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Labour Day in New Zealand, today…
Presented by Peter Petterson:
Samuel Parnell:
Samuel Parnell achieved fame as the founder of the eight-hour working day in New Zealand, a right he had fought for as a carpenter at Petone in early 1840. Today his name is often linked with Labour Day, which has been celebrated as a holiday since 1900.
Today, Monday 22nd October, is Labour Day in New Zealand. It is a public holiday and one that must have been threatened during the last 3o ys since neoliberalism was created in NZ and the 1991 Employment Contracts Act enacted. Read about the man below who was responsible for the conditions of the eight hour day, Samuel Parnell.
“Samuel Parnell is remembered as the ‘Father of the 8 hours movement’. A carpenter, he was asked to erect a store soon after his arrival in NZ in 1840, but made the condition that he would work only 8 hours a day. He argued that there are 24 hours per day, 8 hours for work, 8 for sleep and 8 for everything else. There were very few tradesmen available and so the condition was agreed to. He later wrote “the first stroke for 8 hours a day the world has ever seen, was settled on the spot”.
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