RELIEF WORKERS CRITICAL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20892, 23 November 1937, Page 8

RELIEF WORKERS CRITICAL

DISSATISFIED WITH CONDITIONS

GOVERNMENT UNDER FIRE

Dissatisfaction with the present conditions for men on subsidised works and relief workers generally were expressed at a meeting of the Timaru Unemployed Workers’ Union last night, v en there was an attendance of 21. During a long discussion the Government was criticised, it being contended that pre-election pledges to the unemployed had not been honoured. Mr A. Aitcheson presided. One member complained that the cost of living had been raised and the sustenance was totally inadequate. Before taking office, he said, Labour members had promised that if they came into power there would be no

“U. 8. forms, and the No. 5 Scheme would be abolished. There was still plenty of forms and the No. 5 Scheme was being extended. The member recalled an unemployed demonstration in Timaru about two and a half years ago. He said that on that occasion an appeal had been made to Mr Semple for better conditions and Mr Semple had told them that if Labour was elected conditions for the relief worker would be changed entirely. The demonstration moved back to the Council Chambers. The then Mayor, Mr T. W. Satterthwaite had stated from the balcony that it was the Government’s job to find work for the unemployed, and the Rev. Clyde Carr had replied: “Absolutely”! To-day the Government was asking Borough Councils to start the Mo. 5 Scheme again. The Government, he contended had not carried out its election pledges, and had side-stepped the unemployed in every direction. “We are not the Communists that Mr Semple now calls us, but we. want to earn a decent living,” he added.

“Might As Wei! Not Work” Another member said that when the last Government was in office relief workers were given some weeks’ limit before they had to declare their earnings, but now it had to be done weekly. If he earned £3 in one week, continued the speaker, he received no sustenance the following week. A man might as well not work at all. The last Government, he said, had gaoled the unemployed for rioting. The present Government was gaoling them for telling lies, and it was only by telling lies in their declarations that men could obtain sufflcient to provide for their families.

Ref errin' to the Government’s proposals for the construction of aerodromes, the member said that the Minister of Public Works was reported to have made a statement that a large loan was being raised for the work, while the project would be assisted considerably from the employment funds. The member was of opinion that too much machinery was used on such works and at one job on which he was engaged there were seven “bosses,” 18 men and 10 machines. The Minister, he said, had boasted about the money saved on jobs as a result of machinery. If the Government introduced machinery into the country to displace labour it should at least give the men who could not find employment a decent standard of living in return.

There were plenty of mon out of work in this country, said another member, without the Government importing machinery from America to provide work for men in the United States.

It was unanimously decided to affiliate with the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement and the Federation of Labour in an endeavour to improve the organisation of the unemployed in Timaru.

The chairman and secretary (Mr Owen McKee) were appointed the Union’s delegates to a conference in association with ’.elegates from Christchurch and Ashburton with the Minister of Labour at Christchurch shortly.

Membership of Union Messrs R. Eddy (Wellington), president of the New Zealand Workers’ Union and Mr J. Leckie, local secretary of the Workers’ Union later attended the meeting by invitation, and addressed the gathering. In reply to a question by Mr McKee, Mr Eddy explained that the Workers’ Union did not feel justified in asking the unemployed to pay 25/- a year for membership of the Union when they secured only three or four months’ work. The Union had protested to the Government against relief workers receiving only three or four months’ work, but the Government had given valid reasons why it could not increase the work in the meantime. It might be possible to make a reduction in the price of the Union ticket for unemployed, but that would be for the executive to decide.

Emphasising the value of machinery on public works, Mr Eddy said that no man should be expected to shovel shingle in a pit if a machine could do the work. What was needed was a change in the social system, but one of the chief drawbacks to the achievement of that object was the worker himself. “We should own the machine, not the individual,” he said. . It was utterly impossible to eradicate unemployment under the present system, but the time was coming when things would be changed. A voice: The unemployed are worse oft than they have ever been. The old Government gave us more than this crowd. Mr Eddy: Well! put them back again. The voice: We will next November. Mr Eddy: They have no chance. Wha. we want is a change in the system and this Government will do it. A voice: They are taking their time. Mr Nash said it would take 10 years and we have to starve in the meantime.

Mr Eddy said that as vice-president of the Federation of Labour he would bo glad to place any representations the Timaru unemployed might make before the proper authorities. Mr Eddy was accorded a vote of thanks for his address.

The meeting later considered suggestions for their delegates to place before the Minister at the forthcoming joint conference in Christchurch.