STATUTORY HOLIDAYS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 77, 23 December 1939, Page 14

STATUTORY HOLIDAYS

Non-Payment In The Building Trades At the annual meeting of the Builders and General Labourers’ Union held recently, the question of non-payment for statutory holidays to workers*’in the building trades was fully discussed. Mr. P. M. Butler, secretary of the General Labourers’ Union, said yesterday that the workers iu the building trades felt very keenly the non-payment for statutory holidays. He pointed out that the law prohibited workers from following their occupations on certain days, but no compensation accompanied the prohibition. In nearly every undertaking throughout New Zealand workers received payment for statutory holidays. This applied to office and factory work, where, in in addition, wages were payable on a weekly and not on an hourly basis. The workers in the building trades were paid on an hourly basis, with the result Hurt if, for any reason, work was discontinued, no wages were forthcoming. The building trades workers were particularly at the mercy of weather conditions, and a few hours’ rain often resulted in the loss of a full day’s wages. If the weather was inclement during the week on which any statutory holidays fell, very little income went to the workers that week.

The overnment employed a number of building trades workers in the housing scheme. Members of the union and of kindred unions throughout New Zealand were deeply grateful to the Government for its recent decision that these workers would be paid for Christmas Day, Boxing Day amd New Year’s Day. On behalf of all concerned, Mr. Butler said, he was instructed to convey publicly very deep appreciation of this excellent gesture.

In announcing that payment would be made for statutory holidays, the Minister, Mr. Armstrong, stated that the Government had no jurisdiction over private contractors. But there was nothing to stop the employers from following the example set by the Government, said Mr. Butler.