NEW AWARD FOR DENTAL WORKERS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27405, 19 July 1954, Page 6

NEW AWARD FOR DENTAL WORKERS

WAGES AND ALLOWANCES INCREASED Wage increases for dental technicians and assistants, and changes in allowances and. annual holidays were announced last week by the Court of Arbitration. The new award is an outcome of a dispute between the New Zealand Federated Dental Technicians’ and Assistants’ Industrial Association of Workers, and the New Zealand Dental Employers’ Industrial Union of Employers and others. Dental technicians will receive a minimum of £ll Is a week, or an additional 2s 6d. and process workers will receive £9 15s, an additional Is 6d. To all the rates will be added the Court’s 10 per cent, general order of November, 1953. Women technicians, with less than six years’ employment, or who have not served an apprenticeship, were previously paid at three-fifths of the rate for men technicians, and now may be employed at two-thirds of the rate. Those with more than six years' employment will receive an additional 3s 6d a week, or £9 14s. Women process workers will be paid an additional Is 6d a week.

Uniforms required by these workers must be supplied and laundered by the employer. An increase of 2s 6d a week has been awarded to all female receptionists, attendants, and assistants. The extn payment for bookkeeping or polishin and plaster work has been increase to 6d 6d. The allowance for uniform is now £2 for each uniform. An addition to the award allows r annual holiday of three weeks to wor’ "ers who have completed 10 years’ con tinuous employment with the same employer. The new rates of wages are deemed to have come into force on February 23, 1954, and the award will remain in force until January 14, 1956.