'Compensation for Inconvenience': An Analysis of Shift Payments in Collective Agreements in the U.K.

This paper analyses the rates of pay laid down for shift-work in 138 national industrial agreements. While the order of size of payment for different kinds of shift remains fairly constant throughout—permanent nights (greatest), discontinuous three-shift, double days (least) — the levels of payment and the differences between them vary widely from one industry to another. These shift payments purport to be compensation for the hardship (physical, social, economic) involved in working `abnormal' hours, and ought therefore to reflect ways in which the demands of different types of system are perceived. In practice they are more likely to be determined by the bargaining process and the state of the market economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]