44 HOUR WEEK.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18947, 11 March 1927, Page 12

44 HOUR WEEK.

AUSTRALIAN DECISION. PIECEWORK ESSENTIAL. * (raoM oca owy cokkesposdent.) (SYDNEY, March 4. When the Commonwealth Arbitration Court last week announced that by !"• majority of two to one it had decided after hearing evidence for five months to grant a 4-1 hour week to the engineering industry, tbe decision aroused widespread comment and suspicion. The employers almost unanimously criticised the judgment on the ground that it imposed an insufferable burden on industry. The . employees looked askance because the judges iutimated that there were strings to their decision. When the hearing of evidence was begun it was freely announced that, should a 44 hour week be decided upon, it would apply to all normal staple industries. The unions expected that if a 44 hour week were found necessary for the engineering industry, its application would automatically become universal. But this does not seem to be so. For instance, in Adelaide this week Chief Judge Dethbridge told the Storemen and Packers' Union that it was just as well tha{ unions should understand that if men were not working in an occupation that involved strain and fatigue, or more than, usual grime and dirt, that industry but not prima facie one for 44 hours, but was a 48 hour industry. He agreed with the union advocate's suggestion that every union would have to prove its case to the hilt before the Full Arbitration Court. Judge's Warning. In a case at ' Melbourne the Chief Judge also said: "The 44 hour week is only possible in any industry if the workers in every way work up to their limits, pull up to the collar every time. No court, no Parliament, no power on earth, can get the 44 hours for the workers unless they do their best. Unless they do, the 44 hour week will have to go by the board." He added that piecework, or payment by results, would have to be recognised as a legitimate thing if the 44 hour week was to become operative. Tbis last matter opened up an important question. Practically every union in Australia is opposed to piecework, . although many unionists themselves would prefer to work on payment by results to secure higher wages. Victoria is the chief State affected by the 44 hour week judgment, as in most of the other States, the shorter working week already obtains. The remarks of Chief Judge Dethbridge regarding the necessity of piece work is regarded by Victorian employers as having taken the sting out of the 44 hour week decision. Latest returns in Victoria show that 1953 males and 7821 females out of 128,013 employed were on piecework —a percentage of only 7.6.

Political Disturbance. • Whatever is the outcome of the Full Arbitrations Court's .decision it is sure . to cause some disturbance in Federal politics. As a matter of .fact, it would appear that the Federal Ministry, for tne remainder of its life, will have its hands full industrial matters. In addition to the 44 hour week, it has sent the Industrial Mission to the United States, and that will return _ with its contentious recommendations before the scheduled time of the next election. Then, also, the efforts of the New South Wales Labour Government to bring in family endowment has forced the Federal Ministry's hand in' the matter, and the Ministry is pledged to call a conference of thci States to discuss the question and to try to bring in Commonwealth subsidising of children. The Commonwealth Statistician has estimated that to provide a national scheme of child endowment would cost £23,000,000, and employers assert that industry cannot stand this bur Jen. There lies .a germ of great trouble for the Ministry led by Mr Bruce and Dr. Earle Page.