“ANSWER TO INFLATION”

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29219, 1 June 1960, Page 6

“ANSWER TO INFLATION”

Staggering The 40-Hour Week

Staggering the 40-hour week as an answer to inflation, rising costs and the need to stabilise the national economy was considered by the annual conference of North Canterbury Federated Farmers yesterday in the discussion of a remit which will be considered at the forthcoming Dominion conference.

Speaking in favour of the proposal, Mr A. C. Wright, chairman of the provincial meat and wool section, said that a good example was seen in the freezing industry in Canterbury where the quota system applied to killings. One works, by working half an hour’s overtime from Monday to Friday and four hours on Saturday, was able to kill an additional 6500 lambs, but the daily killing in the eight hours of ordinary work tallied 7500 lambs. This meant that about 17 per cent, of the lambs killed for five months of the eight-month season was done at penal rates. It was normally accepted that a chain killed 100 lambs a man a day but the average was only 92J. The loss on this and the overtime killing meant that about 25 per cent, of the killing was on overtime.

Representing the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce at the conference, Mr R. C. Neville said that the overall picture should be looked at and Mr Wright’s figures should not be taken at face value. There was a lot more involved in the cost of killing lambs than the labour. “If a works can be utilised 45 to 50 hours a week, with the high overhead costs I would think that would tend to balance the extra overtime costs,” he said. Mr R. E. Hiatt said that if the hours were staggered, even to an exaggerated state of two 40-hour weeks in the works, then surely that would make for a more efficient unit.

The conference agreed to leave the matter of voting to the delegates to the Dominion conference.