WINTER RELIEF FOR WATERSIDERS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 139, 29 June 1937, Page 4

WINTER RELIEF FOR WATERSIDERS

Men Must First Withdraw from Union COMPLAINT VOICED Dissatisfaction exists among a large number of watersiders at Napier be-?-ause members of the union are unable to participate ip relfef work during the winter montbs, vyhen only a very limited amqunt of work is offering on the watqrfront. Several of the members with families, pow "that such little waterfront work is available, aie very concerned and find that they ar-e faGed with no alternative but to witlidraw from tho union in order that they may obtain relief work. On the Napier waterfront Ihe ' ' hureau'' system adopted at Lyttelton is not in opqratiqn, .and a small pection of watersiders lcnown as the ' ' rovals ' ' are partieipating ip the smal} amount of WOl'k offering, Eepresentations were made to »ho Hon/W. E, Barnard, M,P„ op the matter, and last week Mr w. Bromley, liaison offieer of the Labour Department, When in Napier was waited upqn. It was pointed oqt that under tho Act waterfront men while members of the union were prepluded from obtainlng reliof work during the off season. The only alternative was for fhose whose circumstances warranted it to apply fpr charitable aich Digcusaing the question with n reT porter, a memiaer- of the Watersiders' Union was very resentfql of the actioq Of thq Government in failing to extend the provisiqns of the Act in regard to relief work to thpse unable to gain cmployment pn the waterfront. "We are paying our 5/- dole and the unemployment tax, and yet, when we are unable to obtain work due to the slack period in shipping, we are not able to earn a little through relief work," he pxplained. "We don't mind what tlass of work we get to do so long aa we can get it. We don't want charitable. aid, which js very humiliftting. It would bq a different thing if wq werq not willing tp work- ' ' Thq Gqverniuent has been urging that all men should join nniops, pnd yp't l>e.tqiie we can. get relipf work we are first pbliged to withdraw frpm tho union. This is npt ip agreement with its polioy, apd the Government can't haye R both y/ays, "We have heard a lot about the nbufee of sustenanoe which is quite true. We don't want either sustenance qr charitable aid, and we should s not be penalised when we are willing to -work. We are certainly looking to the Government to adjust this matter. Failure to Temedy it has compelled certain' members to withdraw from the union in order that they may earn something frqm relief WQl'k. It ip safe to say that others will be pbliged to follpw suit this week, " . "The position is muqh more seriqus for us than is realised," he added, "and it is up to the Government to remove an injustice whereby wo have to pay unemployment tax and cannot par^ ticipate in any benelits when in need,/' he added.