HOLIDAY PAY FOR RELIEF WORKERS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 71, 17 December 1937, Page 12

HOLIDAY PAY FOR RELIEF WORKERS

Christmas And New Year Arrangements MINISTER’S STATEMENT Arrangements for the - granting of Christmas and New Year holidays and the payment of a Christmas bonus to relief workers are announced by the Minister of Labour, Hon. H. T. Armstrong. . . In a recent statement the Minister gave particulars concerning both these subjects, but stated that at a later date the conditions of eligibility for the bonus would be explained. Amplifying this latter point, Mr. Armstrong said that the bonus would be £2 for married men and £1 for single men payable to all those men who actually received relief or were engaged under one of the undermentioned schemes in the week ended December 4, 1937 :—

Scheme No. 5 workers employed on a rationed basis, 1.e., less than -40 hours a week Men in receipt of sustenance without ' VI Goid prospectors, inclduing men employed on developmental work other than those employed full-time (40 hours per week or more), at standard rates of pay. Clerical workers employed in local body offices, relief depots, etc., whose total remuneration as such is not more than 10/- a week in the case of married men and 37/0 a week in the case of single men. 4A workers on own farms (excluding orchardlsts in receipt of frost damage relie jlen receiving sustenance allowances under the Small Farm Plan. Men employed on the special full-time works arranged through local bodies. Eligibility. All men who actually received relief assistance under one of the above-mentioned schemes in the week ended December 4, 1037, are entitled to receive the bonus, lhe bonus is still payable, although the worker did not continue to receive relief after the week ended December 4. Any person who registered and became eligible for relief for the first time after the week ended December 4, is not eligible to receive the bonus. Any person who re-registers and becomes eligible for relief in any of the weeks ending December 11, 18, and 2t>, is eligible to receive the bonus if he had actually been in receipt of relief under one of the above-mentioned schemes at any time within a period of three months of December 4, 1937 (namely, between September 5 and December 4, 1937).

In addition to the Christmas bonus, the Government has decided that all workers employed on the undermentioned schemes are to be granted two weeks’ paid holiday for the weeks ending January 1 and January 8, 1938: (a) Scheme 5 workers employed on a rationed basis, i.e., less than 40 hours per week; (b) gold prospectors employed under scheme 15, including those on developmental work except where they are employed for full time at standard rates of pay; (c) workers employed in clerical and other capacities in local body offices, relief depots, etc.

All scheme 5 works will be closed down on Wednesday, December 22, and will re-open on Monday, January 10.' Any men who would normally be required to report for scheme 5 work on Thursday or Friday, December 23 and 24, will be paid in advance for these days as if they had worked. Payment for the holiday weeks will be made to scheme 5 workers, gold prospectors, etc., prior to Christmas. For those on sustenance, payment of the allocations due for the weeks ending December 25, January 1, and January 8 will be made before Christmas. In addition, it has been decided that no declarations of earnings will be required from sustenance recipients in respect of the weeks ending December 25 and January 1, and any private earnings which the men may be able to earn in either of these two weeks will be entirely ignored when assessing their future allocations. Earnings in the week ending January 8 will be taken into account in the usual manner when assessing the sustenance allocations for the week ending January 15. A somewhat similar concession has been arranged in respect of Scheme 5 workers in that, when the allocations due to them for the weeks ending January 1 and 8 are being computed, any prior earnings by way of salary or wages which would ordinarily have been taken into account will be ignored, and the men will be granted their full allocation less any .adjustment that may be necessary on account of capital assets or regular income. This will place the scheme 5 workers bn a somewhat similar basis to sustenance recipients in regard to payment for the holiday weeks. Arrangements have been made for the special full-time rotational works to be closed down for the weeks ending January 1 and 8. and the men employed on these works will be granted the Christmas bonus and will be paid sustenance for each of the above-mention-ed weeks. If',in any case, the awards or industrial agreements governing the employment of men on these special full-time works provide for more liberal concessions over the Christmas period by way of holiday payments than the men arc receiving by way of sustenance and Christmas bonus, on application to the department arrangements will be made to make up any difference to the workers concerned.

Workers employed on lhe ragwort eradication scheme will be treated in the same manner as regards Christmas bonus and holiday concessions as those workers employed on the special fulltime rotational works.

Provided they are otherwise eligible, it lias also been decided to treat as eligible for the Christmas bonus and the two weeks’ holiday pay, those workers who have been recruited from the register of unemployed within the two months prior to Christmas for employment on Government works, and who by reason of their not having completed two months’ continuous service will not qualify to receive any holiday pay under the terms of the agreement governing their employment. Similar transport concessions as applied last year will again be granted to those men employed under the department’s gold prospecting scheme No. 15.