WAGES AND HOURS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 13

WAGES AND HOURS

BUS AND CAR DRIVERS

AMENDMENTS TO AWARD

SOUGHT BY UNION

An application by the New Zealand

Federated Drivers' and Related Trades

Industrial Union of Workers ror amendj_, ments to the drivers' award was heard % in conciliation council today. • Mr.

P.. Hally, Conciliation Commissioner,

presided. The assessors for the applicants were Messrs. G. Davis (Auck-

land), H. Smith (Gisborne), W. H.

Parry (Port Ahuriri), E. Parlane (Christchurch), W. Herbert (Dunedin), T. McCauley (Johnsonvillel) F. Wise .- (Eastbourne), and A. Parlane (Wellington), advocate. The employers' aa- - sessors were Messrs. N. D. Spencer (Auckland), G. S. Kirby (Dunedin) C. L. Bishop (Wellington), W. H. Taylor (Takapuna), the Hon. W. Haywire! M.L.C. (Christchurch), N. Bell (Wellington), H. J. Knight (Wellington), and T. O. Bishop (advocate). The amendments sought were in relation to omnibus and service-car drivers, and chiefly concerned hours and wages. The principal changes from the

existing award, said Mr. A. Parians' ~ were in regard to booking-off hours! payment for work done on holidays, ; provision for two' weeks' holiday on '■] full pay after completion of nine months' service with the same employer, as against twelve months' ser-

■! vice in the award; the restoration of ' former wages (£5 a week) as against ''', £4 5s a week under the award, and in- '■■• crease' of overtime. The conditions ''.■ and hours worked by bus and service- •■■■ car drivers did not compare at all well with those of tramwaymen and others, and he saw no reason why bus-drivers should not be placed on as good a footing. It would be the aim of the applicants to place the men in as good a position as they were before the existing award, if not considerably better. The employers, said Mr. T. O. Bishop, counter-claimed for an extension of the present award.

BUS DRIVERS. The hours of work sought in the claim in"< the case of drivers of buses ~,, substantially engaged in town and sub- .. urban passenger transport are 48 per P : week, to be worked in six shifts, the \ ordinary day's, hours not be less than l r six and not more than nine, worked '. within a span of eleven consecutive .';, hours. Alterations sought regarding booking ;i . off are that meal intervals not exceed- ; ing an hour shall not be deemed to be ■;.;. periods booked off, that a driver shall v not be booked off at' a place other than '■ ( his headquarters, and that the mini~t mum period for which a driver may .; be booked on shall be two hours. It

," is urged that the proportion of broken ' shifts to straight shifts shall not exceed

. r one to three. The proportion in the _ J; present award is four in 12. No driver, • it is further suggested, shall be required to work more than five hours continuously without an interval for a I meal, whereas the present award allows -'■'■ six hours. The claims also include a

provision that a driver, having com-

pleted his shift, shall not be booked on again until the expiration of ten hgurs from the time he was last booked off.

OVERTIME.

Any time worked in excess of the daily or weekly hours, or outside the driver's shift, as set out-in the daily roster, it is claimed, shall be deemed to be overtime, and shall be paid for at the rate of 3s l£d per hour; where drivers are called back to work after having completed the daily span of hours, they shall be paid from the expiration of the span of eleven hours until they are finally booked off. The award fixes overtime at 2s 2id for the first four hours, and 2s 8d per hour thereafter, and all time worked in excess of the prescribed daily hours, at 2s Bd.

Drivers engaged on chartered buses shall be paid for the whole of the time they are away from their headquarters, provided that where the trip extends beyond one day, a minimum ;payment for eight hours shall be made on each day so occupied. It is asked that accommodation and meals for drivers engaged on chartered buses shall be paid for by the employer.

Drivers may be called on to work on their alternate weekly days off, provided they are paid at double time, with a minimum payment for four hours. Work on other "days off," it is proposed, shall be prohibited, and the recognised day off as set out on the roster shall not be altered.

In the general claims for bus and service car drivers double pay is provided for work on Christmas Day, and time and a half for six other stipulated days. Uniforms are to be provided by the employer, whose property they remain.

The claims in respect of service car drivers are, with slight exceptions, similar to those made on behalf of bus drivers.

48-HOUR WEEK

The men, said Mr. Parlane, were very keen on the 48-hour week, in place of the 96-hour fortnight, as under the latter they might have to work 30 hours one week and 66 the next, an average of 11 hours a day.

Mr. Bishop: Is that not an exaggeration?

. It was pointed out that in the case of special bus trips to dances, etc., the men were frequently obliged to wait until the party broke up, and several of the workers' representatives present gave instances of having worked very long hours.

The danger of service car drivers on duty for excessive hours going to sleep at the wheel was stressed by the union's assessors.

(Proceeding.)