Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

New Zealand

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) (Ratification: 1938)
Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47) (Ratification: 1938)

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of ratified Conventions on working time, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 14 (weekly rest) and 47 (40-hour week) together.

The Committee notes the observations of Business New Zealand and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) on the application of Conventions Nos 14 and 47, communicated with the Government’s report.

A.Hours of work

Article 1 of Convention No. 47. Forty-hour week. The Committee notes that section 11B(2) of the Minimum Wage Act 1983, as amended up to 2021, prescribes that the maximum number of hours (excluding overtime) to be worked by any worker in any week may be fixed at a number greater than 40 if the parties to the individual agreement agree. The Committee observes that no weekly or daily limits to the working hours seem to be provided for in the above-mentioned Act for the cases contemplated in section 11B(2). Moreover, the Committee notes that, according to the statistics included in the report of the Government, on average: (i) for the year starting in March 2020, 11.70 per cent of people employed worked between 41 and 49 hours per week, 9.9 per cent worked between 50 and 59 hours per week and 6.20 worked more than 60 hours a week; and (ii) for the year starting in March 2021, 11.5 per cent of employed people worked between 41 and 49 hours a week, and 15.1 per cent worked between 50 and 59 hours a week, with no data on workers working more than 60 hours a week. The Committee further notes the observations of the NZCTU, reiterating its concerns that the national legislation does not provide for effective protection of the 40-hour week principle as enshrined in the Convention, and indicating that this situation is exacerbated by the relative weakness of New Zealand’s institutions and mechanisms for collective bargaining. The Committee recalls that provisions such as section 11B(2) of the Minimum Wage Act 1983 authorize practices that may lead to unreasonably long hours of work, in direct contradiction to the principle of progressive reduction of hours of work. Therefore the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures as may be judged appropriate, such as the fixing of reasonable limits to the extension by individual agreement of the 40-hour week, to secure the full application, in both law and practice, of the principle of a 40-hour week provided for by the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this respect.

B.Weekly rest

Article 2 of Convention No. 14. Right to 24-hour weekly rest. Following its previous comments on the absence of national legislative provisions expressly setting out a weekly rest of 24 hours, the Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that no legislative measures affecting the application of the Convention have been taken since then. In this respect, the Committee notes the observations of the NZCTU urging the Government to initiate a consultation process with social partners on how to bring laws and regulations into compliance with the Convention. Accordingly, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures without delay to ensure that, in practice as well as in law, all workers employed in any industrial undertaking, public or private, or in any branch thereof, effectively enjoy an uninterrupted weekly rest period comprising not less than 24 hours in the course of each period of seven days, as required under the Convention.