NEW RELIEF PAY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3821, 14 October 1936, Page 8

NEW RELIEF PAY

HOURLY RATE, 2/3 WORKING TIME REDUCED. POSITION. OF LOCAL BODIES. The Government has advised local bodies that, as from October 31, the hourly rate of wages under the No. 5 relief scheme must be increased from 2/- to 2/3. The amount to be contributed from the Employment Promotion Fund will be unaltered, and hours of work will be shortened as far as possible to offset the higher basis of pay. Local bodies must, as before, provide and pay for the additional working time necessary to increase the time allocation to the nearest half-day. Thus, if the daily hours were eight and the Government subsidv were for 9 1-3 hours, the local body would pay the extra 2 2-3 hours so as to bring the period to a day and a half. While as a result of the change in the number of hours for allocated relief the additional time allocation to be met so far as wages are concerned by local bodies will vary as at present, the new schedule means in most cases a. greater- financial burden. This is shown in the following table:— Old New Class of worker, schedule, schedule

DIVERGENCE OF OPINION “It almost looks as if the Government were deliberately trying to discourage, schemes of subsidised employment,” said one local body member. “It is little wonder in the circumstances that official figures published a. few days ago revealed a substantial drop in the number of men on subsidised work and a very sharp rise in the number of full-time sustenance.” This view was not supported by an official of another local body. He did not think local bodies would be influenced by the extent of the wages subsidy and by the amount they had to pay the men, but rather by the ovlerhdad expenses. It was on account of the cost of materials and other overhead expenses that some local authorities had closed their operations under the No. 5 scheme. The apparent anomalies in the new schedule, as compared with the old one, were due to the sliding scale of time allocations. The increases, although fairly considerable in cases, were not such as would throw :» pronounced burden on the local bodies. The new rate of 2/3 an hour conforms with the rate being fixed under agreements made by many local bodies with 1 their workers. It is pointed out that the- Public Works rate is 2/- an hour, and also that the rates for general labourers and local body labourers has now widened considerably in favour of the last-named.

Single man . . 6/Married man . 1/6 6/6 Married men: One child .. 5/6 2/6 Two children . 1/6 7/6 Three children ... . 5/6 3/6 Four children ... ... 1/6 8/6 Five children 5/6 4/6 Six children 1/6 6d Seven or more ... . 5/6 5/6