DISMISSED CARPENTERS MARCH ON SOCIAL SECURITY DEPT.

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 February 1949, Page 6

DISMISSED CARPENTERS MARCH ON SOCIAL SECURITY DEPT.

Some, Sent By Labour Department, Were Refused Employment

AUCKLAND, Last Night (PA). —After a mass meeting in the Town Hall about 700 of Auckland's dismissed carpenters marched down Queen Street and up to Albert Park this morning ai\d then packed into the Social Security Office in High Street to

enrol for unemployment benefits. Later, some of them went to ( I the Labour and Employment De-i } partment’s office in Queen Street ( to register for direction to jobs. Some were given work, but others j were refused jobs by the firms < to which they were sent as un-J skilled labourers. i. About 1200 carpenters went to the ‘ meeting, which lasted more than two 1 hours. The national secretary of the IJ Carpenters’ Union (Mr R. Stanley) • was one of the principal speakers and 1* he traced the history 7 o' the dispute ’’ with the builders- Later, several resolutions were passed, but ther e was ’ no sign of a move to withdraw the goslow policy which led to the carpenters’ dismissal last Thursday. The meeting approved the holding : J of'a meeting of unionists’ wives to-ft morrow morning. |' A proposal to hold a mass stopwork; meeting of unionists connected with;' the building trade in Carlaw Park on ft Wednesday morning of next week | j was endorsed. When the meeting ended, shortly] 1 before 10.45, about 700 men lined up 1 three abreast outside the Town Hall. f A number of the carpenters had drift- 1 ed out of the meeting and dispersed more than half an hour beforehand. J A large canvas sign was raised at the head of the procession and many of 1 the rank and file were armed with placards drawing attention to the 1 union’s alleged grievance. The par- 1 ade marched quietly down Queen 1 Street. The men continued on to Albert Park, where they rested and! whiled away the time with commun- j ity singing, while their leaders visited | the Social Security office and discuss-1 ed the question of unemployment I benefits for the men with the regis-1 trar (Mr H. M. Chambers). About 15 i minutes later they arrived at the park and Mr Stanley briefly addressed the men. Mr Stanley said union officials In- ■ tended to see th e Minister of Social i Security (Mr Parry) and the Federa- i tion of Labour immediately and de- < mand that th e men should be paid the i

benefit. He asked the carpenters to Igo to the Social Security office and I register and then go to the Labour Office to comply with requirements. Extra staff was taken from other sections to cope with the unprecedented rush at the unemployment benefits counter in the Social Security office- Men swarmed into the building after they left the park and packed the stairs to the third floor. Policemen acted as ushers and kept the ; crowd in orderly line on the stairway. There was barely standing space in th e small room where eight men and women handed out and collected registeration forms as the men milled round the counter. Th e room was busier than a city bar at a rush hour. About half an hour after it began the rush was over, as many of the men decided to tak e their forms away and return them later rather than wait. The invasion of the Social Security Office was repeated on a smaller scale at the Labour Office in Civic House. The men began to arrive there soon after midday and a specially organised staff was ready to cope with them. The men were marshalled on the stairway and th e first floor, where they registered for employment. All were posted to unskilled workers’ jobs in a variety of industries. The largest num her were sent to the Westfield Freezing Works. Carpenters continued to arrive at the Labour Office throughout the afternocn, and by the end of the day more than 200 had registeredMany, however, had come back a second time. They said they had been refused work by the employers to whom the were sent. Those who returned early in the afternoon were sent to other jobs, but those who went back later were not. it was not known today how many carpenters had been given employment. Mr Stanley left Auckland during the afternoon to address a unionists’ meeting at Mangakino. He is expected to address a meeting of the Wellington branch of the Carpenters’ Union tomotrow night.