PRINTERS’ DISPUTE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19894, 23 March 1939, Page 5

PRINTERS’ DISPUTE

EXTRA HOURS’ WORK EMPLO YERS’ PROPOSAL (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Mr. E. W. Clarkson, secretary of the Federation of Master Printers and advocate for the employers, points out that the newspaper report circulated through the Press Association conveys an erroneous impression of the employers’ proposals for hours. To Mr. Baxter is attributed the statement that the employers proposed an “arrangement by which two or four hours extra a day could be worked at ordinary rates.” The proposal of the employers was that the present week’s wages be paid for 40 hours of work, and that additional hours, not exceeding four per week, be paid for at ordinary rates by those establishments requiring such additional hours to enable them to satisfy the extended requirements of other local industries resulting from the effect of import control regulations.

To prevent the use of this provision to evade the payment of casual overtime, the employers’ proposals included a stipulation that a week’s notice of the intention of any employer to work additional hours would be given and that the workers concerned would receive additional wages for a period of not less than two weeks.