FORTY-HOUR WORK WEEK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 119, 21 April 1936, Page 6

FORTY-HOUR WORK WEEK.

This problem, as a means of alleviating the hardships caused by the depression, engaged the attention of the International Labour Office in 1934, when , the Office sent a questionnaire to the Governments seeking their views on the desirability of an international convention, designed to bring into being an international 4(J-hour workiug week. The British reply was that it was not a matter for Government. “A continuous review of the problem, industry by industry, will, in the opinion of His Majesty’s Government, reveal the scope for useful action as and where this exists, and it is contended that the question of the limitation of the hours can only be dealt with, either nationally or internationally, industry by industry, in the light of the special characteristics of each industry.” This view _is based on the English conception of economic bargaining between organisations of employers and employed over hours and wages. A discussion of hours, therefore, implies a discussion of wages also. The General Council of the Trades Union Congress expressed the view that an international convention should not be framed without provision for the maintenance of wages and salaries. The British Government made tlie valid point that in countries where there is no adequate protection of wages either by voluntary organisation or by legislation, rising manufacturing costs due to reduced working hours might be offset by a reduction in wages. This would affect the wages position in other countries, and industrial strife would arise. There can' be no doubt that on the whole a general reduction of working hours would tend to increase the volume of employment, particularly in a period of economic recovery, and this was, to some extent, confirmed by the detailed study of hours of work and unemployment by the Labour Office. It was suggested by one authority that the difficulty of variable international wage costs could be overcome by a second series of international agreements to guarantee national industries against foreign competition. The British commentary on the proposal put forward nine technical difficulties as insuperable obstacles. It was suggested that the incidence of a 40-hour week would vary from industry to industry, and that certain industries would not. be affected because they were already on short hours. In continuous running more shifts would be necessary ; if more shifts were impracticable further capital costa would result from reduced hours. The labour cost of production would be generally increased, and disparities in wages would arise from which confusion and and industrial strife could hardly fail to result. The shorter-week problem must not be viewed from the social angle, but consideration should be based on purely economic grounds, and not primarily as a method of providing the workers with increased leisure or even of spreading work as a palliative of unemployment. It must be considered entirely from the economic point of view. There can be no doubt that the 40-hour work week will be a feature of the industrial life of the nations, but that is not yet. Like trade unionism it will probably take years to develop. Whether it will be introduced by international convention, or national conventions, cannot be stated, and yet the revolution may come as the result of intensive scientific research in fields of industry, automatically making for the reduction of working hours.