CHRISTMAS BONUS

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1935, Page 4

CHRISTMAS BONUS

NEW PLYMOUTH RELIEF WORKERS. CONCESSIONS TO AIRPORT MEN. A total of £9OO will be distributed to relief workers employed by the borough of New Plymouth this week. The weekly payroll is £230, but the additional amount is accounted for by holiday pay and the special Christmas bonus. The 250 men employed at the airport are working on the contract system and do not, therefore, normally receive pay for holidays. A few weeks ago they were promised holiday pay for Christmas, Boxing and New Year’s Days as a special concession because for the greater portion of the year they had been receiving an amount equivalent only to ordinary relief pay. Further representations were recently made to the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, for further consideration of the men’s claims to consideration, and he has consented to them being paid for a. full week’s holiday. . It is not yet known on what basis the payment will be made. The earnings of each man on the job are in the vicinity of 11s to 12s a day. Possibly the pay will be made not on a basis of average earnings but on a graduated scale according to the number of their dependents. Pay for days lost this week as a result of wet weather-will also be made, according to advice received by Mr. J. P. Whelan, secretary of the New Plymouth Relief Workers’ Union.