Wages In Factories

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 42, 13 November 1941, Page 9

Wages In Factories

Sir, —As one familiar with the work in hosiery factories in Wellington, I ask for space to reply to certain recently published reports of the high wages received by youths and girls. In the hosiery trade the biggest percentage of our workers are employed at piece-work rates, and these rates are fixed by the employers, so that au ordinary worker should earn not less than 10 per cent, above time rates. A noticeable feature in all these reports has been that all mention of hours worked has been studiously avoided, so I would rectify this omission, and state quite definitely that in one large hosiery factory men and boys are working not a 40-hour week, but a 50-hour week,, and the workers concerned receive overtime rates for such time over the forty hours worked. Further to this a bonus system has been introduced to encourage further production. So, Sir, it can be definitely stated that if high wages are being received, every penny is being earned by the workers. —I am, etc., G. H. DELANEY.