FORTY-HOUR WEEK FOR MINERS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 7

FORTY-HOUR WEEK FOR MINERS

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON. August 19. An Arbitration Court judgment ordex-s a 40-hour week for the Martha Mine Company and the Golden Dawn Company. CARPENTERS AND JOINERS ON SHIP WORK “It is clear that, for the efficient carrying on of the industry, work must proceed on Saturdays." runs a majority award of the Arbitration Court in connexion with the application to amend _ the New Zealand Carpenters and Joiners (on ship work) Industrial Agreement for a reduction to 49 hours a week of the working hours fixed by the five industrial agreements and one award relating to ship repair work. In dismissing the application and fixing the maximum number of hours at 44 a week, the court observes: “The acknowledged purpose of the workers in connexion with the present application is to obtain npt a reduction of the weekly working hours, but a limitation* of the working week to five days ... so that work done on Saturdays may be claimed for at overtime rates of pay, . . It is impracticable to carry on efficiently the industry of ship repairing and fitting, and of dock work with a working week limited to 40 hours.’ In a dissenting opinion, Mr A. L. Monteith states that the 40-hour week woujd mean more permanent men, and the hourly men would secure a more even spreading of the work. The great majority of the men affected were skilled tradesmen, and in the past their hours of work had been the same when employed on shipwork as when employed elsewhere.