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Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47) - New Zealand (RATIFICATION: 1938)

The Committee notes the Government's report and the information provided in reply to its previous direct request. It also notes the observations made by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) and the New Zealand Employers' Federation (NZEF).

The NZCTU indicates that in practice effect is not given to the principle of the 40-hour week set out in the Minimum Wage Act of 1983, as amended in 1991, since this Act itself provides that the parties to an employment contract, whether individual or collective, may freely agree on working hours which are greater than 40. In these conditions, the Government is not meeting its obligation under the Convention to promote the general principle of the 40-hour week. In the absence of any protective mechanism, the working hours negotiated have a clear tendency to exceed the limit of 40 hours.

In its reply, the Government states that the allegations of the NZCTU are based on statistics which take into account the hours worked by self-employed persons and persons in managerial positions, who cannot be included in the categories of employment covered by the Convention. Furthermore, the provisions on working hours contained in the above Minimum Wage Act are of a flexible nature in order to permit the creation of part-time jobs in cases where full-time employment could manifestly not be created. Legislation which was too restrictive would result in the creation of a large number of part-time jobs, which would not be compensated by the considerably lesser number of full-time positions created as a consequence.

The Committee wishes to remind the Government that, under the terms of Article 1 of the Convention, a State which ratifies the Convention not only declares itself to be in favour of the principle of the 40-hour week, but also undertakes to take or facilitate such measures as may be judged appropriate to apply this principle to various classes of employment. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the measures which have been adopted or are envisaged to ensure the application of the principle set out in the Convention and to supply general information on the manner in which it is applied, by providing where possible the information required under Point V of the report form.