SICK PAYMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24416, 30 September 1940, Page 6

SICK PAYMENTS

SERVICE BY. LODGES DOMINION COUNCIL'S ACTION MANDATORY POWERS ASSURED Describing ' its action as "highhanded," two speakers at the hallyearly meeting of the Otago District Committee of the Manchester Unity on Saturday strongly criticised the Dominion Friendly Societies' Council in Wellington for its negotiations with the Social Security Department over the sick pay due to lodge members. The speskers. Prov. Treas. W. R. Sellar and P.P.G.M. P. W. Stabb, alleged tha l the council had taken mandatory powers which it did not possess and had led the Government to believe that icctge secretaries would service the sick pay side of the Social Security Act, with the result that circular letters had been sent out to that effect by the department. Bro. Stabb described the council's action as a case of the "tail wagging the dog," and said he refused, as a trustee to allow Social Security monevs to be merged with lodge funds and then paid out again to beneficiaries by the secretaries. Bro. Sellar sought by resolution to cancel affiliation with the council, but it was eventually decided to set up a special committee to consider the question of affiliation and report in six months. High-handed Procedure " It has come to our knowledge," said Bro. Sellar. " that secretaries of lodges in Otago have received a circular letter from the Social Security Department stating that as from September 23 Social Security sick pay will be paid to beneficiaries through the society of which they are members. The letters state that this arrangement has been made with the Dominion Friendly Societies' Council. This executive, however, decided that our secretaries were not going to service the sick payments, and the Dominion Council has been written to asking for an explanation why the circular has been sent out. When we receive a reply appropriate action will be taken. Under the circular it is mandatory for the secretaries to service the scheme, although if a secretary does not want to he can give notice to the registrar. " This is one of the most high-handed things ever done by the Dominion Council," Bro. Sellar continued, "and some reconstruction of the council should be effected." He moved: " That this district cancels its affiliation with the Dominion Concil." "This is a case of the tail wagging the dog," Bro. Stabb stated. "The council has in some way led the Government to believe it is a body with mandatory powers, and has never said it is only an advisory body. We have the right to say we will not service the scheme, but the council has accepted mandatory powers and has said we must. It is a bombshell to us, and it will get us into an unholy tangle. The department will send cheques to the secretaries of the various lodges, and they will be paid into the lodge funds. Then sick pay will be paid out of lodge funds. Revision Necessary "As a trustee," Bro. Stabb said, " I refuse to allow Social Security money to be merged with lodge funds. As a Friendly Society movement we should not service the scheme, yet the council has the temerity to. tell us we must. At the same time it might be better to wait 12 months and see what happens rather than carry Bro. Sellar's motion." I.P.N.G.' A. J. T. Fraser said the matter showed how easy a consultative body could develop into an executive body, so that it superceded the main authorities and bound them by decisions. They must guard against becoming over-centralised. He would support the motion, not because he wanted to see the council squashed, but because some revision was necessary. After further discussion the motion was withdrawn, the folowing motion being carried: "That the question of continued affiliation with the Dominion Council of Friendly Societies be referred to a special committee of five along with the executive, and that their recommendations be referred to all lodges and deferred until the next meeting."