FORTY-HOUR WEEK SOUGHT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21858, 11 August 1936, Page 12

FORTY-HOUR WEEK SOUGHT

— APPLICATIONS BY GOLDMINERS j hotel workers ALSO seek j REDUCTION 'J'itSSS ASSOCIATION TELBUItAM.! WELLINGTON. August 10. The Arbitration Court to-day heard applications by the workers to amend the Martha, Golden- Dawn, and other gord miners’ industrial agreements to provide for a 40-hour working week. Decision was reserved. The application was opposed on behalf of the employers by Mr K. G. Milligan, Auckland. local director of the Martha j Good Mining Company, Ltd., Mr H. W. Hopkins, Waihi superintendent of the same company, and Mr W. H Wynvrad, secretary of the Golden Dawn Gold Mining Company. Ltd. Represent mg the workers were Mcssio «• Roberts and J. Read. Mr Milligan said the Martha mjne employed more than 600 men ahefthe average working week was 44 houiis The 4u-hour week was not feasible xeu his company because of practical obstacles and economic difficulties, u was essential to put through the present tonnage, while there was a prospect of an increase in the working cost a ton. , , , Mr Roberts said the workers asked for a 40-hour five-day week for all workers except those employed in wet. hot, or gassy places in the mines, for whom a 30-hour week was asked. Ine largest mine in Australia had woikcd a 35-hour week for a number of years and New Zealand coal miners had enJoved a 40-hour week for years. Mining was one of the most unhealthy occupations and the best means of preventing the miner’s complaint was rest periods out of the mine. Dealing with the ability of companies to bear the added cost of a 40-hour week. . Mr Roberts said the Martha Gold Mining Company, in particular, was the most prosperous in the world. The Federated Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Industrial Association of Workers applied for a reduction of hours from 44 to 40 a week. The application was opposed by the employers, cn whose behalf Mr W. J. Mountjoy said the employers had agreed to reduce the hours to 44 from June 15, and to pay the 1931 wages. The Government desired hotels of a standard for tourist trade and if that were to be done the industry should not be unduly restricted. Decision was re-