TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 24, 29 January 1926, Page 11

TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

! " iR.v INDUSTRIAL. TIIAMP. i rXION MEETINGS FOR THK WEEK. Monday. February I—Shipwrights. Driver , , St'iiH'iiiuM'ns' Executive. Thursday, February 4—Boilermakers. ARBITRATION COURT ELECTION. The triennial :vi<.-i:tiun nf Workers' rpfiri'M'iitativc <'ii tiit- Arbitration ( ourt is he :if; pursued with the utmost vigour I !'V parti an- of the res-festive candidates. In puj-t yi-nra. the r-i-iection of rrjirc>"iitaiivi , and d«?iiiity-rej , reei. , ntutivi.' •>'- al'.i.iy* oi-en HcrnniplitilttMl !, y ii certain air.i.iv:; i-f il:i_-?• Jt:i d pr"i-.' :11:< . i-r it was lie tiili" , , w, -.;•(■ (i the liigiu-t and !;;■■-: [ -'.iyniried :.■-: l.oks that a labour man f.iif.d iit'.iiiii t< . This c-<-.ui«t has U-< m mo-=! marked !>y tlu- s-trrmiuu.- ad\ceaey nf the rival cßndidates by orpa nidations and individuals which. I am afraid, detracts r-nsideraidv from the dignity nf the position nimed ;it. The contest ha* advanced liy stage- uiril it : .i- assumed the a c pci t of ;i petty -quabble lietween rinrtio*. hirst nf all. tli« Trades and Labour ( nuneil*' Federation cceiHUive ii-Mic- n circular to every r.nion in the Dominion alleging the shortcomings >>f tiie present n'pre-cntative. Mr. Hunter, and rec:im:r.ending the nomination of .\fr. Mnntcitli as a morn suitable and virile man. Mr. Hunter, in issues a stinginp I'j.lv. in which he attacks Mr. Monteith's rlaini to nomination. Tlii-wei'k Mr. MmUeith. spurred on to rp'.iiliiitiuii. i :"ues a circular to every union, in v.'hi.'li he replies to Mr. Hunter's argument-, arid n local union also interposes with a circular of i - own bristling with nails for Mr. Hunter's coffin. The nominations close this month. !>ut the ballot to secure the recommendation to the Governor-in-Couneil of "the man for Galway" takes place next month. So there are a few more weeks to go yet before the unions, which constitute the voting power, will cense to he harassed by impetuous and well-meant advice on the question of how to vote on this occasion. THE FORTY-FOtTK HOUR WEEK. Great interest as being manifested in the battle that has been waged by the Lang Government of New South Wales to legislate in the establishment of a forty-four hour week: and the Auckland Trades and Labour Council, at its last meeting, passed a resolution unanimously approving of the action of the Labour Government in the Mother State of Australia, in passing legislation on a shorter working week. Writing on this subject in the Dunedin "Star," "Veteran" makes some interesting comments: Now that the workers in New South Wales have got for the second time by Act of Parliament the boon of a forty-four hour working week, they cannot agree as to whether these hours should be worked in six days or five days per week. Mr. G. C. Bodkin, writing in the "Australian Worker," says: "Many members are in a quandary as to huw the shorter working week will be worked, whether in a five-day or six-day week. The Act does not touch upon this point, so it therefore becomes a problem exercising the minds of the members, they being in the dark as to how the various employing institutions intend working the shorter week. The forty-four-hour week in previous years was generally worked in six days, but so far we have not been informed, nor do we know the intentions of the Government departments, nor other employing institutions in reference to this matter, although I have pressed them for information." The same writer gr*>3 on to say: "There can be no misunderstanding as regards the desire for the shorter week to be worked in five days by the members in the metropolitan area. In various gangs in and around the city a practically unanimous decision has been given in favour of the five-day week; but; the wish of the members in country districts has not yet been ascertained, and might be contrary to the five-day week." I for one am old enough to remember the fight put up. especially in the building trades in the Old Country, for the nine-hour day. At that time many workers advocated eight hours' work, eight hours' play, eight hours' rest, and 8/ per day. Those were then considered to be ideal conditions. But that was a long time ago, and we have got beyond the time when 8/ per day was enough for any worker to live on. Mr. Bodkin says he and others have for years strenuously asserted in the courts that eight hours' work is the | limit for any man to labour, and even now there arc very few men who believe otherwise. There is only one way for the genuine eight-hour day principle to operate conveniently, and that is for all workers to make effort to secure a forty-four-hour week of five days of eight hours per day. Xo doubt the five-day week would he a boon to the workers, but we should make haste slowly, and I think the workers would be wise to have the principle of a maximum eight-hour day well established before reaching out for the impossible. There is very little doubt but that with our improved machinery the work in many trades could be easily done in a forty-hour week. But we must remember that there are some occupations in which this could no be done without having two shifts of workers in one day, which might be difficult to manage in many cases. It seems that some of the Australian workers desire to work 8h 4Snrin on five days of the week, and thu3 have Saturday free. This would be a complete abandonment of the eight-hour principle, which has been so hardly fought for to my personal knowledg-e for the last sixty years.