“COUNTRY WORK ” CLAUSE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21985, 8 January 1937, Page 10

“COUNTRY WORK ” CLAUSE

COMPROMISE EFFECTED BY COURT NOMINAL PREMIUM FOR OVERTIME A compromise which should bring relief to both employers and workers has been effected by the Arbitration Court in dealing, with awards covering country work in the building trades. In the official copy of the -carpenters’ and joiners’ award, which has now been received from the court, provision has been made for country overtime, which had been a contentious matter for contractors and workers, to be paid for at a nominal rate, thus giving to the interpretation of the award a flexibility which it did not possess by virtue of the amending legislation of 1936. - One of the unexpected effects .of the introduction of the 40-hour week legislation by the Government last year was that it virtually prohibited a long-standing custom in the building trades of working longer hours on country jobs without the payment f overtime rates. The custom was one which had the approval of both employers and workers. Contractors welcomed the • opportunity of carrying out jobs more quickly, and the men employed generally preferred to be working rather than have leisure time that was of little use to them when they were away from home. When an industrial agreement was concluded in August between the employers and workers in the carpentering and joinery industries the usual clause relating to country work was transplanted from a previous award for inclusion in the award which was shortly to be issued, but the parties entirely overlooked the far-reaching effects of a statutory fixation of the length of the working week. Once the Arbitration Court had ruled that an industry should not be exempted from the legislative provision for a 40-hour week, the industry was to be bound absolutely by the requirements of the law. The routine clause in awards dealing with country work provides that the hours of work shall be other than those prescribed, without the payment of overtime, but the court held on a test case in October that this clause could not over-ride the statutory provision. The court’s view therefore was that if the 40-hour- week was applied to an industry it should apply equally to country work and town work. Effect of Judgment The effect of such a judgment has caused during recent weeks a good deal of concern to both contractors and workers. Contractors have found that, on small country jobs the necessity of maintaining men away from home while they observe the regulation five-day working week, or, alternatively, of paying the full overtime rates for any extra hours worked, practically absorbs the profit from such undertakings. The workers, 'too, have not been eager to accept the extra leisure at places where it may be of little value to them. The Arbitration Court has now apparently attempted, to overcome these difficulties by inserting a clause which, while recognising the statutory requirement that all hours oyer 40 must be regarded as overtime, nevertheless prescribes a merely nominal rate of extra payment. The clause authorises employers and workers, for the purpose of country work, to agree on extra hours, provided a payment of an additional penny an hour is made for all time worked in excess of those provided in the award. Carpenters whose normal rate of pay is 2s 6£d an hour would thus be able to work a 10-hour day, since the two extra hours could be worked for 2s 7£d each instead of the full overtime rate of 3s lOd an hour. Saturday work, which would be at prohibitive rates under ordinary overtime provisions, would also be performed at little more than normal rates.