OUTPUT BEHIND DEMAND

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20832, 16 June 1939, Page 6

OUTPUT BEHIND DEMAND

From many sources suggestions are being made that relaxation of the 40-hour week rule would assist in the solution of seme of the Dominion’s industrial and trade difficulties. Mr Savage has met the proposal with a flat .refusal to allow the working week to be lengthened, but it is still worthy of careful consideration. The declared objective when the 40-liour week was instituted was to spread available work and give a chance to the unemployed to find a place in industry. That need no longer exists in many industries, which are unable to supply the demand for goods because there arc insufficient workers available.

In such industries, then, retention of the 40-hour week has become purely a matter of policy or of humane considerations. It may be that most people do not want to work longer hours than are necessary, but when a case of necessity does arise there are many who would willingly work longer hours, cither to improve their own positions or to assist the country in general. Those of that mind are entitled to be heard. If a longer working week meant the solution of a particular difficulty in industry, the people as a whole would not be slow to respond were an appeal made. It has been so in France and other countries where it has been found that the 40-hour week has placed those countries at a dangerous disadvantage against competitors in trade or armaments. New Zealand has shut out a large volume of imports, with the result that orders have poured into Dominion factories to meet the demand for goods. Man-power in the factories, working 40 hours a week, is hopelessly inadequate to supply the demand. More workers cannot be engaged, and the markets are becoming famished for some classes of goods. Is it not reasonable in such circumstances to allow the workers to work longer hours if they are willing ? The belief that output could be maintained under the shorter working week rule has long since been abandoned. It has been suggested that employers could increase the output by paying overtime wages, but that contention is met by the reply that such a method would result in forcing still higher a cost of living that is already far too high. The value of a longer working week in certain industries will at least bear investigation. If it is proved to be unwise it need not be adopted.