WORKERS TO GET SUNDAY RATES FOR ANZAC DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17863, 3 June 1926, Page 9

WORKERS TO GET SUNDAY RATES FOR ANZAC DAY.

ARBITRATION COURT GIVES DECISION. Two questions concerning the payment of special overtime rates of wages to workers for Anzac Day, which this year fell on a Sunday, were submitted to the Arbitration Court during' its recent sittings in Christchurch. The Court has now given its decision, and in each case has held that the * orkers were entitled to Sunday rates onl}*. The applications for interpetations were made by the inspector of awards for the district. Typographers’ Award. Under the typographers’ award, the Court was asked to determine whether night workers who worked between noon and midnight on Sunday, April 25 (Anzac Day) were entitled to double rates of pay. The opinion of the Court is as follows: “The award provides that double rates shall be paid to workers who are required to work on Sunday. An exception is made in the case of night workers, whose Sunday is defined as the period from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday. For these workers*, therefore, the award does not provide for payment of double rates for Sunday work, but it provides for payment of double rates for work done between noon on Saturday and noon on Sunday. The Anzac Day Amendment Act, 192122, provides that Anzac Day shall be observed in all respects as if it were a Sunday. If it falls on a Sunday, as was the case in 1926, it is still to be observed as a Sunday. The night workers covered by the award under consideration are in no different position than if Anzac Day were an ordinary Sunday, for the award provides that they are entitled to double rates only for work done between noon on Saturday and noon on Sunday, and not for work done after noon on Sunday. The award itself makes no special reference to Anzac Day.” Gasworkers’ Award. The Court was also asked to determine whether workers under the Christchurch Gasw’orks Employees’ Award, who do no work on Anzac Day are entitled to be paid therefor, notwithstanding the fact that such workers would not ordinarily work on such day and lose no wages thereby. The opinion of the Court is as follows :—- “The clause provides that certain days, including Anzac Day, shall be recognised as holidays, and shall be paid for. Anzac Day in 1926 fell on a Sunday, which of course is a dies non, not a holiday. ‘Sundays’ and ‘holidays’ are words that, in the common usage of the language, do not mean the same thing, and are used in opposition to one another. The obvious intention of the clause is that, when a holiday intervenes, the workers shall not lose wages that they would otherwise have earned. Anzac Day, which by law is to be observed as a Sunday, not as a holiday, has been included in the list of holidays set out in the. award, for the purpose, undoubtedly, of avoiding the loss of wages that would be suffered by hourly and daily workers when that day fell on a week-day. When Anzac Day falls on a Sunday, however, it loses its special significance as a holiday, merges into its ordinary statutory character of a Sunday; which, as already stated, is a dies non so far as ordinary work is concerned, and a day on which no wages are lost. In the case of those workers who are employed on Anzac Day when it falls on a Sunday, the Court considers that they should be paid the special rates for Sunday or Anzac Day, whichever -are the higher. “The foregoing is the decision of the majority of the Court. Mr Monteith desires to record the following dissenting opinion: ‘ln my opinion the clause is general in its terms, and does not exclude any class of worker. In this case the company has paid some workers and excluded others. The award contracts as between employer and employee that the workers shall receive six days’ holiday, and shall be paid for same. Under the above ruling, the worker will lose one day’s holiday and will not receive any compensating payment.’ ”