EIGHT HOURS DAY
WASHINGTON CONVENTION WHY BRITAIN HAS NOT RATIFIED IT (Rec. February 28, 5.5 p.m.) London, February 27. In the House of Commons, in committee on the civil estimates, Mr. Shaw (Minister of Labour in the late Labour Government) moved a reduction iu the vote as a protest against Britain’s nonratification of the Washington eight hours convention. He declared that Britain’s failure to honour her bond had torpedoed the convention. Mr. FL B. Betterton, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, replying, said the reason the Government had not ratified the convention, despite the fact that 95 per cent, of the people in Britain worked only fortyeight hours per week, was that existing industrial agreements affecting hundreds of thousands of British workers would be imperilled by the ratification of the convention as it was at present drafted. If the Labourites really wanted to secure the position of the workers throughout the world, they would support Britain’s efforts to amend the convention, which was at present variously interpreted in different countries. 'Sir Arthur Steel Maitland, in closing the debate, said there was never any obligation on the part of the Government to ratify the convention, so that there could not be anv question of breach of faith. It was clear the Labour Party wished to ratify the Washington Convention as it now stood. Mr. Shaw, interrupting, indignantly denied this. Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland: “llien I do not know where Mr. Shaw stands. A forty-eight hour week would be illegal in many industries under any domestic legislation founded on the Washington Convention.” If we pressed for a revision, he did not think there would be any fundamental difference between ourselves and France. The motion was defeated by 214 votes to 98, and the vote was agreed to.— A.P.A. and “Sun.”
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Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 129, 29 February 1928, Page 11
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298EIGHT HOURS DAY Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 129, 29 February 1928, Page 11
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