STATE PLACEMENT SERVICE

Te Puke Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 65, 25 August 1939, Page 4

STATE PLACEMENT SERVICE

The Placement officer iu this article refers to scheme No. 15. Work under this scheme is carried out by local bodies and the wages of the men engaged under it are subsidised by the State. Because a. particular job may be under the con-: trol of a city, borough, or county council, some men employed on tlie job get the idea that they have secured a fulltime permanent job. This is, however, not so. Scheme No. 13 is really only an “emergency” measure and men engaged on such work are expected to accept private employment as soon as it becomes available, and employers can obtain the services of these men on application 'to the Placement office. ' It would surprise one to know the number of workers who imagine that the Placement Service keeps a black list of enroiees, and if they are on this list, will not refer them to employment. The belief is quite unfounded. The Placement officer does check up on fne qualifications and experience of a worker by communicating with, his previous employer, but workers are certainly not black listed. Information ’given at the ; time of enrolment is checked with previous employers merely to enable the Placement officer to ;be certain that he can send a worker to a job knowing that his credentials have been verified, and surely this is a, reasonable precaution. Even if the verification procedure shows a workers claims to be incorrectly stated, the Placement officer is still bound to find him work if it is possible. Furthermore the inlormation volunteered by employers regarding past employees is as much a check oil the employers as: it .is oil the workers.

With regard to tlie responsibility of the Placement office in the matter of membership of Industrial Unions and the observance of Award conditions. After the Placement officer has brought an employee ani| an employer together, membership of thie appropriate union and the observance oi award conditions become the concern of the employer, the employee jind the union. The onus of seeing that the employee joins the union and that the employer meets his obligations under the award, is not the responsibility of tlie Placement- Office. If the Placement office were to become the recruiting agents for the unions, the employers might lose confidence in it. On the other hand, if the Placement office was expected to relieve the employer of his responsibilities, the unions and the workers would also lose confidence. The function of the Service is one of strict impartiality in this respect. A further article on this subject will appear iii a later issue.