Labour Day

4th Monday in October : 25 October 2004

It seems fitting to celebrate Labour Day in this quarter of the magazine. Yes, we all enjoy that day off work. It always seems so welcome at the beginning of the Spring/Summer season, and especially welcome when we wait through the long winter months for that welcome day off work. So why the holiday? The first Labour Day in New Zealand was celebrated on 28 October 1890 when several thousand trade union members and supporters attended parades in the main centres. Government employees were given the day off to attend. It celebrated the struggle for an 8 hour working day.

New Zealand was the first country in the world to introduce the 8 hour day. The credit for this goes to Samuel Parnell. Samuel was working in a large joinery establishment in London. At that time carpenters worked 12 or 14 hours a day and working conditions were bad. A union had been formed but, because it failed to reduce working hours, Samuel refused to join and left to start his own business. He later emigrated to New Zealand, settling in Wellington in 1840. One his fellow passenger's offered Samuel work when he arrived, but Samuel would take this on only on the condition that the working day would be 8 hours. His argument was that there are 24 hours per day: 8 should be given for work, 8 for sleep and the remaining 8 for recreation. Shortage of tradesmen, meant that his future employer came to terms with this option. Other employers continued to impose the traditional long hours but Samuel Parnell met incoming ships and talked to workmen and enlisted support. The last resistance was broken when labourers were building the road along the harbour to Hutt Valley in 1841. They downed tools when they were asked to work longer hours and did not resume until an 8 hour day was conceded.

Activities for Labour Day

1. Enact the story of Samuel Parnell, as outlined above.
2. Charades: mime various jobs: doctor/nurse, teacher, bus driver, farmer, policeman, fireman, chef, butcher, etc
3. Talk about choosing a job - look at newspaper section. What things do they think will be important to them:
   • enjoyment
   • pay
   • a nice boss
   • long holidays
   • learning a new skill
   • being able to use your own ideas
   • a job where they can get promotion
   • a chance to be useful to others
   • a job that's easy
   • a job where you will have responsibility
   • good working conditions - what might they be?
     Invite a guest who has just begun a new job or started his/her career
4. Look at various types of work:
   • Dealing with raw materials: fishing, coal mining, dairy farming, sheep farming, quarrying, making paper, making bread
     Go fishing, try making paper, or create papier mache, make bread/sushi
   • Building things
     Design a playground or play hut. What materials would you need to make it? Think of safety issues and the age range for which this is suitable. Can you make a mini-model with toothpicks, lollipop sticks, string, etc.
   • People moving things
     Post office - What process would a letter need to go through. Writing, stamping, posting in letterbox, sorting, delivery, opening. Work through these processes from start to finish. The girls will have fun opening each other's letters.
     Haulage - Think of being a truck driver travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand. Have a NZ map and organise a quiz around the most direct route for pick ups, etc.
   • Factory - production flow
     Get building blocks and do a drawing pattern of what needs to be made: red brick, yellow brick to the right, green brick on top. Then try doing this in a production line by putting paper or material on and around the table. Get the first person to pick red brick out of box and place on table. Move it along and ask second person to place yellow brick to the right, and so on. Move the paper and model along like a production line. Is this more efficient when each person has a special task to do?
     Alternatively try a production process making pizza. Person one spreads the base with tomato sauce, next person adds the onions….etc, etc. Last person wraps the pizza, ready to be taken home.
   • Selling things
     • Visit the local supermarket
     • Have a visit (might be out of meeting hours) to a local market and try out different food items
     • Visit local shopping centre - what shops do we see essential to make a community?
   • Entertainment
     • Try making a TV advertisement. You will need to think about the script, production, props, actors and then organise a video camera and film crew.
     • Newspaper - look at assembling a newspaper for distribution to the girls in your Guide District
     • Library - organise a visit to the local library
   • People Helping People
     • Dentist: an opportunity to discuss dental health
     • First Aid: link in your first aid training
     • Police/Fire Service: Enquire if you are able to get a police or fire service speaker to talk to the unit about their work
5. Labour
   Labour = work but how do we make the workload lighter:
   • Discuss various inventions, ie washing machine, computer, vacuum cleaner, photocopier
   • Try out a variety of writing tools: quill pen, dip pen, fountain pen, ball-point pen, typewriter, word processor
   • Discuss working together as a team and play a team building game: ie: obstacle course when all the team need to get from one end of the room to the other without touching the ground

Let your imagination go wild, and LABOUR with love!

Occupation Games

Occupation Station

Make 2 teams. Each team gets in a huddle at their "home base" to decide what occupation they will act out and whichever side is ready first begins. That team yells loudly, while marching towards the other team:

Bom, Bom, Bom
Here we come
All the way from Wellington
Then the other team yells: Where do you come from?
Answer:Brownie/Guide girls station
The other team yells: What's your occupation?
Answer: Almost anything
Then the other team yells: Get to work

The team starts acting out its occupation (such as painters, chef..) and when the other team guesses correctly, the "acting" team has to run back to its "home base" without any member being tagged by the other team. If they make it, they get to do the acting again.

Tasks

Ask 2 captains to pick their teams. Each team has a home base. After the teams are chosen, one team is chosen to present the charade. This team then decides what to do, ie wash dishes, wash clothes, ride a horse, go grocery shopping, etc. Once this has been decided and the actions for the charade discussed, the teams line up on their home bases facing each other. The teams then approach each other and the team chosen to begin the game begins with the following question:

Team 1: Here we come
Team 2: Where are you from?
Team 1: Auckland
Team 2: What's your trade?
Team 1: Icecream and lemonade

Team 1 then begins the charade and Team 2 tries to guess. The captain of Team 1 answers the guesses either by saying yes or no, or you're getting warm, you're getting closer, you're going to burn, etc. If the correct guess is made. Team 2 tires to catch the members of Team 1 before Team 1 can run back to their home base.

from Guidelines, September 2004