NEW SHOPPING HOURS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22491, 27 August 1938, Page 2

NEW SHOPPING HOURS

AUCKLAND EXPERIMENT

STABILISING WORKING

CONDITIONS

(P»fc»S iS»OCI*TION TELKGtAIf.)

AUCKLAND, August 26

Adopted as a temporary measure until the results are known of the efforts now being made to stabilise working conditions in the grocerytrade, a new schedule of business hours will be introduced on Monday by eight grocery firms controlling a large number of shops in Auckland. From Monday to Thursday the hours will be from 8.30 a.m. to 5.15 p.m. On Friday they will be from 9 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., and on Saturday from 8.30 a.m. to noon. .. It was stated that certain anomalies in the new award covering grocers assistants permitted shops to be open for very extended hours, while the employment of their staff was limited to 44 hours a week. For some reason the Arbitration Court had permitted shops to be open from 8.15 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday, but inserted a clause that the working hours could not exceed 9£. This was a provision that had not been mentioned by either side in the conciliation proceedings or m the Arbitration Court hearings. "The conditions about hours axe simply chaotic," it was stated. The union is at present considering conducting a ballot among its members, and if a unanimous decision is reached the Court may be approached in an endeavour to obtain an amendment. It was necessary for shops to be open in the city itself for a period after 5 p.m. so that shop, office, and factory workers would have an opportunity of making purchases after finishing their daily work. To avoid serious inconvenience and loss of trade the shops would remain open until 515 p.m. The hours that had been temporarily decided upon would also be subject to some variation in accordance with the requirements of the shopping public, Queen street and Karangahape road shops, for instance, remaining open until 9 o'clock on Friday evening.