Editorial: More than just a day off

Labour Weekend is here again.

This weekend, as you already know, is a long weekend - for some at least.

While not many of us will be partway through a mega-long weekend like they are in Hawke's Bay, which celebrated its anniversary yesterday with a public holiday, some will be working today, tomorrow and/or Monday while everyone else puts their feet up, takes their first swim of the summer or launches an all-out assault on the garden.

My son asked me why it was called Labour Weekend. Good question, and I wonder how many people enjoying the extra day off will reflect on the reason they don't have to turn up at work on Monday.

Labour Day has been celebrated since 1890, and celebrated as a public holiday since 1900.

It commemorates the movement for the eight-hour working day, in particular the insistence of carpenter Samuel Parnell in 1840 on working no more than those eight hours in a day.

According to the NZHistory website, by the 1920s Labour Day was for most New Zealanders just another holiday (as, by now, most holidays, religious and secular, have become).

But as Labour Weekend rolls round again it's worth reflecting on the fact it's more than just an extra day off, and wondering how far we've come since Parnell.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development New Zealanders work 1739 hours a year, lower than the OECD average.

But Kiwis do very long hours in paid work. Thirteen per cent of New Zealand employees work "very long hours" (more than the OECD average of 9 per cent) including 19 per cent of men and 7 per cent of women.

When it comes to long hours we're ranked a low 28th out of 36 OECD countries.

At the end of the day, quite literally, that means less time for family and relaxation.

So if you have three consecutive days off this weekend, do enjoy and make the most of it.

Take care on the roads, in the water, or wherever you happen to be, and give a thought to the man behind this annual late October holiday.