NEW AWARD FOR LABOURERS

Southland Times, Issue 23841, 12 June 1939, Page 11

NEW AWARD FOR LABOURERS

FIVE-DAY, 40-HOUR WEEK MINIMUM RATE OF WAGES OF 2/4 AN HOUR An eight-hour day, to be worked between 7.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on five days of the week, is provided for in the New Zealand Builders’, Contractors’ and General Labourers’ Dominion Award, which has been announced by the Arbitration Court. The award states that in tunnel work the hours must not exceed eight hours a shift, which eight hours shall include half an hour for crib-time. Six hours will constitute a day’s work in tunnel-work when workers are working in wet places or foul air. Workers employed under this subclause must be paid for each shift of six hours as if eight hours had been worked.

When it is necessary to prepare material for work before the ordinary hours of beginning work, the employer may employ workers to do such necessary work for not more than half an hour before that time at the ordinary rate of pay. Tunnel work is any underground excavation that is over 15 feet in length or that requires timbering overhead. The hours of work for workers employed at work in the construction of tennis courts, paths and roadways of asphalt or other bituminous materials or in the top-dressing of tennis courts, paths and roadways with _ asphalt or other bituminous materials may be varied to suit the seasonal nature of the business, but in no case must the work begin before 7 a.m. without payment of overtime. Any time worked after 5 p.m. is to be considered overtime.

WAGES The minimum rate 'of wages for workers covered by the award is to be 2/4 an hour. Workers employed underground or employed at pick-and-shovel work, sewer work, kerbing and channelling work, laying and cleaning drains, loading and unloading cement, sand, spoil, shingle, pipes, iron, steel, or building materials, will be paid 2/4 an hour. Workers engaged feeding concrete mixers, or handling, mixing or spreading wet concrete are-to be paid 2/5J an hour. At quarry work certified men using explosives are to be paid 2/6 an hour, and all other workers employed in or about the quarry 2/4J an hour. Labourers, if placed in charge of measuring, cutting, and bending of steel for reinforced concrete, are to be paid 2/6 an hour, and asphalt and tar workers, 2/6 an hour. Riggers and gear-runners, also workers engaged in erecting scaffolds and workers actually assisting in the erection of scaffolds are to be paid, while so employed, not less than 2/7 an hour.

Tunnelmen and timbermen will also be paid 2/7 an hour. Threepence an hour additional will be paid to crane dog-men. Powercrane men and power-winch men operating winches of 15 horse-power or more will be paid twopence an hour extra.

Twopence an hour additional will be paid to men using pneumatic hammers or drills, mechanical rammers, borers, and breakers; and when working in quarries or tunnels, threepence an hour extra.

Two shillings a day, or part thereof, additional will be paid to men cleaning or clearing blocked sewers or drains, or coming in contact with faecal or sewerage matter.

Workers engaged in the demolition of, or repairs to, any building or fittings destroyed or damaged by fire which necessitates the handling of charred timber are to be paid twopence an hour additional, and workers engaged in demolition work are to be paid l£d an hour additional.

Workers employed in sinking shafts, sumps, pier-holes, or working in trenches over 6ft in depth are to be paid the following extra payments: Over 6ft and up to and inclusive of 12ft, twopence an hour extra; over 12ft and up to and inclusive of 20ft, threepence an hour extra; over 20ft the last-mentioned rate plus one penny an hour additional for every 7ft over 20ft. OVERTIME

All time worked in excess of the daily hours fixed must count as overtime, and be paid for at the rate of time and a-half for the first four hours and double time thereafter. Any time worked before 7.30 a.m. or after 5 p.m. on five days of the week and on Saturday before noon must be considered overtime and be paid for in accordance with the rate fixed. Any ■work done after noon on Saturday shall be paid for at double time rates. When men start work before the usual time for beginning work to attend to pumps or other essential work, they must be paid overtime for such period at (he rate of time and a-quarter, provided that the total hours worked do not exceed eight a day. If, in addition to the early start, such men work the full eight hours, the excess hours must be paid for at the rate of time and a-half. ' In the case of men who have not worked through the day and begin work after the usual time for ceasing work, they shall be paid at the rate of time and a-quarter for the first three hours, time and a-half for the next five hours, and double time thereafter. Time worked in excess of four hours and a-half without an interval of half an Hour for a meal must be paid for at overtime rates. For work done on Sundays, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Monday, Labour Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day double rates are to be paid. GENERAL PROVISIONS Any worker working with pumice, charcoal or silicate, or other insulating material in insulation work in confined or unventilated spaces, or where the air is impregnated with the dust of any of those materials, or employed in freezing chambers or cool storage where the temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less must be paid threepence an hour higher rates of wages while so employed, and must be allowed 10 minutes’ spell after two hours have been worked continuously, without any reduction in wages. All repairs inside bakers’ ovens, retorts and furnaces (old work) are to be paid for at time and a-half rates, and work where the heat exceeds 110

L degrees Fahrenheit, done during ordinary working hours, must be paid for at double time rates, and if done outside ordinary working hours or on Sundays or holidays, treble time rates must be paid. SUBURBAN WORK Suburban work means work (other than country work) performed elsewhere than at the shop of the employer, and irrespective of where the engagement takes place. Workers employed on suburban work distant more than one mile and a-half from the central points specified must either proceed to and from such work or be conveyed to and from such work at the expense of the employer, as the employer shall determine. Time ’ reasonably occupied by the workers in ’ travelling, or time occupied in convey- ' ing the workers to and from such work beyond the one mile and a-half or be- ’ yond the worker’s home whichever is the less, is to be allowed and paid for by the employer. No worker residing less than one mile and a-half from the ' place where the work is to be performed is entitled to this allowance. COUNTRY WORK Country work means work done by a worker in such a locality as to necessitate his sleeping elsewhere than at his genuine place of residence in New Zealand. The employer must convey the worker free of charge, or pay his fare, | to and from country work, but once only during the continuance of the work. If, however, the worker is, withdrawn from such work by the employer, or if he returns requiring medi- | cal attention in consequence of accident or sickness arising out of and in the course of his employment, and is, in either case, again required on the work, the employer must again convey him or pay his fare to and from such work. Time occupied in travelling during the ordinary working hours, once each way, must be paid for at ordinary rates. The employer must either provide the worker while on country work with suitable board and lodging, or, instead, pay him for each working day the sum of 5/-; provided that, where through circumstances within the control of the employer a worker is employed upon country work for less than six consecutive days, the employer may provide much boat'd and lodging and may not elect to make such payment . When the work is situated less than 50 miles from the employer’s place of business, the worker is to be refunded his return railway fare to and from the place of engagement once every four weeks during the continuance of the ! work. | When the work is situated more than 50 miles from the employer’s place of business the refund must be made once in each three months. OTHER PROVISIONS The award also contains clauses covering the provision bv employers of suitable accommodation, tools, and gum boots where necessary, and also travelling expenses when workers are required to begin work after the cessation of public wheeled traffic or before the ordinary time of starting of such traffic. I Piecework is prohibited, except in i the case of mutual agreement between the workers’ union and the employers’ | Union. ( Employers must allow meal money' at the rate of 1/6 a meal when workers are called upon to work overtime after 6 p.m. on any day, provided such workers , cannot reasonably get home for their' meals, and provided further they have not been notified of such overtime on the day preceding the working of such overtime. Men must work during the regular meal times if required to do so by the employer, and will be paid time and a-half rates for .the time so worked, provided that in no case shall a man be employed for more than five hours without being given the time usually allowed for a meal.

Any worker attending at the place of work and being stood down by reason of there being no work (other than because of weather conditions) must receive two hours’ pay at ordinary rates unless previously notified that his services were not required for that "day. In the case of work not proceeding at the beginning of the day because of bad weather, workers, so attending must be paid for one hour. If men are required by the employer to stand by in wet weather, they must be paid half ordinary rates for the first 30 minutes, and ordinary time thereafter until definitely stopped. Another clause requires all disputes and differences to be referred to a National Disputes Committee to be composed of two representatives of each side together with an independent chairman. The award comes into force today and will continue in force until December 12, 1940-