Auckland University Student Paper Volume 52 No 1 February 27 1978 A Peter Sellers character once claimed to be employed research programmes initiated by several local councils. manually. That is, once a year. Nothing better sums up Manukau, Devonport and Takapuna were areas surveyed the student's summertime dilemma. by students noting recreational facilities currently I am breaking no state secret when I tell you that the offered and assessing future needs. Devonport also ran a manual period (November-February) of a student's life research programme with a difference, where students has become an increasing problem over the past few gathered oral recollections from the borough's elderly years. Last October, unemployment was running at the citizens. highest rate since the Depression; more than double that And so on. Anything, but anything, came under the of the comparable period in 1976. Summer employment scheme. The jobs described above form but the barest prospects for students and school-leavers had not looked tip of the iceberg. They certainly all contain a large so bleak in recent memory. degree of 'community value'. One becomes somewhat And then, out of the blue, came Robert (This is not a skeptical of the SCSP criteria, however, when one mini-budget) Muldoon's early Christmas present to the realizes that well over 95% of all applications were nation. The so-called 'economic package'. approved in some capacity. When one sees the Portage Those sections of this programme relating to Licensing Trust create a vacancy under the scheme for employment assistance drew much favourable comment. a consumer survey on people's liquor 'requirements.' In A Herald editorial remarked approvingly: "The scheme such cases, one is tempted to believe that projects were to pay students for summer work in avenues of comm­ approved simply because they were there, and not unity service is a particularly interesting innovation and because of any special m e rit.... deserves an enthusiastic response from young people." Some conclusions: Responding enthusiastically for the young people, In principle, the schemes for student holiday employ­ AUSA president Bruce Gulley echoed many student's ment were astonishingly liberal in their outlook - and relief in his commendation of the scheme. in 1977, with the SIS and Abortion bills, liberal outlooks A week passed. were not a National trademark. On 4 November, Bruce Gulley expressed fears that the Local bodies and community groups were almost scheme might fail "because of the lack of definite unanimously delighted by the new labour bonus working proposals." Five days later the definite proposals on their projects. Because of the schemes, hundreds of arrived. A government circular to all governmental de­ students throughout the country were given i.; partments and community/student/youth/citizen groups opportunities of paid employment they would not outlined the youth employment assistance schemes now otherwise have had. Because of the unreliable guide available. All these came under the collective title of offered in registered unemployment lists it is difficult to "Youth in the Community: Support Programme." The say with any great certainty how many students came specific area of student holiday employment was under some aspect of the SCSP. In the Auckland area subdivided into 3 separate schemes: probably well over 1000 students were involved in the Special work only: to be administered by the Labour schemes in the January/February period. Department under the criteria of any special works B u t... the inadequacies of the scheme's conception and scheme. If there were insufficient students available for execution are as apparent as their very real achievements. a project then numbers could be made up with other As it now operates, the programme is both too limited registered unemployed. and too flexible. Overseas employment schemes run on Special work and Ministry of Recreation and Sport. similar lines have far greater economic backing behind Basically the same as above, except that the Ministry of them. The constant revision of the scheme's monetary Recreation and Sport would subsidize costs of materials certainly did. The scheme may not have bee^n as large as allocations seems to indicate the government's realiza­ and supplies; also, any outstanding balance of wages overseas models, but it was second to none iin its tion of how much it must commit itself financially. At where the project is one which attracts only partial comprehensiveness. the same time, the criterion of "services of value to the subsidies from the Department of Labour.......O.K. ? A letter to the 'Herald' in December from "'Frustrated community” has proved to be too vague to give the Ministry of Recreation and Sport grant only. This Worker" suggested to wide range of activities for the project any firm direction. Charges of 'election year became by far the largest scheme. Applicants could unemployed. Nearly every one of his suggestions have handouts' can only be strengthened when the < request registered student labour through the Depart­ been catered for at some stage of the scheme. government uses the widest possible yardstick in measur­ ment of Labour if necessary. Student's renovated community centres, gave help to ing 'community service'. The interrelationship between these 3 schemes has the the aged and handicapped and involved themselves in all And surely one must feel uneasy at the facility with formal perfection of a jigsaw, but they looked, and manner of building projects. They performed manual which students have been absorbed into occupations proved to be, rather cumbersome in practice. They were tasks ranging in complexity from scrub-cutting to which could have been handled more than adequately by bureaucratically far too top-heavy. engineering surveyance. At the other extreme, voluntary the general ranks of the unemployed. To some extent, There was a further week's delay while a Ministry of organizations such^as Friends of the Earth, and the we do seem unfairly pampered. Recreational surveys, Recreation and Sport scheme co-ordinator was appoint­ Museum of Transport and Technology employed ?L clerical work and engineering projects may be ed in Auckland. Even then, Mason between this ministry students to do display graphics. Two local theatres were imaginative utilizations of tertiary skills. But clearing and the Department of Labour was not good. In able to hire in extra staff. At the Mercury firs t fo u r, then scrub in Grafton Gulley ? Labouring in Devonport ? At particular, students often found that Department of eight, and ultimately twelve posts were created fo r a time when unemployment probably hits almost 3% of Labour officials were not completely informed on the typing and clerical duties. Mr Laird, who supervised the the total work force ? scheme's latest developments. temporary workers, found their services invaluable. For the sake of the community at large, at least consider It was not until the second to last week in November "I don't know how we would have coped otherwise." this comment from the manager of the Community that the first allocations for temporary employment At the New Independent Students with a theatrical bent Centre, Otara, Mr Linberg: "Students have been treated began. The number of applicants was not yet large, but acted as 'stage-hands' in January. as an elite group'. This is really only justifiable when one it was growing. In anticipation of a proliferation of One inspired deployment of student labour was the is employing a student's particular skills.” projects and hence greater clerical pressure and confusion = There is no doubt that the scheme has been badly ham­ a special government bureau was set up at the university => strung by lack of preparation in the Department of itself to syphon students into SCSP projects. Labour and especially at the Ministry of Recreation and Over the next few weeks, applications began to snowball ~ Sport offices in Wellington. Probably most of this to an extent the government had probably not anticipat- ^ difficulty of excess workloads could be alleviated ed. The initial grant of $120,000 was soon exhausted simply by giving government staff greater advance when so many applications for jobs 'of service to the warning than happened over the November period last community' were being lodged. Inevitably, delays in year. processing applications became an unfortunate feature of The criticisms I have outlined are by no means eradicable. the employment programmes. One student applied for a The scheme does appear to be on the right track. If the self-initiated project and was told the application would government is to cure the unemployment problem by take 3 days to come through. It took five weeks. Not an subsidized work projects at a localized level then the example of clerical inefficiency but a symptom of the present student schemes should be streamlined and scheme's general clumsiness and lack of preparation. expanded. Similar programmes should be considered on Those applications that did get processed were - almost an all-year-round basis for the non-student unemployed. indiscriminately - approved . Over the holiday period, Perhaps a portion of the present special government only about 4 Auckland applications were rejected of work schemes could be thus channelled into community these 4, only one was rejected because of the inappro­ services. At least, there is no reason why such priate nature of the proposed project. And the black­ programmes should not have something of the variety balled application ? A women's co-operative venture to afforded by the SCSP. N.Z. does have the money to finance "Abortion Flights" to Australia. subsidize such schemes. It also has the responsibility. If this particular medical did not qualify as a Now that the precedent for such schemes has been set, 'community service', a wide variety of other activities it might begin a complete reappraisal of government cures for unemployment.