AID IN BUILDING

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3195, 25 June 1932, Page 5

AID IN BUILDING

RELIEF SUBSIDIES PLAN.

REVISED RULES ISSUED. (By Telegraph. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. The opinion that the amended scheme for subsidising the wages of unemployed workers placed in the building industry gave promise of being a great success was expressed by the Minister of Employment, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates,.on Thursday. He said anomalies in the first draft of the scheme had been removed. " One or two important alterations have been made in the original scheme," Mr Coates said. " The first is that the subsidy will be payable to the owner who is responsible for putting the work in hand, and not to the builder, although the certificate of the building contractor as to the amount expended in wages will still be a necessary feature. " One of the grave objections to the scheme when it was first mooted was the possibility of employers dismissing workers already in their service in order that they should register and qualify for the subsidy. That has been overcome by amending the rules to provide that on the larger jobs where building contractors will undoubtedly be engaged the subsidy will only be payable on 80 per cent of the men engaged on the job; it will be paid at the rate of 8s 4d in the £l, with a maximum of 25s per man per week. On the smaller jobs the subsidy will remain at the originally-ar-ranged rate of 6s 8d in the £1 of wages paid, with a maximum of 22s 6d for any one man in any one week." WORKERS NOT PENALISED. Mr Coates made it clear that it was not intended by the Unemployment Board to penalise workers who were unemployed, but who had hitherto been debarred from taking on relief works on account of property qualifications, from working on subsidised building jobs. "In fact," he said, "the building work should not be considered in any sense of the word as a ' relief' job. The Unemployment Board has just come into it with a subsidy to give the necessary incentive for the work to be gone on with now, instead of being postponed."

The classes of work which may be undertaken under the scheme have been slightly amended, and they now stand as follow: Class I.—Painting, paperhanging, renovating, repairing, modernising, or making alterations or additions to private dwellings where the occupier is the owner or where the occupier is purchasing the dwelling. Class 2. —Painting, renovating, or maintenance repairs of dwellings other than those In class 1.

Class 3.—The building of dwellings for the bona-fine owner-occupier. Class 4.—Painting or maintenance repairs or alterations or buildings of business premises or commercial buildings. Class 5. —Building, rebuilding painting or renovating public or semi]sublic buildings. Class 6.—Building, making alterations or additons to', and the painting, renovating or repairing of dairy or other factories, freezing works, storehouses for primary produce.

PAYMENT OF SUBSIDY.

The rules governing the payment of the subsidy have also been.amended. They will apply as follow: (1) The building must be in one of the classes listed, and, except in the case of those in classes *1 and 2, must first have been approved by the Minister of Employment, acting on the recommendation of the Unemployment Board. The work will include the preparation by the builder concerned of fittings, such as joinery, which is a part of the job., although not actually prepared on the work. (2) The amount of subsidy which may be paid to the owner will be determined as follows: On all work in classes 1,2 and 3, and on work in classes 4, 5 and 6 in cases where the total estimated labour cost does not exceed £SO, a subsidy anay be paid in respect of all labour engaged in accordance with rule 4 at the rate of 6s 8d for each £1 of wages paid, provided that the maximum subsidy on the wages of any man shall be at the rate of 22s 6d in any one week. On all other approved work a subsidy may be paid in respect of all labour engaged in accordance with rale 4, provided that such labour does not exceed SO per cent of the total labour engaged on the work at the rate of 8s 4d for each £1 of wages paid, provided that the maximum subsidy on the wages of any one man shall be at the rate of 25s in any one week.

(3) Construction work must commence between July 1. 1932, and December 31, 1932. This will not prevent the subsidy being paid after the latter date on labour which was engaged and actually started between the rates mentiond, but commencing on July 1, 1933, the maximum subsidy will be reduced to one-half of the rates provided in rule 2. (4) The labour on which a subsidy is to be claimed must be engaged through a Government labcair "bureau.

WORKING WEEK'S HOURS. (5) The normal working week on works engaging subsidised labour shall be the same as laid down in the current agreement or award covering this industry. The board does not feel called upon to stipulate a shortening of hours as a general practice, but suggests that in view of the unlikelihood of the full complement of builders being re-engaged in industry, that just so long, and whenever the number of registered unemployed building tradesmen exceeds 20 per cent of the total, the weekly hours be reduced to 40.: with the same rate of pay per hour applying. (6) Nothing: in these rules shall be taken to interfere with or alter in anv way the wages and conditions provided for in the award for the class of worker concerned.

(7) Builders operating under this scheme are required to cover their workers under the provisions of the Workers Compensation Act against accident. The Unemployment Board will not accept any responsibility in this connection.

(8) New Zealand materials and products must be used wherever possible.