WORK IN WAR-TIME

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21221, 18 September 1940, Page 8

WORK IN WAR-TIME

EXTRA HOURS QUESTION WISH TO INCREASE OUTPUT REQUEST MADE FOR RULING The principle behind the 40-hour week law in its relation to the war effort has been raised by correspondence between the Hamilton firm of A. M. Bisley and Company, Ltd., and the Department of Labour. The question is whether men who are willing and anxious to increase wartime output should be permitted to work extra hours at standard rates of pay. The firm has written to the Department of Labour in the following terms:— “On August 27 you wrote us in reply to our letter of August 3 on the subject of the willingness of our men to be employed for 45 hours a week at ordinary rates of pay. We note that you confirm your verbal advice given at the time the writer called upon you that our company would have to pay overtime for hours worked over those prescribed by the award. We also note that you wrote to each and every one of the men employed advising them that they were entitled to and must claim overtime at overtime rates. “We worked approximately three weeks at 45 hours a week and paid the men standard rates of pay. Owing to the non-arrival of steel and the consequent disorganisation we have since been working 40 hours a week, but on arrival of further steel we want to be able to work 45 hours a week at standard rates, and we would like the position cleared up before this steel arrives so that there is no doubt as to the legality of our action Appeals To Workers “Outside the Hamilton railway station there is a large picture of a soldier defending himself with a machine gun; behind him appears a worker and underneath the following words: ‘Behind the soldier stands the worker. Work for your lives.’ Similar appeals have been published to workers in the newspapers, etc., to work harder to assist to save the nation, and it was largely in consequence of these and other appeals that our men unanimously offered to woi;k the extra five hours a week. On July 15 they despatched the following telegram to the Prime Minister: ‘At a stopwork meeting of the factory workers of A. M. Bisley and Co., Ltd., Hamilton, held this afternoon the following resolution was carried unanimously by the 24 workers present: ‘ln view of the Right Honourable Winston Churchill’s broadcast this morning and the Right Honourable the Prime Minister’s appeal over the air for greater output and harder work, the factory staff of A. M. Bisley and Co., Ltd., Hamilton, who are engaged in work essential to primary production, are prepared and willing and respectfully urge the Prime Minister that they be permitted to follow the example set by the workmen in the Old Country and work such hours at standard rates of pay as are considered essential. In the interests of freedom and our Empire we urge the Government to bring in regulations permitting this to be done for the duration of the war,—R. Edge, foreman/ Prime Minister’s Reply “The Prime Minister replied:— ‘Thank you very much for your telegram conveying resolution carried by 24 workers who attended stop-work meeting of factory workers of Bisley and Company. The offer of the employees as embodied in the resolution and the patriotic spirit in which it is made are greatly appreciated and the offer will receive the full and sympathetic consideration of the Government. For this purpose the telegram is being brought under the notice of the Minister of Labour.’ “Our work is essential to increased production,” continues the letter. “We are manufacturing, assembling and repairing agricultural and harvesting machinery. We have engaged all the men that we can accommodate in our workshops, and we have far more essential work, in front of us than we can possibly handle in a 40-hour week. “We cannot believe that any Government who claims to be making 100 per cent war effort, or who would issue the many stirring appeals for greater output and greater effort would sanction us or our men being prosecuted for working longer hours in this time of national emergency. Interests of the Nation “We would sumbit that to prosecute us under these circumstances would imply an insincerity of a type which we would be reluctant to believe our Government to be guilty of. In this time of crisis it behoves us all to do our utmost in the interests of the nation as a whole. We and our men are prepared to do it. “If, on the other hand, your department desires to block production. then we invite you to proceed against us and so let the public of New Zealand know exactly where we and the Government stand. We arc quite agreeable to have the position ventilated in the court of this country and are quite prepared to face the consequences. “We would advise that a Mr Smith, who represents the unions, called at our workshop on September 11 and during a talk with our foreman intimated that it was the intention of your department to proceed against us. “We have always complied with the law whether we believed in it or otherwise. On this occasion, however, a principle of vital national importance is definitely involved, and we therefore consider it our duty to defend our action.

“In conclusion we would ask you to make a further appeal to the Industrial Emergency Council. Wellington, for permission to work the hours we have asked. Under the circumstances we feel sure that they will grant the application.”

The keel of the 45,000-ton battleship New Jersey was laid down on Monday at the Navy Yard, says a message from Philadelphia. The New Jersey is a sister ship to the lowa, now under construction at the Brooklyn Navy yard, and will cost 93,000,000 dollars (about £18,600,000).