CHAPTER VIII A WEEKLY REST OF AT LEAST TWENTY-FOUR HOURS "The adoption of a weekly rest of at least twenty-four hours, which should include Sunday wherever practicable." (Treaty of Peace: Article 427, 5.) Wherever possible in industrial and commercial establishments the whole of the staff should be granted the rest period simultaneously. The rest period may be suspended or diminished after consultation with employers and workers' organizations, all such exceptions to involve compensatory rest in as far as possible and to be reported, with reasons, to the International Labor Organization (1921 convention and recommendation). LEGISLATION in Canada on the subject of a weekly rest falls into three main groups: first, the provincial Sunday observance laws and the Dominion Lord's Day Act; second, the provincial laws prohibiting the operation of electric railways on Sunday; and third, the British Columbia act establishing a weekly half-holiday for shop employees and the provincial early-closing laws authorizing municipalities to pass by-laws requiring retail stores to close for a weekly half-holiday. In addition to these three main groups of laws some of the provinces have legislation providing a weekly twenty-four-hour rest for employees of fire departments, hotels and restaurants, bakeshops and barber shops. The early Sunday observance laws had their rise in Sabbatarianism rather than in any desire to save the worker from constant toil. The first law of the kind was passed in Nova Scotia in 1758 (c. 32) "in order that all persons may, on the Lord's Day, apply themselves to duties of religion and piety, both publickly and privately." Similarly in Prince Edward Island the first legislation on the subject, in 1780 (c. 3), was "An act for the due observance of the Lord's Day," which, according to the preamble, "has been hitherto much neglected, and many abuses of the same have been committed, to the manifest prejudice and dishonor of religion and the shameful violation of public decorum and good order." A New Brunswick law of the same character was passed in 1786 (c. 5)—“ An act against the profanation of the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday, and for the suppression of immorality." SUNDAY OBSERVANCE LAWS Canada Early in the history of the Trades and Labor Congress there were evidences of a desire for a Dominion Lord's Day Act. The first resolution of the Trades and Labor Congress on the subject of Sunday observance was passed in 1888: That as it has been represented to this Congress that laws against Sabbath desecration in the Dominion are being flagrantly violated and ignored by more than one railway company, it be an instruction to the executive committee of this body to take such steps as may be considered advisable in bringing the subject under the notice of the Government, with the object of securing a remedy.1 In 1890 it was resolved-"That this Congress request the Government to pass a Sunday observance law, compelling all employers of labor to close their factories and workshops during the twenty-four hours constituting the Sabbath, excepting in cases of absolutely needed repairs." In 1897 it 1 Trades and Labor Congress, 1888, p. 27. "Ibid., 1890, p. 31. 2 66 2 1 was resolved" that in the opinion of this Congress there is no necessity for Sunday work," 1 and by a resolution of 1899 it was decided that all organizations of the Congress should cooperate with any and all associations for legislation for one day's rest in seven.' In 1901 a standing committee was appointed to act in conjunction with the Lord's Day Alliance "in maintaining and securing the due and full observance of the Seventh rest-day in Canada" and the records give other evidence of a working agreement between the Trades and Labor Congress and the Lord's Day Alliance at this time. After the judgment of the Privy Council in 1903 declaring the Ontario Sunday observance law ultra vires, effort was directed towards the enactment of a federal law. 5 At the 1906 session of the Dominion House a bill entitled "An act respecting the Lord's Day" was introduced and referred to a select committee. This measure, which proposed that no employee should be permitted to work on Sunday unless he were given 24 consecutive hours' rest during the week, met determined opposition from transportation and manufacturing interests. The Canadian Manufacturers' Association considered the bill as originally drafted quite objectionable and a number of amendments were proposed and accepted. The case in favor of the bill was well presented by Dr. J. G. Shearer, at that time secre 7 1 Trades and Labor Congress, 1897, p. 28. 2 Ibid., 1899, p. 19. Ibid., 1901, p. 82. 4 Ibid., 1901, p. 74; 1902, p. 67; 1903, pp. 36, 67; 1904, p. 30. 5 Cf. infra, p. 281. Cf. Report of Select Committee to which was referred Bill No. 12 respecting the Lord's Day (1906). Industrial Canada, 1906, p. 213. tary of the Lord's Day Alliance, and it became law (c. 27) at the same session. The Dominion Lord's Day Act has not been entirely satisfactory to the trade unions. They have objected to the clause requiring that the consent of the attorney-general of the province must be secured before action can be taken against any offender and they feel that many break the law with impunity.1 There have been complaints from the workers in continuous industries and in various pursuits to which the law does not apply. On the other hand, objection has been taken to the section making it illegal for transportation companies to carry passengers for pleasure on Sunday, "thus denying to the working class the privilege of pleasure and health seeking which are available and taken advantage of to a general degree by those fortunate enough to own automobiles." The Congress prepared an amendment to the act providing that the work of musicians in churches, church parades, funerals, etc., and of cooks and waiters in hotels and restaurants should be exempt from its provisions, but the proposed amendment was not accepted. In this matter the Congress seems to have been inconsistent, for at the conventions of 1912 and 1915 resolutions favoring one day of rest in seven for hotel and restaurant employees were adopted. The repeal of the act and the substitution of a measure applicable to all workers was favored in a resolution passed at the 1920 Congress." 4 In 1916 the Canadian Manufacturers' Association made application to the Minister of Justice for an order-in-council 1 Trades and Labor Congress, 1910, p. 45; 1911, p. 33; 1920, p. 189. 2 Ibid., 1909, p. 80; 1911, p. 73; 1912, p. 114; 1915, p. 68; 1916, p. 104. 3 Ibid., 1916, p. 136. Ibid., 1912, p. 62; 1913, p. 59. Ibid., 1920, p. 189. to suspend the Lord's Day Act as applied to certain industries for the period of the war, although the manufacturers do not seem to have been unanimous in the matter.1 The request was not granted and the law has not been altered since its enactment. As the Dominion Lord's Day Act is the chief guarantee of a weekly rest to the workers of Canada, the main provisions are here reproduced. The "Lord's Day" is defined as meaning the period of time which begins at twelve o'clock on Saturday afternoon and ends at twelve o'clock on the following afternoon. In general, no sales are to be made or ordinary business transacted, and no persons employed on Sundays, but works of necessity and mercy are permitted. An extended definition of the term "works of necessity or mercy" is accordingly set forth in the act, the following classes of work being inIcluded as such: (a) Any necessary or customary work in connection with divine worship; (b) Work for the relief of sickness and suffering, including the sale of drugs, medicines and surgical appliances by retail; (c) Receiving, transmitting, or delivering telegraph or telephone messages; (d) Starting or maintaining fires, making repairs to furnaces and repairs in cases of emergency, and doing any other work, when such fires, repairs or work are essential to any industry or industrial process of such a continuous nature that it cannot be stopped without serious injury to such industry, or its product, or to the plant or property used in such process; (e) Starting or maintaining fires, and ventilating, pumping out and inspecting mines, when any such work is essential to the protection of property, life or health; (f) Any work without the doing of which on the Lord's 1 Industrial Canada, July, 1916, p. 381. |