HOLIDAY PAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23221, 15 December 1938, Page 23

HOLIDAY PAY

BELIEF WORKERS SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS EXPLANATION BY MINISTER [BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Wednesday "My attention has been drawn to resolutions passed by the Unemployed Workers' Movement in Christchurch in which it was alleged that the special arrangements made to pay scheme 13 workers over the holidays represented a distinct breach of industrial law," said the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, to-day. ' "It appears that the Unemployed Workers' Movement is under a misapprehension as to the actual position, as instructions have been issued by my department that all scheme 13 workers are to bo paid for all holidays and annual leave legally due to them under the award or agreement covering the conditions of their employment," continued tho Minister. "In addition to tho wages legally due to such workers a special concession has been made to supplement these payments in any case where, j owing to shortness of service or for other reasons, tho amount due to any worker for the two weeks ending j January, 1939, is less than the total amount ho would be eligible to receive if ho were in receipt of sustenance, and an ex gratia payment will be made from the Employment Promotion Fund sufficient to bring his holiday pay for that period up to the full sustenance allocation for the two weeks to which a person of his classification would be entitled.

"It will bo seen, therefore, that many scheme 13 men will be placed in a more favourable position than other workers in industry who will receive payment only for such holidays and annual leave as are legally due to them under awards." Mr. Armstrong added that while arrangements had been made for all scheme 13 workers to be paid for statutory holidays and any annual leave due under the awards, strict interpretation of tho majority of the awards would entitle the employing authorities to give the men one week's notice of the termination of their employment as at December 24. If this provision in the awards was taken advantage of the men would probably then be entitled as a maximum only to such annual leave as had accrued due to them in respect of their services up to December 24.

"Therefore, in addition to the men being accorded the most liberal interpretation of the awards, they aro also being guaranteed a minimum total payment in accordance with their maximum sustenance rate," concluded Mr. Armstrong.