"BROKEN TIME."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 919, 12 September 1910, Page 7

"BROKEN TIME."

, A' CLAUSE .'IN THE FACTORIES .._;••' '- :'Mr.'.- \V. PryorV.secretary of ; the.New Zealand Employers' Federation, told a Dominion ■. representative that a 1 clause in the Factories^.:' Amendment Act, now nnder,consideration, ,to which employers took-' exception,, was ' that providing ..that aio deduction • must bo made from the wages;of ;any boy or of any woman tinder eighteen years of age, except in. respect of ■ time lost through the workers'; illness.or default, or on. account-of- the temporary closing of the factor/ for cleaning or repairing tho machinery. This, -Mr.: Pryor stated, would have a very serious effect on workers in factories engaged in what are/known /as "season" trades. The usual custom at present in.,these industries is to' work broken time, th« workers taking it in turn to stand '•'down." If it "becomes law, the clause will cause many employees to lose employment permanently at certain seasons of, the year. Affected .industries are dressmaking, ■ tailoring,. the boot trade,' and a number of others. In the boot trade there are seasons when work is. almost at a standstill. .The employers hold it better that their workers should be employed on broken time than discharged, and, moreover, once the workers are discharged, there may .bo a difficulty in getting them together again.