EMPLOYERS' VIEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22424, 21 May 1936, Page 12

EMPLOYERS' VIEWS

SERIOUS POSSIBILITIES PENALISING INDUSTRIES NECESSARY SUNDAY WORK The sections of the Factories Amendment Bill dealing with work on Sundays and holidays was tho subject of serious discussion among employers of labour in Auckland yesterday. It was agreed that if the clauses are finally passed in their present form they will be a crippling handicap to several industries. " We do not object," said one employer, "to the principle of paying overtime for Sunday and holiday work when such work is not a normal condition of a man's employment, although some of us may think tho rate proposed in tho bill to bo excessive. What we do most emphatically think unfair is tho penalising of industries in which holiday and Sunday work is imperative) and part of a worker's normal employment, and for which awards have made provision that is now over-ridden by the bill." The Vital Clauses It was explained that tho essential clause in the bill dealing with Sunday and holiday work was as follows: " Every "person who is actually employed on any whole holiday or on any Sunday shall, in addition to the payment to which he is entitled under tho foregoing provisions of this section, be paid therefor at not less than doublo the ordinary rate, and every person who is employed on any half-holiday shall bo paid therefor at not less than one-lialf as much again as the ordinary rate." This clause has to be read with the clause added by the Labour Bills Committee as follows: —"All awards and industrial ' agreements under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1925 (whether made before or after the commencement of this Act), shall be read subject to the provisions of this Act." Principle Not New It was pointed out that as a worker under the clause relating to Sunday and holiday work would be paid in the ordinary course for statutory holidays and then receive doublo rates in addition, tho Minister was really splitting straws when he said the man would not be paid treble rates for such work. Actually the Minister was correct when lie said that the principle of double.time had "been in operation in a number of industries for many years. A worker would be paid his week's wages, and also wages based on two days' pay if ho worked on a holiday. In effect, therefore, lie would bo paid for three days' work for the holiday. Previously provision had been made for annual holidays by way of compensation for work done on public holidays. The list of holidays had been increased in the bill.