WAR INDUSTRIES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20821, 27 June 1942, Page 5

WAR INDUSTRIES

HOURS OF WORKERS POLICY IN AUSTRALIA (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (3 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 26. The Minister of Labour and National Service, Mr. E. J. Ward, dissociated the Federal Government from the appeal by the deputy-Director of ManPower,' Mr, A. Bellemore. to the employers of labour in war industries to lengthen the shifts to 10 and 12 hours. Mr. Bellemore’s statement was contrary to the Commonwealth Government’s policy on this question, said Mr. Ward. The view of Mr. Bellemore was not shared by the Commonwealth Government, and the expression of any .such views was unauthorised. Recently the Government had been giving close attention to the question of excessive overtime and had come to the conclusion that the hours of work, particularly of certain workers in the metal trades, should be substantially reduced. Any large-scale introduction of shift work obviously would place a greater burden on the man-power authorities in supplying the necessary labour. Mr. Ward felt sure, however, that the necessarv arrangements could be made to obtain labour from non-essen-tial industries. "Governed by their physical capacity, employees in defence occupations must work a certain amount of overtime, bringing their time on duty up to at least 55 hours a week,” said Br. Bellemore, in a further statement. “An extra effort is required from all of us and that cannot be given by rigid adherence to normal hours of work.”