SHEARERS' HOURS

Evening Post, Issue 88, 12 April 1924, Page 9

SHEARERS' HOURS

.WORK bN.'SATUKDAYS.

1 -TO THK EDITOR.

■ Sir—Under the above heading in/lltt April papers there is published a ruling given; by 'a- divided 'Court on an interpretation r applied for .by -the Napier branch of the 'Labour' Department as to when clause 2iof the Shearers and. Shed Hands', Award ceases to operate. The clause is mado' up of English- words,, each jword haying a simple construction. I will leave my readers to decide whether ;ths,'clause, means What it says' °*\ whether a construction;' such as a divided ..Court have placed upon it is correct. At the same time,. 1 will" ask readers to give instances where a: sillier ruling has been given. No wonder the workers' representative dissented and all other Labour, bodies in- the! Dominion have lost confidence in our present'constituted Court of Arbitration. The clause which the Court .was asked m> give a ruling on reads as follows:— 'Clause ,2.^-Tlier hours of shearing shall tie from 5 a.m. to. 5 p.m. or .from 5.30' aim. to 5.50 p.m.; with intervals for meals and smoking as shall be mutually agreed upon ( between the shed-manager and the shearers' "representative. . Shearing shall stop at 4 p.m. on Saturdays, except in the case when forty-eight hours and twenty minutes' work shall have .been dono before noon, in which case tho work may be stopped then. When shearing. wet .ewes: the shedwanager may alter the intervals for smoking and extend the hours to .the extent of half an' hour in order to com- , plete the cut-out.'" '■' _ While the clause does not, with an .JUighsh word, distinctly' state that work shall -be continued until 12 noon, my reading of the clause' draws me to the conclusion that if, during any one week, 48 hours and, 20 minutes' work shall' have 'been performed before noon, shearers and shed hands are legally entitled to cease work, even though the prescribed number of hours,1 viz., 48 hours and 20 minutes' work have been completed earlier than 12 noon on Saturdays. If this was not so clause 2 would have no i-meaning, let.alone operation. '._ For instance, let us take the different industrial districts. Each of them have a different custom with regard to hours. ■INow, this is provided for in the awfrrd. lhe clause quoted provides for a mutual agreement to1 be arrived at between the shed-manager and the shearers' represeii-I tative as' to whether ' they shall commence work at 5 a.m. or 5.30 a.m., and because the Hawkes Bay and Gisborne men have agreed with their respective individual employers to start at 5 a.m., thereby making a nine-hour day as against the men in Wairarapa, Marlborough, Canterbury; -and Otago"'starting half an hour later, thereby doin" o hours and 40 minutes, the Hawkes Bay men afe compelled' by the Court's rulin^ even though they do a nine-houv day to continue working to the same point as the men in the district's named who do.not commence work until 20 minutes or half an hour, later. ■■ . ■ The shearers and shed hands'- award I makes no 1 provision for an overtime rate1 to .be paid to weekly or hourly shearing shed workers. Therefore, if clause 2 provides for more tlian 48 hours and 20 minutes work to, be performed- in any one week. ■ whether it is ■ done by 12 noon or 9. a.m. .-in the morning, the hourly and weekly workers are penalised i and compelled to work the extra hours without any remuneration other than is provided for a 48 hours and 20 minutes week. For the purpose of comparison, let me quote to my readers the position of a driver say, in Wellington and Palmerston. The Palmerston- North drivers (for the purpose of comparison) have agreed to commence work at 7.30 each morning. Whereas tho Wellington mon start at a a.m., Just because the PalmeTston iNortn men have mutually agreed to start.at 7.30, should they be compelled (by a ruling of the Court) to continue till 5 p.m. or 4.30 p.m. 1 Surely it is apparent in all industries a uniform working week should be laid down, and where the-48 hours and 20 minutes is performed in five days of the week or six days of the week, it should not/ providing both sides mutually agree, be necessary for tho Court to be called upon to announce such a ridiculous ruling as. what appeared in to-day's Press.—l am, etc., C. GRAYNDLER, Secretary, Wellington Shearers ■ and bhed Hands' Representative.