THE 44-HOUR WEEK.

Evening Star, Issue 23750, 4 December 1940, Page 11

THE 44-HOUR WEEK.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —An attempt is being made to institute tho 44-hour week at ordinary rates of pay. The workers have fought for years .for a reduction in the working hours, and now that we have a 40-hour week we will definitely not go back to the 44 hours unless the extra hours are paid at overtime rates. Eight hours a day is any amount long enough for any girl or man to work in a factory. Some men are working from 4.45 p.m. till 4.45 a.m., and if the 44-hour week was allowed it would mean that'these men would lose four hours of overtime rates. These men practically only work and sleep. They are so exhausted at the end of the week that Monday night is a nightmare to them. There is no free or any bus to take them home after they have worked their 11 hours each ni"ht, and no extra petrol is allowed, as it “surely should bo, to those few who have their own cars. These men are performing a war work—work that is enabling us° to beat Hitler;, and when'men are willing to work at night and put up' with the inconveniences to their domestic affairs the least the employers could do is to pay these men adequately, and pay extra rates for all hours in excess of 40. This country is not being bombed or shelled like Britain, and there is no need for us to give up Euch privileges as the 40-hour week under the conditions that prevail here at present.—l am, etc., 40-Hour Week. . December 3. P.S.—lf increased production is so necessary—and it is—"why not put on extra hands? Any amount of men would be willing to come olf some useless Public Works jobs. Building new- roads without petrol to travel on the roads is foolish in the extreme.