FORTY-HOUR WEEK

Taranaki Daily News, 11 April 1935, Page 11

FORTY-HOUR WEEK

WORK RELIEF MEASURE SUBJECT FOR GENEVA PARLEY. ■ BUILDING INDUSTRY NEED. . Reduction of the hours of work as a t means of coping with the problem of unemployment will be one of the subjects which will occupy the serious attention of the International Labour Conference at Geneva in June. The adoption of an international convention con- ',, , cerning the reduction of hours of work in the building and contracting, public jvorks, iron and steel, glass, bottle and coalmine industries will-be sought. At the head of the movement for shorter hours is the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers, which points out that the reduction of hours has been proved practicable in these industries in some countries without giving rise to economic or other difficulties. In the United States the code adopted under the N.R.A. provided for a 40-hour week in the building industry, while in public works in the United States there is already a 30-hour week. The 40-hour week applies in the Cana.dian province of Quebec and in Czechoslovakia, REJECTED LAST YEAR. At the last international conference the proposal to establish a 40-hour week in all industries was rejected, the employers’ and Government delegates abstaining from voting upon it. In September last the governing body, of the International Labour Office decided to recommend a shorter convention' in which the principle of shorter hours was, accepted, the convention to apply by , means of special conventions to separate trades and industries. This convention found the approval of all workers’ , groups and of nine Governments. > ... Following this decision, there arose the question of representation. According to the rules of the International Lab-

our Organisation, Governments are entitled to attach to each of their dele-

gates to the conference (a full delegation consists of two Government delegates,

one employers’ delegate and one workers’ delegate) two technical advisers-for each item on the agenda. If >the five . industries mentioried were discussed as separate items, each delegation would be accompanied by ten advisers, making the conference too unwieldy, and the decision was reached by the Inter- . . - national Labour Organisation that the • • question of the reduction of working / hours in the five industries should be dealt with as a single item. The workers’ delegate of each country -will therefore have only two technical advisers to consult for the whole question of the reduction of working hours. / A copy of the memorandum' of the ' International Labour Organisation, which has been sent to Mr. P. M. Butler, secretary of the Wellington Builders’ and General Labourers’ Union, backs up the claim for shorter hours in the building industry by pointing out that is practically no international competition in it, except in the larger public works, such as harbours, dams, etc. The State exercises a great influence over the building industry as a whole, owing to the great importance of public works, < and also by the grant of building credits (such as in the local No. 10 scheme), which should make it easier to introduce shorter working hours. UNEMPLOYMENT ASPECT. • • , . • I ■. . ‘ Figures given in the memorandum for a number of countries show that nearly 10 per cent, of the total number of workers are on an average employed in the building industry and in its subsidiary industries. Examples of the percentages of unemployment in the building trade taken in the most recent years available •• are as follows, those for all industries , combined being given in parentheses:— U.S.A., 55 (25); Sweden, 45 (23.7); Netherlands, 36.5 (26.3). . Looked on internationally as a key industry (building is’the second largest industry in this Dominion) employing . men almost exclusively, unemployment in it, on an international average, is higher than the average for all industries, largely due to rationalisation and mechanisation.

Various examples are given in the memorandum. of how the mechanical equipment of big building firms affects em- ■' ployment, a striking one being tbjat adduced by the German Building Workers’ <' Union concerning the building of ten two-storey flat-roofed houses each to be occupied by two families.- Using manual . labour, the working days totalled 1648.4,■_ with machinery 1511.4, the labour dis--placed by machinery amounting to 137 ' working days, or . 8.31 per cent. As to opinion in New Zealand, Mr. Butler said that the New Zealand National Federation of Builders’ Labourers favoured a five-day week of 40. hours, without night shift, and' without any. i corresponding decrease in the average / weekly , wage. The 40-hour convention, , he felt sure, would be applied to the Geneva copvention in June; but the question of the “spread” of the hours might 1 present a difficulty, as 'some countries preferred shift work, others a lower daily' rate over six days, and- some a five, -day week of 8 hours. It would in his opinion be preferable. for the convention to. be applied, and then allow the ratifying nations to adjust the spread,' anomalies to be regulated at a subsequent conference.