Anomalies in Pay Created by Orders Varying Awards

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1942, Page 4

Anomalies in Pay Created by Orders Varying Awards

Taranaki, like other parts of the Dominion, is affected by a number of orders gazetted by the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, since the outbreak of war. These orders modifying or suspending the provisions of industrial laws and awards, insofar as they apply to certain industries, to the limited ex- ; tent the Minister considered necessary j for securing public safety, the defence of New Zealand, the efficienl prosecution of war. or for maintaining supplies and ' services essential to the life of the comi munity. The most important orders are those which (a) provide for shift work in certain industries essential to the war effort, in which shifts were not worked in peacetime; (b) permit in certain essential industries the employment of women and boys on afternoon and night shifts; (c) prescribe a scale of wages for female workers in certain- trades where i females are not generally employed in peacetime; and (d) reduce from treble to double time the rates of pay for work done on statutory holidays in essential industries. Sole Benefit to Worker. The majority of the orders relieve industry, if only to a very limited degree. of restrictions imposed under peacetime cOnditions, and at the same time very liberally cOmpromise labour for the variations used. One order, however, the Defence Works Labour Legislation Suspension Order, has one effect only, and that is to give the workers valuable concessions which the Arbitration Court has refused them and to increase the wages of all the workers concerned except the painter. The order provides for a 48-hour week, 8? hours a day, Monday to Friday inclusive, and 41 hours on Saturday to be worked before noon. The following schedule shows in the first column a worker's earnings under the order for a week of 48 hours, and in the second column his earnings under Ihe* award for a week of 48 hours, including overtime for time worked in excess of the 40-hour week.

Other Concessions. In addition to prescribing higher rates of pay, the order provides that a minimum payment of £5 5s a week shall be made except for any week during which the worker is absent from work through his own default, at his own request or through sickness due to misconduct. The minimum wage is payable when a worker has los+ time through sickness un to 14 working days in each three-monthly period or ori account of wet weather. Under Arbitration Court awards the workers are not entitled to payment for time lcst through wet weather or through sickness, the rates payable to them. except the driver. having been described by the court as "standard hourly rates for casual workers who may lose time because of weather conditions. short jobs, or changing from one job to another." Travelling Payment. Another valuable concession allowed by the order is that where a worker resides more than one mile and a half from the post office the employer shall pay the worker's fare to and from his home and that point. and that the employer shall convey the worker free of charge from the post office to the job and back. and pay him wages for the time occupied in travelling. The general rule in .Arbitration Court awards is that the employer shall pay fares and travelling time when the job is more than one and a half miles distant from the post office, but such fares and travelling time are payable over the distance in excess of a mile and a half only, and fares are not payable for the journey between the man's home and the post office. Typical Instances. It will be seen that a driver carting metal from a quarry to a defence construction job Is entitled to receive £7 15s for a week's work of 48 hours and the concessions. The same driver carting metal from the same auarry to a job other than a defence job and employed under the court's award, would be entitled to £6 16s 6d without concessions. Similarly, a carpenter or joiner making joinery for a defence job would be entitled under the order to £8 ls with concessions. The same worker making the same joinery job other than a defence job and employed under the court's award, would be entitled to £7 19s without concessions.

Weekly Earnings Defence Class of worker Order Award £ s d £ s d Carpenter 8 10 7 19 0 Labourer (general) 6 17 0 6 12 81 Ditto (concrete) 7 10 6 19 7 Ditto (quarry) 6 17 0 6 15 0 Bricklayer 8 5 0 8 2 4} Painter 7 17 0 8 1 4 Plumber 8 10 7 17 10 Electrician 7 17 0 7 15 6} Plasterer 8 5 0 8 2 4} Tiler 7 17 0 7 15 6} Driver (5} 10-ton truck 7 15 0 6 16 6