THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 16 December 1920, Page 4

THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—-The public are invited to judge the issue between the associated shopkeepers of the town and their assistants. Do the shoppers of the district j approve the decision to open on the three successive Wednesdays because the shops will close for the Christmas holiday!-' In justifying their aetio.n the shopkeepers prove that their assistants have no ' reasonable grounds for complaint regarding ordinary conditions of labour. The employers are not inconsiderate. All the same, the Christmas holidays must not- be classed with other holidays. The feeling of goodwill and generosity is inseparable from the season, and there is the matter of old-time usage to consider. Ought there not, in such a case, to be a consultation with representative assistants with a. view to arriving at some satisfactory arrangement? It will be deplorable if strife and ill-will is generated over this holiday issue, so that no of the season can pass between employer and employee. If the shopkeepers uncompromisingly adhere to their decision they will scarcely escape a charge of meanness. And the public may elect to abstain from shopping on the three Wednesday afternoons.—l am, etc., GOODWILL TO MEN.