WORKING WEEK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22389, 8 April 1936, Page 16

WORKING WEEK

AUSTRALIAN PRACTICE | VARIATIONS IN STATES EFFECT ON INDUSTRIES j No. 11, [FROM OUR OWN - CORRESPONDENT] f.'i MELBOURNE. March 20 Ihe reluctance of the Federal Government to legislate 011 the issue of a shorter working week has already been indicated. It seems likely that State Governments will be equally chary unless concerted action is taken. At present hours of work are fixed by awards, and these vary between industries and between tribunals. For instance, awards made' by the State Industrial Court in New South Wales provide in most cases for a 44. hour week, which applies in a majority of industries. However, under awards of the Commonwealth Arbitration Court, a 48-hour week applies as__in Federal awards in other States. This variation between Federal and State awards certainly leads to anomalies, which breed dissatisfaction. For ex. ample, railway employees in workshops enjoy a 44-hour week, but tramwaymen in New South Wales, who formerly had the concession, are now employed under the Federal award, which involves an increase of four hours.

There are examples of short hours * being allowed by awards to meet the special circumstances of work. For in. stance, in Queensland, where hours on the average are shorter than in other j f States, the miners engaged on the f Mount Morgan and Cracow fields were v recently granted a 40-hour week, without reduction in pay, and with a fortnight's leave annually. The Court, how. ever, refused a 10-hour week to Mount Isa miners. For several years a 44-hour' week has been • almost universal in Queensland, where most industries are covered by State awards. Variations Indicated

The variation in weekly hours in the States is illustrated by an official table, based on the weighted average of hours in Australia on April 30. 1914, which was 48.93 hours. Converting that base into 1000 for '' comparative purposes, the latest figures show that the position in the States is as follows: —Queensland, 899; New South Wales, 904; Western Australia, 930; Tasmania, 936;

Victoria and South Australia, 957. The question has sometimes been asked -whether the relatively longer hours worked, for instance, in Victoria,

have had the effect of attracting industries from other States, particularly ' from New South "Wales. Competent , opinion is that variation in hours be- j tween similar industries in the two

States is scarcely great enough to cause the transfer of industry, bat it is believed that this consideration has carried weight when the relative advantages of the two States hare been compared for the establishment of new industries. A notable example in tha motor-assembly industry, which has its Australian home in Melbourne and Gee-

long. It must be conceded, however, that the preference for Victoria over New South Wales as an industrial centre is also due to a number of other causes—

the greater degree of political stability, its geographical advantage as a distributing centre, the greater supply of skilled labour, and the smaller-State taxation exactions, particularly, on income and for unemployment relief. It might be thought that distance from the source of supply of raw materials might be a disadvantage in Victoria, but iron and steel are supplied to any port in Australia at the same price by the Broken Hill Proprietary, which haj its headquarters at Newcastle, Ne* South Wales. Lack of Uniformity Most major industries in both Vic* . toria and New South W ales function on the 44-hour week basis. Those work- . ing 48 hours in Victoria are: —Manu- : facturing grocers, gas workers, food . preservers, asphalt, asbestos, cement, bag, brick and pottery, brush, butter J and cheese, confectionery, meat in* j dustrv, leather bag, paper and tentmaking workers. Of that group, o!"? j food preservers a.re regarded as workers in a major industry, and they are com* pensated for their longer hours by higher wages. As with the taxation laws of Australia, lack of uniformity in award con* j ditions is one of the chief causes for dissatisfaction, and it seems likely that j the Federal inquiry will direct lti, attention to that respect. There se€l ?? I little doubt that general support would be given to a uniform week of 44 hours, with exceptions to meet special con* ditions. Difficulty would be experienced, for instance, in the transport, agncul-, ture and domestic service spheres hours were reduced to 40 hours or even to 44 hours. On the other hand, recognition has already been given in soin® awards to the reasonableness of working underground being conceded somewhat shorter hours.

Fallacy Behind Arguments Uniformity cannot be acquired vrhile there is conflict between the Common* wealth Arbitration Court and the various State tribunals. any suggestion to abolish State tribunals, which in New South Wales and .Queensland notoriously fix lower hours than the Federal authority, bristles vita difficulties, as Mr. S. M. Bruce when he went to the country on thai issue in 1929. . . The present situation in Australia seems to be that the captains of industry are opposed to any reduction ol hours below 44, while workers, not unnaturally, see many apparent advantages in greater leisure. But it can ba assumed that the fallacy behind man? of the arguments urged in favour ol the 40-hour week will l>e exposed a® the Federal inquiry. Even the" proLabour select committee of the Victorian Parliament confessed in its report that it was unable to reach * unanimous opinion as to whether in* creased costs of production could o® passed on in price. Most Serious Question .

" This attempt to foist a 4Miour week on to industry is one of t most serious questions facing Aus"j? to-day," said the president of plovers' Federation of New oU . Wales, Mr. T. H. Silk, recently. " Even if it were possible to get tn rest of the world to agree with Australia, there would still have t° be big levelling up of foreign wages below anything like equality of inc^ s •>] conditions could be arrived at. .. deal before the Federal conference the fallacy that reduced hours worn increase employment." . . „ Some Australians applaud New &*• land's decision to introduce a 4Uweek, both from the point or J; I ®. t0 the increased scope that it is li give for selling Australian ma - tures in the Dominion and the a * age that will accrue to Austra competing with New Zealand l k markets of 48-hour week Bntain. the Dominion's untstandingly £> , . tomer. These selfish people aro to New Zealand industries, ig oro- - must receive higher tai tection; yet the raising of , , nrerS) will antagonise British nianut whose goods are bought with butter , meat and wool.. ,