SUNDAY WORK

Southland Times, Issue 22898, 25 May 1936, Page 6

SUNDAY WORK

Payment Of Double Rates EMPLOYERS’ ATTITUDE THE PRINCIPLE NOT SUPPORTED

(Special to The Times.) Wellington, May 23. Commenting upon the new system of payment for Sunday work, as provided for in the Factories Amendment Bill, which was passed by the Legislative Council on Friday, Mr T. O. Bishop, secretary of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation, said that a definite improvement had been made in the Bill since it was first introduced. Previously the Bill provided that persons who were employed on Sunday as part of their working week should be paid not less than double the ordinary rate, in addition to the payment to which they /ere entitled “under the foregoing provisions of this section.” This meant that a worker in whose normal working week Sunday was included would receive each week two days’ pay extra. It was now provided that one day’s pay extra should be given, in addition to the regular weekly wage. No Agreement.

“It is not strictly correct to say, as the Hon. Mark Fagan said in the Legislative Council, that the employers had agreed to the payment of double time on Sunday,” Mr Bishop said. “We have agreed that the alteration is a distinct improvement, but we do not subscribe to the principle that double time should be paid for Sunday work in cases where Sunday work represents part of a normal working week.” Referring to comments made by the Mayor of Wellington (Mr T. C. A. Hislop) on the effect of the new legislation on the annual charges of the Wellington City Corporation’s trading departments, Mr Bishop said that the increased wages bill for work on Sundays and holidays would of course affect only those departments employing workers under the Factories Act.