SATURDAY MORNING WORK CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 126, 21 February 1941, Page 9

SATURDAY MORNING WORK CAMPAIGN

To Aid Queen Carnival OPPOSED BY CLOTHING TRADES UNION A suggestion by the Mauuiaetuteis. Princess Committee that staffs ot manufacturing firms should work a number of Saturday mornings during the Victory Queen Carnival Campaign, and their wages for those mornings be devoted to the patriotic appeal, has been opposed by the Wellington Clothing Trades Industrial Union of ■Workers.

Bearing in mind the need to raise its funds quickly, the Manufacturers Princess Committee suggested that. the staffs of manufacturing houses might work on six Saturday’ mornings out of the 13 available during the Queen Carnival campaign, with the understanding of employers that the wages for those mornings, less Social Security and National Security taxes, be donated to tlie patriotic fund. To eliminate any difficulty or lack of appreciation on the part of employees, the committee suggested that each employer pay double time for such Saturday morning work, which would mean an equal donation by both employer and employee. It would have to be made clear, however, that all the employee’s pay would in. fact be handed to that fund. To deduct the amount donated from the usual weekly pay envelope would, not, in the committee’s opinion, give a staff the same (satisfaction as they would receive if they actually handed over the money themselves.

The suggestion of the Manufacturers’ Princess, Committee was the subject of comment in a circular to members issued by the executive of the Wellington Clothing Trades Industrial Union of Workers, which said that, since most employers could pay double rates of pay and still show a profit on the Saturday morning’s work, it could not be said that the employers would be sharing in the donation. “The union would not say or do anything to discourage its members from contributing to patriotic funds if they wish to do so, but it Is opposed to any suggestion that they should work without wages, or that they should be compelled or intimidated to subscribe,” the circular added. “Members must insist on being paid full award rates for all work done, and retain the right to spend their wages as they wish, not as their employer directs. If deduction from wages, for any purpose, is once permitted, there is no saying what it will lead to Or when it will stop. “It must be borne in mind that the work done on Saturday morning -would be part of the work ordinarily done on the first five days of the week, consequently the workers would not only give up Saturday’s wages, but would also lose some part of their weekly earnings. To some of them it would mean unemployment.”