SwindLing in the Labor Market.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 77, 4 March 1885, Page 4

SwindLing in the Labor Market.

With all the apparent prosperity m Auckland^ complaints reach us (says the Telephone) of the scarcity of work, and also about the scandalous manner m which certain contractors continue advertising for 50 pick and shovel men, who, when they apply, are informed that only six or seven are required, and, that they had been already put on. The motive for this action is apparent. By obtaining 50 or 60 men to choose from, the contractors are enabled to employ 5 or 6 new hands, picking out, of course, the strongest men, and use them as a kind of drivers for those alreday on the works. As the new hands are naturally eager to show what they can do, the employer by this system gets more work all round, as the old hands try to keep ahead of those who have been put on, '-lest they should lose their job. By this ingenious process the contractors . are always able to put on a few men, and discharge those who are used up by this driving system. This also opens an extensive field for the operations of those persons who keep what are called labor agencies, as j they get 2s 6d from each man they put on the job, and it is said that by | private arrangement with one or two contractors they can always ensure a man being started^ey^en though he be dismissed shdrtly afterwards. '