HARD CONDITIONS ON RELIEF WORKS

NZ Truth, Issue 1274, 1 May 1930, Page 1

HARD CONDITIONS ON RELIEF WORKS

EXPLOITATION OF UNEMPLOYED

Trunk Line Workers Cannot Earn Mbre Than Bare Living AN INADEQUATE SYSTEM OF PAYMENT (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special . Christchurch Representative.) - When the Government m its wisdom decided to push ahead with the completion of the South Island main trunk railway, it hoped to provide a panacea for the unemployment ills of Canterbury at least. But if the many complaints which have reached "N.Z. Truth" from men on the job can be relied on— and inquiry confirms their complaints — the work is hot providing the relief anticipated by both sides. In fact, it virtually amounts to the exploitation of men m distress. .

FROM the inquiries made by "N.Z. : Truth" it is evident that the South .. Island main trunk job, lauded by the GoVernment as one of the most important and necessitous items of its railway construction programme, is providing no more than its predecessors towards relieving distress for the unemployed. -,-'.'; ' Up till the present it certainly does not bear the appearance of a monument to the Government's promise to relieve unemployment. The assurance of Mr. W. A. Veitch, Minister of Labor, that the Government has prepared legislation designed to totally . relieve unemployment, 'is poor solace .to the unemployed if the South Island main trunk job can . be i accepted as a Reliable example of the .Goyerninent's efforts!. ..'■■' ■■','• The substantial sums which have been granted for unemployment relief on main highway and raihvay conWW^^^y^ra&vt tifnew;Miid the' improvement, 'of ' old* transport services, to ', the : benefit . of the. public, but they, have : not • hdd; the. twofold' benefit of giving, the unemployed the opportunity of sustaining themselves . and their families over- times of stress as well as providing new services for the public. .■;•;. ■When the present Government embarked on its ambitious programme of railway construction, having m mind also the relief of unemployment, the prospects of at least a winter free from want loomed brightly for. air those unemployed who were genuinely seeking work. „ But this job m particular has brought disillusionment, and m many cases 'despair, to those who 'are fighting a desperate battle with Fate so that thejr women and children may be adequately clothed and fed. No one expects relief work to keep laborers m the lap of luxury, but the conditions on these relief jobs are supposed to be so framed that for a fair day's work, each man on the job has a reasonable opportunity of earning a minimum day's wages of fourteen shillings.: • : There must be some significance m the fact that not one member of the 'gangs employed on the Parnassus end of the South Island main trunk job, h*ad earned m any one week from the com-mencement-of the job up till Easter the minimum of fourteen shillings a day. The weather - has been good and very little time has been lost, but the men find themselves physically unable to earn much more than living expenses on account of the email price given per yard for the work they are doing. .. . • discontentment is the natural reaction and the men themselves feel they are working down a blind alley since the job provides them with a mere existence and allows no margin to adequately maintain , their families at home, or to pay anything towards liquidating the liabilities which accumulated during times .of stress when work was unobtainable. On' this, particular job the Government pays 1/7, 1/9} " and 2/per yard according to the nature of the country to: be shifted. There are eight gangs of six men on the job and they work an eighthour day. One of the cases placed before "N.Z. Truth" concerned, a gang of six who received £6/14/3 each for 23 full working days, which is an average of Bd. an hour and 6/4 per day. In the case of one member of the gang } his duties included stabling the

horses both before and after' work and his day actually was one of ten hours. Some ; of 'the men have earned six and seven shillings a . day,' and one gang, described as supermen and terrific workers, by breaking the conditions as set out m the agreement with the General Laborers' Union, and working longer hours, did earn for a period thirteen shillings a day each. Another case of a married man with a family was more distressing. His pay for a month amounted to £ 6 and a 'few sKillings and by the time his .food and tobacco bill was paid from it there 'was £1 for his wife and five children to subsist on until the next pay arrived four weeks later. And this man had to sacrifice his 'equity m a home he was \ purchasing and was then £14 m arrears with his rent m the home he had to lease. - , "' ■ i A visit was paid to the job by Mr. [H. T. Armstrong, M. P., to see ' jfer^himSeTf^if Wieinrwas anything in'the frequent' complaints which had been reaching^ him from the ; -men.- . • '■ ■ " ■■■'■ . ' ' ■:■■ Mr. .Armstrong; has had many years of practical experience m this class of

work, both as an employer of men and as a co-operative contractor, and consequently is fuily qualified to judge whether the price paid for the nature of the country is adequate. ' "N.Z. Truth" sought Mr. Armstrong's opinion when he returned and he is firmly of the belief that it is impossible for the men engaged there to make the minimum wages of fourteen shillings a day. "In the first place the working facilities are not satisfactory," Mr. Armstrong told "Truth." "In modern construction' work the materialis shifted by trucks and rails. On this job horses and drays are being used which makes more handling for the men and a greater cost ' to maintain the horse teams, but there is no increase m the contract price to compensate them.' "The prices paid, from 1/7 to 2/- a yard, might have been sufficient when wages 1 were ruling at 8/- a day, but not one of the gangs is able to earn 1,4/- a day on this job and I do not know of any Christchurch contractor who would take the work on under 2/6 a yard, and then the Government would be getting a cheap job. "I will agree that there are good . and bad men on alt jobs, but if the ; minimum wage of 14/- were easy to earn the good men m the gangs would be earning from 14/- up to possibly 30/-. "Actually the earnings range from 13/8 m a few isolated instances, downwards. I am satisfied that from the nature of the country and the prices being paid, I could not make wages, and I don't' know anyone else who could." Mr. Armstrong went on to say that the men had power to exclude loafers, m the gang and usually took steps to remove anyone who was not making an earnest effort' to make a fair wage, but the position had not improved. He was satisfied; he said, that the men on the job were genuine triers. When reminded that the Minister of Public Works, after having his attention drawn to the low wages the men were making, offered , the excuse that the men engaged on this relief job were of an inferior type, Mr. Armstrong replied that he knew most of them and had worked with many of them. "I know what they are capable of earning," he said, "and I know that

most of them are very efficient laborers arid are working exceptionally hard. Actually some of them are breaking the conditions of their agreement m their effort to send something home for their children." x . It is obvious from the disclosures Mr. Armstrong has made that there is need for a further inquiry by the Minister of Public Works. . ' Millions of the public money is spent annually by the Public Works Department and the taxpayers want to be satisfied that the money is providing actual relief to workers as well as establishing new railroad tracks and better roads. • If the Minister of Public Works is incapable of judging for himself, from the nature of the country, whether the men are being paid a fair thing for the