SUNDAY LABOUR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 13948, 3 January 1906, Page 5

SUNDAY LABOUR.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l . have frequently heard th< complaint that w© ar© getting too much '' labour legislation, that employers are being harassed, but one story is good 1 till the other is told. What about th« worker? Those of us who can carry our memories back a few years know what the conditions of labour were as ta , hours and wages, but which have sihet' been improved through labour legislation., Why should not employers be able, to conduct their business as they Ilk© without outside interference, is a grumble often heard; but I am glad to say that it is only a small section of the employers who so talk.: I heard of • a case recently when- men employed by one of the wealthiest companion in -Canterbury, casually, at a shilling an hour, were - asked to work all day on Sunday for th# same rate ,of pay. Now, I happeni to know that this company has uniformly paid a good fat dividend for many years past; but there is not much credit to the management which secures thd fat' dividend by sweating it out of it# employees at a shilling an Hour for Sunday labour. The award of the Generali Labourers’ Union of Otago provides that double rates shall be paid -for alj work done on Christmas Day, Good Friday, New Year’s Day and all Sundays. I think it is about time that aif award of our Labour Court was in operj ation in Christchurch so as to compel such- companies as the_ one herein referred to, to pay a fair rate of wag# for Sunday labour. —I am, etc., A SOCIAL 'DEMOCRAT.