WAR-TIME LABOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23770, 25 September 1940, Page 5

WAR-TIME LABOUR

EXTRA HOURS QUESTION CASE AT HAMILTON UNION'S ATTITUDE STATED [ FROM OUJt OWN COIUIKS t'OXI)K.N't] HAMILTON, Tuesday "Whore in the interests of the State some relaxation of existing customs is required, tlie Engineering Union can ho relied upon to give the same wholehearted support it has already shown in agreeing to extended hours for munition manufacture and the requirements of the essential dairying industry," says a letter from the union's secretary, Mr. .T. Noule, replying to statements regarding war-time production and labour laws made by tho firm of A. M. Uisley and Company, Limited, Hamilton. Recently the company wrote to tho Labour Department on the matter.

The department was asked for a ruling as to whether the firm was to bo allowed to continue to employ its staff for 45 hours woekly at standard rates of pay. The men were willing, stated the letter from tho company, and the principle of greater war-time production at standard rates of pay was involved.

Mr. Neale's reply, giving the attitude of the uniqn, states that the Department of Labour was asked to prosecute the firm because the union alleged that breaches of tho award had been committted, and not because application for extension of hours had been made. If it was suggested that a magistrate would ignoro a breach hecause the firm, rightly or wrongly, claimed there was some justification for an extension of hours, then there was something very wrong with our laws or administrators.

The merits of tho application under review had failed to satisfy the Industrial Emergency Council, whose personnel included employers' representatives, and it had been refused.