40-HOUR WEEK

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21812, 18 June 1936, Page 10

40-HOUR WEEK

SPECIAL SITTING fIJT COURT ' t ‘ MANY APPLICATIONS '«|| EXEMPTION ' ■ ■ V “ y £ 1 v > ; GREAT INTEREST BEWfi' SHOWN ■ ■ ■ • A ! ■ ■ ‘ 'h (paSSS ASSOCIATION tELWA*.) * WELLINGTON, June IT, Industry is taking a great dtoltf interest in the special sitting of fl# Court of Arbitration, to be heli% Wellington on Monday, to coh|sk applications for exemption tran %| 40-hour week in factories, PUtm* porary extension of hours 'to ‘4£ when the legislation comes & force on September 1. Averyl^ number of applications are beingib* pared throughout New Zealand :|f various employers’ which are busy grouping them It presentation to the court. The secretary of the New Zeal||| Employers’ Federation (Mr T. 4 Bishop) said to-day that the agfA cations would fall into ttitt groups:— (1) Those industries in wfcUl proceedings connected with M* awards have already been taklttA which cases the employers will toply to the Court of Arbitration Nf interim orders maintaining the 44hour week until such time as qcb awards are made, either by nego#* tion or by the court itself. • (2) Those industries in which tfct employers concerned desire a longer time to adapt their proee** to the shorter working Week, but who are prepared to adopt the 4A hour week in,- say, six months. these cases the applications willbp for short-term orders, probably until the end of the present year. (3). Those industries in which,!*, cause of the impossibility of po£ forming the work in 40 hoozvl permanent extension of hours wOl be asked for. In this group naturally come such industries as fto works, cement works, and othezSA which continuous processes are si> ried on for 24 hours in every da? of the year.

Attitude of Court An outline of the attitude manufacturers considered the Own of Arbitration was likely to eMt toward applications for extiMHll from the 40-hour week pi iitjjl was given by the secretary orap New Zealand Manufacturers’ sj|> eration (Mr A. E. Mander)., S said he and Mr A. W. Nisbet, w. tary of the Wellington Manage timers’ Association, had giveuMr siderable attention to the GtfjMg ment’s industrial legislation,.andt|i| again interview'd the Minister'®* Labour (the Hon. H. T. As a resiilt, they had formed a sffijr strong impression th't the Ckwern-i ment did not intend that the ow*l should grant exemptions from ' application of the 40-hour week «- cept in very exceptional cases. The mere fact that costs would be creased would almost certainly be considered, of itself, suflkapt ground for exemption. • f “Three Strongest Grounds’* The three strongest grounds Jj* which applications for exempj» could be based were, in their ion, as follow: # , Vi (1) The tech' ical carrying out a process in 40 kMi (2) A severe shortage of skfik* labour in an industry, which nS|P be accepted as a ground for tempi’! ary exemption. jp; (3) The booking of orders fortfne coming season at old price*. hSi such cases firms might ask the copt for exemption until such time fl their contracts were completed. Mr Mander added that Mr would be putting forward a tap number of applications on behwfe! manufacturers.