ALTERED OFFICE HOURS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25207, 11 June 1947, Page 6

ALTERED OFFICE HOURS

LEGAL POSITION EXPLAINED UNION’S ATTITUDE TO CHANGES “Although the union cannot stop offices from altering their working hours because of the power restrictions, it can deprecate changes which result in no saving of power and throw the responsibility for greater savings on to domestic users. said Mr D. F. Ayers, secretary of the Canterbury Clerks’ and Cashiers’ Union yesterday. No starting or stopping time for office workers was fixed under the Shops and Offices Act, said Mr Ayers. The hours of the office staff were governed by those of the industry. In many factories, work began at 8 a.m., but the office staff began work at 9 a.m. The position had arisen in many busy factories that, with production stopping at 4 p.m., changes in the hours of the office staff from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. had been proposed. Other firms had wanted to cut down the meal hour, said Mr Ayers. The general award said only that the meal hour should not be longer than one hour and a-quarter. While the cutting down was permissible, it was possible that action would be taken by the authorities to appeal to the employers not to reduce the meal hour, and so maintain the normal working spread of hours, as savings in power would not be effected.