NO SATURDAY WORK

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1920, Page 2

NO SATURDAY WORK

DEFINITE MOVEMENT IN ' AUSTRAjdA. SYDNEY,’ January 6. There i« a very definite movement among the trade ' unions of Australia geiiorlllv in favo.ur of cutting out. SaturdSV '.vvprli. The idea is “forty-four hours a,,d a'live w,'pk.;? Some of thh more extreme apd .irresponsible unions demand forty, and even thirtysix hours per week, but they me not. taken seriously.

five days.’ "week ai't. 1 Mn.nu of the better classes oj' artisans. The .Sydney branch of the Amalgamated Society of En-ginpej-i—mjjce a conservative and stately organisation, bnj) wl.iich has now given itself over to the “progressives”—has voted solidly for the elimination of Saturday work, and is now considering how y. is guiijg tp bring about the reform. * -

»‘U ! firsf sight, the movement is not a little disturbing. This country wants nothing so much as increased' fixation ; thpj.p is no other way of escaping the war burden and recovering the easy prosperous days of 1914. Tbo jvhole tendency should lie to do more work and inereasu the wpj'kipg hi pip, rathei than to shorten it. But, as a matter of fact, many owners of factories and workshops are not opposed to the change. They say that the majority of operatives simply dawdle around on Saturday morning, wi)h pile eye on the cloujf, find never settle down, and that it) the circunis) aifcus, i(, does not pay to keep the machinery running apd a!! power on. Very, many employers In Sydney, at any rate, long ago lllcde :l deal with their employees—that if they would do » iiftle ®*fa ' vork on , f,vo days a v.eek'the 4'cjory would .lie closed oil Saturday, with no decrease >» waves. Tin* employees, of course i» nl P C(1 ",t it, and the system has worked satisfactorily to both sides j There are those who believe that an i unbroken week-end— from Friday night to Monday morning-will soon be a feature of a large section of Australian in- | dusfcry. i