HOURS OF WORK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1941, Page 6

HOURS OF WORK

AND MOBILISATION FOR DEFENCE STATEMENT BY MINISTER OF LABOUR. MATTER FOR INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. When the matter was put to him in the light of an additional mobilisation for defence, the Minister of Labour (Mr Webb) said it was quite possible that the demands of industry would require a still further extension of working hours than had already been granted. “But before that can take place,” he added, “it must be considered by the Industrial Emergency Council and on the recommendation of the council I shall act.” Mr Webb said that in Great Britain at the present time some industries were working on a 40-hour week basis and any overtime was paid for' at overtime rates. That principle applied throughout the whole Empire and no country had done more to vary award conditions to meet the needs of the moment than New Zealand. “If any section of workers is called upon to work extra overtime,, those not so working should not quibble about their receiving extra payment for the extra work they do,” Mr Webb observed. The response of New Zealand workers to the call for more production was probably unexcelled in any part of the Empire, and, what was more, if they were called upon for greater efforts, he was positive they would respond in the same way.