Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2003, publiée 92ème session CIT (2004)

The Committee notes the comments made by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU), as well as the comments made by Business New Zealand on the Government’s report concerning the lack of legislative provisions requiring a minimum 24-hour weekly rest period.

The Government explains that, under the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act of 2002, every employer has the obligation to prevent harm arising from excessive working hours or insufficient rest periods, thereby implicitly regulating weekly rest periods. The Committee hopes that the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act of 2002 will contribute to reinforce weekly rest periods. A consecutive weekly rest period is necessary to avoid workers’ fatigue, but also to grant workers time in which they can develop their personality and take time and care for their families and social activities. This Act, however, does not give a worker the right to claim an uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours. Furthermore, the Employment Relations Act of 2000, with its good faith provisions, fosters individual and collective bargaining, but does not guarantee a weekly rest period. The Committee concurs with the NZCTU’s comments that the "workers’ ability to negotiate hours and rest periods with employers is not, in itself, a strong enough provision to ensure that workers are able to enjoy a good work-life balance with adequate rest breaks".

With reference to its previous direct requests, the Committee wishes to stress once again that the workers to whom this Convention applies are entitled, subject to the exceptions provided for in Article 4 of the Convention, to an uninterrupted weekly rest period of not less than 24 consecutive hours. Weekly rest of workers was already included in the general principles set out in article 427 of the Treaty of Versailles, and, as the Committee pointed out in its General Survey of 1984 on working time, because its origins go so far back, weekly rest is generally speaking one of the aspects of the organization of work which is most scrupulously observed; in many countries, it is looked upon as a fundamental right that is embodied in the Constitution. The Committee trusts that the Government will take in the very near future all steps necessary to ensure that workers in New Zealand are also guaranteed a weekly rest period and requests the Government to keep it informed on all progress achieved.