Labour Day

For the morning today, we had our all-time favourite teacher from the middle class, Mrs Keach, and do you know that all morning we spoke about Labour day. 

We found out lots of information about what the public holiday was for, Labour day recognises the hard work that employees used to do and is a reminder of the important place of waged workers in New Zealand. 

Labour day is celebrated annually on the fourth Monday in October. It all started in 1840 when Samuel Duncan Parnell arrived in Wellington from London, where he had been campaigning for an eight-hour work day in New Zealand. All the employers didn't like this change, as they usually make their workers stay until the job is done, which meant that the workers usually had to stay at their job/workplace until late into the night. From 1840 to 1890, the eight-hour workday spread with the European settlement, as they agreed to Parnell's campaign, but it wasn't until the 28th of October, 1890 that the first ever Labour day was celebrated. In 1935, the eight-hour working day, five days a week was made law. Now, in 2014, Labour day is still a public holiday, but many businesses remain open, but the employers have to pay double and give the workers an extra day off when it suits them. Many businesses don't have an eight-hour working day because of discussions with their employees and the government. Unions are also in place to make sure that workers have suitable working conditions.

Written by Scott