FORTY-HOUR WEEK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23012, 13 April 1938, Page 18

FORTY-HOUR WEEK

SWIFT ESTABLISHMENT ASSESSING THE EFFECTS ATTITUDE OF FARMERS POSSIBLE DECIDING FACTOR No. V. BY SIB HARRY GULLETT, M.H.R. The workers of Netv Zealand car have no grievance against Mr. Savag< and his Government. They have beer served with promptitude, generosity and comprehensiveness for which it * would be difficult the world over tc find equal. In working hours, wages and conditions, in steps to remove unemployment, and in every kind ol social service, the Savage Government had, within a year of taking office, gone far to set up a now industrial and social Dominion. Outstanding, of course, is the action to secure the very general adoption by law of the 40-hour week. That in itself was rare achievement as the workers see it. But to grasp the full significance of the boon to labour, it must be added that the 40-hour week was attended by a restoration of the pre-depression wage level, a fairh general increase upon that level, anc by lots of little titbits such as overtime increases and higher rates foi juniors, most palatable to all workers War pensions were in the last Budge! fattened by £250.000 a year, anc "veterans" by £163,000; widows arnc; their children received a plum oi £IBB,OOO, and invalids, not previously provided for were granted £627,000 In nearly every secondary industry th< working week was, prior to the rniddh of 1936, 44 hours. Shop assistant; worked 48 hours, while in a few case: hours were as low as 42. Less Work, More Pay At a stroke, men and women anc lads and lasses were given less worl and more pay. As far as possible th< shorter week, with iits higher wag< yield, is for the time being securely safeguarded. The dismissal of employee; because'of reduced hours is a 6pecifi< i offence against the law. Employers art not to be allowed, as the Minister ol Labour (Mr. Armstrong) said, "aftei the passing of this measure, to tak< it out of the hides of their employees.' The 40-hour week was, with verj \ little exemption in city and town, arbitrarily applied by the amending legisi lation as from early dates set out in the Act. Taking it in more detail, the employees in all Government and local Government utilities and public works received the remission automatically. So with' nearly all factory and shop workers. In the railways and the tramways the change was- made so swiftly that there was, to put. it mildly, difficulty in obtaining the export additional hands who at once became necessary. . . Moving about the four cities of the Dominion, I discovered only one class : of workers outside the police who were working above 40 hours, and they were 1 tho taxi-drivers. r ; "Forty hours would be good to i. us," the drivers told-roe. "We find it hard enough to make a do of it under nearer 80 hours. Shorter hours would • mean higher fares and less passengers." Most of them as owners or partowners of their cars, or on commission. • • . Compulsion Restored . ? ....■. f At-this stage vthe restoration; of the compulsory 'clduses of the Arbitration Court should be brought into the story. New Zealand established a compulsorv Arbitration Court in 1897, a few years ahead of Australia. The Court worked with apparent satisfaction down to 1931, when the Forbes Government, by amendment, stripped it of its, compulsory powers and left the settlement of disputes to conference and conciliation. The step was taken as a depression measure, and with unemployment heavy, it left the workers very much in the hands of .the employers. 'Even Labour Ministers do not say that workers were generally exploited by this throwing down of all awards, but they insist, that much unnecessary' reduction of . wages and whittling away df good conditions did . occur. Certain it is that when I talked with Mr. Roberts, the able and picturesque leader of the Labour Party (outside Parliament) and to other prominent trade unionists, this "throwing of our men and women to the wolves' was disclosed as the unpardonable sin of the Forbes Administration., One is/safe in saying that the destruction of the binding force of awards and the-failure to restore compulsion to the Court before the end of 1930, did more to rally Labour to its victorious campaign than all other factors combined. It can be said with confidence that excessive caution and conservatism on the part of the previous Government in the handling of the depression tvas almost solely responsible for the incoming of Labour. Bargain with Dairy Farmers Before,an attempt is made to assess the effects of the 40-hour week over the wide field to which it has been applied, I propose to turn aside to the exempted field of the primary induistries —the nightmare of this shorter working week problem in all countries. Here Mr. Armstrong, without recourse to the Arbitration Court, reached a series of agreements as to hours and ' wages with the various rural organisations. The dairying industry, which is by far New Zealand's greatest rural employer of labour, may bo taken as It even to the most ardent advocate of the 40-hour week that this concession on farms whero assistance was needed would bring dairying to a standstill. In working with the Minister to reach a friendly agreement, the Farmers' Union was probably greatly influenced by fear- of the Arbitration Court.- A further consideration, however, was that the guaranteed price for dairy produce was recognised as carrying with it a reasonable attempt bv the farmers to fall in with the Government's aim to improve rural workers' conditions. As a 40-hour week was impracticable, it iwas agreed that employees should be granted one full week's holiday in each quarter on full pay, and with half tho estimated cost of board or "keep" (which was fixed at 17s Gd a week) during the holiday. In addition to that, a marked increase was agreed upon as to all dairy employees' wages. Trouble with Dairymen It would ;be wide of the mark, however, to suggest that the , dairy farmers are satisfied' with their present position. There is active controversy as to whether the Farmers' Union is really representative of the dairy farmers. /More than that, within the union itself there is arising a vei'v strong demand for a "compensation" price against a guaranteed price. Since I left New Zealand Mr. Nash has been publicly debating this issue with representatives of tho dairy farmers in Auckland Province, where two-thirds of the dairying of New Zealand is carried on. The meetings were anything but friendly to the Minister of Finance, and indicate that the dairy farmers' vote, which is highly organised, and which is, as 1 have previously stated, the deciding factor in elections in New Zealand, is far from stable in its support of the Governgu ifSnent. The 40-hour week may, there--or6».byr6».by its increased costs upon prim- ' industry T bring about the dowrillljjgMi.or Mr. Savago and his colleagues.