WORKER’S COMPLAINT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24413, 26 September 1940, Page 6

WORKER’S COMPLAINT

EARNINGS UNDER CONTRACT CHARGE AGAINST DEPARTMENT UNFAIR TREATMENT ALLEGED A complaint that the Labour Department in Dunedin did not honour a promise that he and his fellow-worker would receive 18s a day each for a gorse-grubbing contract has been made by a worker under the 4B Scheme. Both men are married and each have two children, and, although they had to live away from their homes for the duration of the job, their earnings were 13s lid a day or £3 a week. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, they contend that they were misled by the department and they feel at the same time that they were not treated fairly by the liaison officer. “ I spent two months on sustenance before this contract was placed before me,” the complainant told a Daily Times reporter yesterday. “It seemed to me that it was rather a waste of effort that my mate and I should be on sustenance during war-time, especially when we were both only too willing to take on any kind of useful work. I have had very little experience in farm work, but I would have been glad to have taken a farm job near my home. Then my mate and I were offered the contract in question. We were told by the Labour Department that the only work for us was a sixweeks’ contract to grub gorse on a property three miles from Brighton. The contract price was £6O and we were to clean 15 acres of rough country. I told the officer of the department that my mate and I were inexperienced at such work and I inquired whether we would get more pay if we took longer than six weeks to complete it. Full Rate Refused “The officer assured me that we would not get less than 18s a day each if we completed the job to the Satisfaction of the department’s inspector, even if the time were exceeded. Moreover,” the complainant added, “it is stated in the 4B Scheme award for gorse-grubbing that a job must be worked out to ensure each worker 18s a day. We worked hard eight hours a day for five days a week and we took nine weeks to complete the job. We camped on the property and returned home to Brighton every weekend. On the £3 a week we each received for the job we had to keep two homes going. But when we applied for an increased price and pay at the rate of 18s a day we were refused. The complainant stated that he had written to the Minister of Labour. Mr P. C. Webb, and to the member for the district. Mr F. Jones, and had been told that after an investigation it had been found impossible to increase the price of the job. . “The liaison officer inspected the job and told us that he would not let us take on the job at the money, and that he would see we were belter treated. But when we pointed this out to the officer of the department we were told that the liaison officer had made no such report and, in fact, had expressed his satisfaction with the price, although he had arranged for us to have better accommodation. He did not come near the job again nor did the department respond to our request that an inspector should be ( sent to the job while we were there. Department’s Reply The officer in charge of the National Service Department, to whom the complaint was referred, stated that no further comment was called for, particularly in view of the Ministers reply after an investigation.