PAID HOLIDAYS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21216, 10 December 1938, Page 19

PAID HOLIDAYS

CLOTHING FACTORY WORKERS By rele L - aph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, December 9. Between 13,000 and 14,000 workers in clothing factories throughout New Zealand will this Christmas enjoy paid holidays in addition to statutory holidays, if the agreements reached at a conference in Christchurch are endorsed by provincial employers’ organisations and Trade Unions. Wellington, Canterbury and Otago manufacturers have approved of the decisions, and confirmation has yet to be obtained from the Auckland employers who recently decided that they will not grant to workers an annual paid holiday oi a week until the completion of 12 months’ employment from the date of coming into effect of the clothing, shirt, white and silk dressmaking and millinery awards, which became operative on June 30 last. All unions except Otago had by this afternoon given their assent to the decisions. Once all the employers and Unions accept the conference agreement, the Arbitration Court will be approached to amend the award in terms of that agreement. The terms of the agreement are: “An annual holiday of five days on full pay shall be given to all workers, including apprentices, on completion of each year of service, such holiday to be in addition to and by payment in conjunction with Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, except vftien otherwise arranged with the union. In computing the yearly period, broken time shall be counted as time worked for the purpose of this clause. The first year of service shall be deemed to have commenced on January 1, 1938. Workers who have terminated their employment prior to the introduction of the 1938 award shall not be entitled to holidays or payment in lieu thereof. If the employment of any worker is terminated by either party for any reason other than by the employer for misconduct of the worker before completion of the first year of service, but after three months’ service, if part thereof, has been completed or at any time after th: first year of service has been completed, a holiday of proportionate duration for the broken period served shall be given or paid for. Similarly, if a worker commences after January 1 in each year, he or she shall only be allowed or paid for the holiday of proportionate duration.” Awards made by the Court provided for the first time for a week’s paid holiday, and the question of when an annual holiday under them takes place has been a strongly contested point of issue. Unions have submitted to the Arbitration Court in the past that a worker is entitled to an annual holiday under a holiday clause in the award when he or she has completed 12 months’ service, irrespective of when the award became operative.