RELIEF WORKERS’ HOLIDAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1932, Page 7

RELIEF WORKERS’ HOLIDAYS

QUESTION OF PAYMENTS.

USUAL PROCEEDURE ADOPTED.

A conference of local bodies at New Plymouth yesterday adopted the suggestion of the Unemployment Board to pay the allocations of pay to .relief workers for the Christmas and New Year holidays as follows: For the week ending December 31, payment on December 29; for the week ending January 7, payment on January 4. Authorities represented at the conference were the Jjew Plymouth Borough Council, the Taranaki Hospital Board and the Taranaki County Council. . The following circular was received from the Unemployment Board:— “The allocations for each of the two weeks of the Christmas and New Year holidays will be made on the usual basis, and these will require to be distributed by local authorities among the eligible unemployed men in the usual way, with the exception that no work will require to be performed; that is to say, men who would ordinarily be working in the weeks ending December 31 and January 7 will receive only the same amount of relief as they would have received had they been required to work in these weeks, having regard to the limitation of the allocation provided. “Relating to payments for weeks ending December 31 and January 7, I. have to advise that the present payment to the men in advance, as set out therein, was framed to meet the convenience of the local bodies wishing to close altogether during the weeks ending December 31 and January 7. It would be of distinct advantage if local authorities would arrange to pay in the usual weekly periods. This procedure would preclude the possibility of workers spending their allowance in advance and being without resources until the next pay comes along.” / ' . * The conference was influenced in its decision by the fact that if the payments were made in advance a comparatively long period would elapse during which the men would' receive no pay at all. It was considered to be in the interests of all parties that the payments be made as they fell due. The decision means that the men will receive this week the pay that they have earned during the week, a further allocation .when the shops open next wek, and still another payment when the New Year week ends. The only men eligible to receive the Allocations are those who would have been working had not the holidays intervened. PUBLIC WORKS CAMPS. ,■ ■' POSITION OF MARRIED MEN. Referring to a published statement that men in the Public Works Department camps Would be receiving a fortnight’s paid holiday, Mr. P. Keller, district engineer, informed a reporter last night that according to departmental instructions this is correct only so far as camps for single men are concerned; that is, in the camps where the men are working on a basis of 10s a week, plus keep. “We have received no instructions regarding' ordinary relief works, such, as those for married men on the Carrington Road, OtarAoa Road and Mohakatino Road,” said Mr. Keller. “It has never been the practice to allow relief workers on the higher rate of pay (10s a day) a paid holiday.” ■ ■'’