Firemen’s 84-Hour Week “Incredible”

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30811, 24 July 1965, Page 3

Firemen’s 84-Hour Week “Incredible”

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 23. “It seems incredible that a country such as New Zealand, which prides itself on its liberal industrial relationships, should be the last survivor in the world employing firemen on an 84hour week,” Mr B. McClelland said in the Arbitration Court. He was presenting submissions on behalf of the Federation of Fire Brigades Employees’ Industrial Association of Workers for the introduction of a seven-hour shift system, five days a week, or a 35-hour working week.

A claim for an eighthour shift, five days a week (a 40-hour working period), was presented by the Northern, Wellington, Taranaki and Nelson Fire Brigades’ Industrial Union of Workers (Mr W. J. Anton).

Both were opposed by the Urban Fire Authorities’ Industrial Union of Employers (Mr G. A. Turner), the applicant in the dispute. The employers have sought to retain the existing continuous duty system which has firemen on duty for a continuous period of 24 hours and then off for a similar time. Judge A. P. Blair reserved his decision. Mr McClelland submitted that the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1954, provided that a Court should fix at not more than 40, the maximum number of hours to be worked in any week by any worker bound by the award unless the Court was of the opinion that it would be impracticable to carry on efficiently any industry to which the award related. “It is clear,” he said, “that the onus is on the employers to show that theirs is an exceptional industry. “Unless they show this,

then the Court has no option but to allow a 40-hour week.” Mr McClelland contended the employers had not shown this. They had produced no witness who could fairly be said to be an employer. There tad, therefore, been nobody before the Court who could say that, as an employer, there would be difficulty in obtaining extra staff with the shift system. And there had also been no employer saying that the system could not work. He said submissions only had been made, but evidence was needed. Staff Turn-over Mr McClelland said it was clear from the evidence that staff were not being attracted under the present conditions and the turn-over in trained personnel over the past years had been appallingly high. It was obviously inefficient for any industry to have such a turn-over.

“When one compares the hourly wage received by a fireman with the hourly wage received in any other industry at present, it becomes perfectly obvious why there are staff shortages and frequent changes,” he said. In his submissions, Mr Anton said that firemen and their officers could not participate in many of the usual 'social activities and amenities

available to the other wage workers in New Zealand because for 84 hours of the week they were confined to station precincts. Mr Anton said the proposals by his union were the basic provisions elementary to those industries and undertakings which involve cc itinuous process of the necessity for continuous attendance of workers. “There are exceptions,” he said, “but none which impose on workers restrictions such as those, in the fire service." 10s A Head Mr Anton said the estimated expenditure of the 24 fire boards concerned with the present disputes was £1,376,326 at the end of March last year. “Having regard to the facts that this sum includes not only wages, administration and running expenses, but also capital expenditure and loan charges, the fire protection—minimum though it be—is provided at a very low cost—approximately 10s a head a year calculated on the present population. “We urge the Court to incorporate our counter proposals, therefore affording our workers long overdue relief, and placing the full responsibility for this relief and maintenance of an adequate fire service where it belongs—on the employers,” Mr Anton said. The last witness heard was William Murray Webber, of Melbourne, Victorian secretary of the United Fire-fight-ters and national president of the same organisation. Mr Webber said from what he had seen, there was no doubt that the continuous duty system tended to lower a fireman’s efficiency, while shorter hours, as provided in a 40-hour working week, made them far more efficient. He said there had been no major difficulty with recruiting under the shift method in Australia, and last year’s turn-over in staff there had been only 5 per cent. Mr Webber said he knew of no other country in the world where continuous duty was still in operation, and, having observed New Zealand station and working conditions in 1962 and 1963, felt that there was no reason why the 40-hour week coult not work here.