CLERKS' CLAIMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 32, 6 August 1936, Page 6

CLERKS' CLAIMS

i^ffilSSiS

w^gS|pd! hours AGE-AND EXPERIENCE SCALE

A!'iiVE-DAY WEEK

A schedule of claims for .wages and conditions of employment has been submitted to the.,employers' representatives by the" secretary of the Wellington Clerical Workers' Union, Mr. W. N. Pharazyn. ' „. The principal w;ages ■ claims aye based on length of service and »are affected by the age at which the worker1 enters employment. The proposals do not apply to those in receipt of more than £400 a year.' An executive officer/ is denned as a person who is in control of a staff in art office or a branch office, and who gives instructions to and hascontrol over not less than ten persons, and who receives a salary of more than £400 a year. There is a system of proportionate grading, limiting the number of juniors employed on any, staff. For example, the claims provide that a staff of five "adult" clerks may not be added tq by more' than three juniors (clerks Under twenty-one years of age). • ' • • J OPERATION OF SCALE. The general wages scale for clerks, claimed by the union, begins at the age of 14. A boy of that age would receive 15s and his wages, at the end of his first year, would begin to rise at half-yearly intervals to £2 15s a w.eek at the age-1 of ''1(5. From' then on he would receive annual increases to £6 15s, the maximum ' wages .claimed, at the age of 26. Clerks beginning work later tHan 'the age of '14 would receive less, if under the age of 21, than clerks of the same age but of longpr experience. Similarly, such clerks would be required to wait longer before reaching the maximum award .wage. For example, whereas ,a-'boy beginning work at the agejof 14, •would draw"£3 15s weekly when he was 20 and' £6 15s when 26; if he did'not begin work until the _ age of 20 he would then draw £2'ss weekly and would not reach £8 15s until he was 28. , The schedule "claims £4 10s a week as a Vbasic wage"- for clerks, to be received by all at, the age of 21, irrespectivel of length,; of service. The schedule-which applies to men and women is set "but in the following table:— <

\- ' Age-on dtte of Age 14, . <I* ' is £ 8. d. < £ §. d. £ s. d, i 14 J... 015 0 - "• ', 15 .*. 1 0 0 10 0 , \SV Z ...1*50.150, * 16 ... KilO 0 110 0 1 0 o.' IGJ^i ... I'l5 V 0 1 15 0 1 5' 0 ' 17 ... 2- o o 200 no o- : 17^2 ~.276 276 1 15 0' '' 18 ... 215 0 215 0 2 2 0 lß'/j> ... 2 15 0 2 13 0 2 10 0 : 19 ..., 3 5 0. 3 5 0 3 0 0 20 ... 315 0,3 15 0 Sl3 0 21 ... 410 0 410 0 410 0 ' 22 ... 417 6 417 6 417 6 23 ...550 550 550 c! 24 ... 513 0 515 0- Tls 0 ! 25 ... 6 5 0 6 5 0' G 5 0' ! 26 ... 615 0" 615 o'6 13 0 ( 27 ... ■• i ( 28 ... , ;, -, ,- v ' TYPISTS' CLAIMS. >.- . , Claims in respect of' typists are as -1 follows:—„/--.' '- ,/ '-' 3 ' \? J Junicrs:£ First half-yea*', £1j 'second^ ' £1 sv.tffiick.fi 10s, fourth l£l.- 15s, '' fiftb £2 '2*?6dr sixth- xYllta 'Senior ' typjsts/would'be paid oivthe following soale^j,^ , s :■>■ I - ' \ v'.\-(< "ti, ih ,' i. Shorthand- > ' l 2 r ::::::::-IJ-^itts c ' .24 : ...?LW uw-'.o.X.'iftV'S-f'o 4f' 25 't:/.-,«.5"3",15--0> M-'AT'S .0 ■% ■ 2«-; .:::?,..- 4 .oytf\I>iVti';*clo'" 0 •. The proportionate 'grading', System" "> claimed by the union is set; out yin the. following terms: - "THe ;p?6portion of employees under 21 'years*', of age in any firm shall not.be ihcreased;in con- . sequence of, tliisfagreement.:;" The pro- \ portion of'such .junior : ,'employees to.] adults shall'not in-any-fcase exceed one { junior tq. one-or«two* adults, two juniors i to three or. four adults, th.'ree juniors to five of six adults, and thereafter nQt more than one junior to every three or fraction of three adults." * , -; j HONORS AND CONDITIONS. '" t Office Sours, it is proposed, are to be- I gin- hot .earlier than 8 a.m. and to' ter- 1 minate not later than 5 p.m., with at least one* hour for. lunch / between 1 rp.m. and 2 p.m. The normal working £ week is to be from Monday to Friday- 1 inclusive, and the total hours workpft C must' not exceed 38. Where work is 1 done on Saturday it is not to begin earlier than 8 a.m. and is not to end I later than noon. No employee is to r do wdrk for his- or her employer at t home. In certain conditions,' special 1 provisions are made for clerical work- 1 ers in retail shops and factories to" "be £ employed the same hours as shop as- c sistants or factory workers. -- ~\ ' .- c ~ Overtime is to "be paid ,at time and c a half and at double time, for; work i done'oonn n Sundays, holidays, or 'Satur- s day afternoons, and'qhVsuch days the t fares of the ■employee's are to be paid 1 by the employer." 'All overtime isito t *be~ entirely 'voluntary, and employees i working overtime after_6 p.m^ are- to i be paid Is 6d tea money. ' £ , HOLIDAYS. ' 5 After .twelve months' continuous' ser- 1 vice an employee is to be entitled to * 14 days' holiday on full pay, and •after ten years' service to three weeks 'a . year. The following are to be paid ( holidays and not considered as part of ; the annual holidaysi^-^-January 1 and j the next following day (Sunday ex- . eluded), Anzac Day, Good Friday, * Easter Saturday" (where Saturday is worked), Easter Monday, 'Anniversary Day, King's BirtKHay, Labour Day, .t Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. j Any^ employee' transferred by his s t employer to work in a place at such j a distance' from the place where he c was originally engaged as to occasion, g him additional • living' or travelling j expenses shall be paid, in addition to j. his wage, extra actual and reasonable expenses. This clause shall not apply to permanent- transfers made to another district with the consent of the I employee. .Employers shall.pay the 1 fares and travelling expenses of their £ employees, to the place'Of +*-ansfer, and c shall pay their wages during the time c occupied in travelling. Any employees r transferred away from their homes in C their first three years of-service shall % have their wages increased to £2 10s r a week. < V • \

Every employee shall be entitled, on production of-medical evidence, to sick leave with pay. up to ten days in any one year, .this allowance to be made cumulative to meet the contingency of prolonged serious illness.