10 in Wellington. Mr. J .H. Meyer: It is a poor lookout for us When a Minister allows a scheme to go ahead in one place and yet not in another because a union secretary cries it down. For a Minister to turn in his toes like that is not playing the game. Mr. W. P. Glue (Christchurch) said some employers objected to the scheme. The three years term was not long enough because a boy couldn't be made a carpenter in that time. The speaker also pointed to wage discrepancies. The secretary, Mr. W. J. Mountjoy, said the arrangement was a voluntary one with the unions and nobody was more surprised than the builders when they learned that Mr. Webb had got the unions to agree to it. If the unions now objected the builders would have to let it go at that. Mr. V. A. Coyle: We have a nasty secretary in Auckland, and that is a fact. The speaker said he was not content to see the builders stand aside and let this sort of thing happen without expressing regret. There were 400 men in Auckland who could be linked up under the scheme and so be in a position to earn a decent living. He moved the following resolution, which was carried: “That this conference expresses to the Minister of Labour its rejret that he does not intend to mike it mandatory for apprenticeship committees to ratify contracts of apprenticeship under the trainee system where such contracts comply with other necessary conditions."