“A CALL TO WORK”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26853, 18 August 1948, Page 6

“A CALL TO WORK”

Sir,—Doubtless there is some truth in the assertion made by the newspaper Kiwi and repeated in your leading columns, that the workers of tois country are slacking, more or .. I f s ;, But I do not believe that the blame can hp olaced upon the 40-hour week. • as seems to be implied in the Kiwi article; for surely that -is ample time to plenty and to spare for L,St 2,000,000 in so rich a country As this. Let us remember that a certaln country, novf in our black books made amazing progress on ’a seven-hour day. until the ravages of war compelled ner to lengthen the working day. The fault lies, in my opinion, in our economic system, which = ® nc .°« r |f®| everyone to get as much, and to give as little as possible, if they wish to get on in life. Not only does it provide ease and n comfort to all kinds of •'spivs and non-producers who are cunning enough to know how. but it causes our best types of workers to gravitate to the white-collar jobs, while leaving the hardest and most distasteful jobs to the weaklings, the misfits, and the stupids. The evil is bound to grow worse instead of better, and lengthening the working day will do nothing to cure it. If we want the workers to do their best consistently, we must give them a better incentive than a steady job at a living wage, and a sense of " duty to a private boss, who always seems to have a better time than they. To find a remedy for the creeping paralysis complained of we must dig far deeper than the 40-hour week—l am, etc., Clock-gazer.

Sir—Your article reproduced from the Kiwi, which states, “Full employment and social security have removed the carrot no less than, the stick, is reactionary in outlook and unworthy of the Kiwi. On the principle of government by “fear,” the workers are to have the “ stick ” used on them to make them work longer hours if the Kiwi has its way. I suggest that if a comparison were made between a similar period of the First World War with the 40-hour-week of the Second .World War it would be found that more houses were built under the 40-hour week than under the 44-hour week - . , , „ Returned soldiers have been found full employment at wages enabling them to marry and pay for rent of houses; thus the amount of houses built has not equalled the demand because of the evergrowing marriage rate as upon the pay envelopes of the workers depends the demand that causes production of all necessary commodities as well as houses. Many workers in the building trade do lobbing work on Saturdays based at overtime rates to supplement earnings when they secure materials. Many jobbing contractors started that way. My reply to what the manufacturer has to say is that the profits published from time ’to time by manufacturers suggest to me that to call workers on whose labour they live “ loafers ” is as uncharitable as is the article by Kiwt —I am. etc., . 4/1530.