TRANSPORT DRIVERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 237, 7 October 1936, Page 8

TRANSPORT DRIVERS

Test Case on Hours of Work A NOMINAL PENALTY [Per Fress Association! AUCKLAND, Oct. 6. A nominal penalty of one shilling was imposed by Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in a reserved judgment in an action brought in the Magistrate’s Court by the inspector of awards against the North Shore Transport Company, Limited, for a breach of the New Zealand Passenger Transport Drivers’ Award. The case was brought as a test as the award provided that when drivers were called back to work after having completed a daily span of 13 hours they were to be paid until finally booked off. “In this case the driver was on duty on Thursday from 4.15 p.m. until midnight, a period of 71 hours,” said Mr Wilson. "He resumed on Friday at 3.45' p.m. until 11.30 p.m., and therefore worked more than one shift in a 24-hour day as defined by the award. It is contended that the worker was called back after having completed his daily span of hours, and before the expiration of the 24 hours which constitute a day and that he should be paid overtime. “The clause regarding hours is obviously elliptical, for it does not say at what rate the worker shall be paid. To that extent it is incomplete. Consideration, however, must be given to the fact that it occure under the heading of overtime and no doubt is intended to have reference to either of the two rates of overtime provider, for.

“In another clause, if taken literally and given its widest possible meaning, the effect would be that the driver, having worked his ordinary hours for one day, that is 10 hours in a span of 13, if called back to work on the 23rd hour of the day instead of at the end of the 24th, would be entitled to overtime for the extra hour that he worked and also for the eight intervening hours when he was off duty. I cannot think that such a nonsensical effect was intended. It seems to me that the object of the award, construed as a whole, would be better attained by another construction. The purpose of the regulation of hours and wages is to ensure just and adequate remuneration for ordinary hours worked and additional remuneration for hours of overtime. It must be borne in mind that the contract of service is one of exchange of labour for reward, and I do not think it was intended that these drivers should be paid for hours when they were sleeping or going about their own business. I think, to make the clause consistent with the spirit of the award, its elliptical nature must be overcome by reading it as if it stated, ‘They shall be paid overtime for hours worked during the period from the expiration of the span of 13 hours until they are finally booked off.’ That being so, the driver in this case appears to have worked half an hour overtime within the 24 hours of the day which commenced at 4.15 p.m. on Thursday.”