S.I. No. 189/1951:

EMPLOYMENT REGULATION ORDER (PACKING JOINT LABOUR COMMITTEE), 1951.

EMPLOYMENT REGULATION ORDER (PACKING JOINT LABOUR COMMITTEE), 1951.

WHEREAS the Labour Court (hereinafter called "the Court") pursuant to the provisions of Section 43 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 , (hereinafter called "the Act") made the Employment Regulation Order (Packing Joint Labour Committee), 1948, dated the 21st May, 1948 (hereinafter called "the said Order") fixing the statutory minimum remuneration and regulating the conditions of employment of workers in relation to whom the Packing Joint Labour Committee (hereinafter called "the Committee") operates;

AND WHEREAS the Committee has submitted to the Court a proposal for revoking the said Order;

AND WHEREAS the Committee has also submitted to the Court the proposals set out in the Schedule hereto for fixing the minimum rates of remuneration and regulating the conditions of employment of workers in relation to whom the Committee operates;

AND WHEREAS the provisions of Section 43 of the Act have been complied with;

NOW, THEREFORE, the Court, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 43 of the Act hereby orders as follows :--

(1) This Order may be cited as the Employment Regulation Order (Packing Joint Labour Committee), 1951.

(2) Effect is hereby given to the proposals set out in the Schedule hereto.

(3) The proposals set out in the Schedule hereto shall have effect as from the 9th day of July, 1951, and as from that date the said Order shall be revoked.

SCHEDULE

PART I

GENERAL MINIMUM TIME-RATES AND PIECE-WORK BASIS TIME-RATE FOR MALE WORKERS

Male Workers while employed on Piece-work shall be entitled to receive Piece Rates each of which would yield, in the circumstances of the case, to an ordinary worker not less than 2s. 4d. per hour. In determining whether any piece-rate is sufficient to satisfy this condition, regard must be had only to the earnings of ordinary workers, that is to say, workers of ordinary skill and experience, in the class of work in question, and not to the earnings of workers of less than ordinary skill and experience, e.g., learners and infirm workers.

PART II

GENERAL MINIMUM TIME-RATES AND PIECE-WORK BASIS TIME-RATE FOR FEMALE WORKERS

Female Workers (including Female Learners) while employed on Piece-work shall be entitled to receive Piece-Rates each of which would yield, in the circumstances of the case, to an ordinary worker not less than 1s. 5d. per hour. In determining whether any piece-rate is sufficient to satisfy this condition, regard must be had only to the earnings of ordinary workers, that is to say, workers of ordinary skill and experience in the class of work in question, and not to the earnings of workers of less than ordinary skill and experience, e.g., learners and infirm workers.

PART III

Section I.--Normal Working Hours and Overtime Rates :

The normal number of hours to be worked by workers in relation to whom the Committee operates shall be as follows :--

(a) For that class of workers who customarily attend on six days a week :--

(b) For that class of workers who customarily attend on five days a week :--

PROVIDED THAT--

(i) All hours worked on Sunday and Customary Public or Statutory holidays by a worker of either of the classes (a) or (b) above, and all hours worked on the weekly holiday by a worker of class (b), shall be re-regarded as Overtime to which the Overtime Rates shall apply.

(ii) The Overtime Rates specified in Section II of this Part shall be payable in respect of all hours of Overtime worked on any day notwithstanding that the number of hours worked in that week does not exceed the declared normal number of hours of work for the week.

Section II.--The Minimum Rates for Overtime to apply in respect of hours worked by a worker, whether employed on Time-Work or on Piece-Work, in excess of the declared normal number of hours indicated in Section I of this Part, shall be as follows :--

(a) The class of workers who customarily attend on Six days a Week :--

(1) On any day other than the short day, Sunday and Customary Public or Statutory Holidays :

(i) For the first two hours of Overtime, One-and-a-quarter-Times the Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Time and-a-quarter.

(ii) For the second two hours of Overtime, One-and-a-half-times the Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Time and-a-half.

(iii) For Overtime after the first four hours of Overtime, twice the Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Double Time.

(2) On the short day :--

(i) For the first two hours of Overtime, One-and-a-half times the appropriate Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e. Time-and-a-half.

(ii) For Overtime after the first two hours of Overtime, twice the appropriate Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e. Double Time.

(b) That Class of Workers who customarily attend on Five Days a week :--

(1) On any day other than the weekly holiday, Sunday and Customary Public or Statutory Holidays :--

(i) For the first two hours of Overtime, One-and-a-quarter times the Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Time-and-a-quarter.

(ii) For the second two hours of Overtime, One-and-a-half times the Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Time-and-a-half.

(iii) For Overtime after the first four hours of Overtime, Twice the Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Double Time.

(2) On the weekly holiday :--

(i) For the first four hours of Overtime (that is to say for the first four hours of work), One-and-a-half times the appropriate Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Time-and-a-half.

(ii) For Overtime after the first four hours of Overtime, twice the appropriate Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e. Double Time.

(c) Workers of either of the above-mentioned Classes :--

(i) On Sunday, and Customary Public or Statutory Holidays :--For all hours worked, twice the appropriate Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Double Time.

(ii) For all hours worked in any week in excess of the declared normal number of hours of work for the week, One-and-a-quarter times the appropriate Minimum Rate otherwise applicable, i.e., Time-and-a-quarter, except in so far as higher Overtime Rates are payable under the provisions of any of the preceding paragraphs of this Section.

PART IV

HOLIDAYS AND HOLIDAY REMUNERATION

Workers in relation to whom the Committee operates and who qualify for annual leave under Section 10 of the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1939 , shall, in addition to the seven consecutive whole holidays prescribed therein, be granted a further period of seven consecutive whole holidays, and the payment in respect of this further period shall be calculated in the same manner as that for the statutory period provided for by that Act.

PART V

CONDITIONS GOVERNING LEARNERSHIP

Section I.--A Female Learner is a Worker who--

(a) Is employed during the whole or a substantial part of the hours of work in learning any branch or process of the Trade by an Employer who provides the Learner with reasonable facilities for learning such branch or process, and

(b) Has received a Learner's Certificate or has been registered as a Learner in the Trade, or has made an application for such certificate or registration which has been duly acknowledged and is still under consideration.

PROVIDED THAT--

(i) The Learner's Certificate or registration shall become invalid if the other conditions of Learnership are not complied with.

(ii) An Employer may employ a Learner on first employment in the Trade, as defined in this Schedule, without a Learner's Certificate or registration for a probationary period not exceeding four weeks, but in the event of such Learner being continued thereafter in such employment, the probationary period shall be included in the period of Learnership.

(iii) A Learner shall cease to be a Learner, and shall become entitled to the Minimum Rate payable to Workers other than Learners, on the completion of two years' employment in the Trade.

(iv) Any worker who has previously been employed in any branch of the Trade, as defined in this Schedule, and has not been registered as a Learner, nor has held a Learner's Certificate and who is subsequently employed as a Learner, shall count the whole period of such previous employment for the purpose of claiming the time-rate at which such worker is to be paid.

(v) An application for a Learner's Certificate must be made to the Joint Labour Committee in respect of every worker engaged in learning the Trade, whom it is desired to employ at the Minimum Rates fixed for Learners. Unless a Learner's Certificate has been obtained, or an application therefor has been made which has been acknowledged and is still under consideration, and the other conditions of Learnership laid down in this Schedule are complied with, the Minimum Rate payable shall be that fixed for workers other than Learners.

(vi) Notwithstanding compliance with the conditions contained in this Part of the Schedule, a person shall not be deemed to be a Learner if such person works in a room used for dwelling purposes, and is not in the employment of such worker's parent or guardian.

Section II.--The issue of Certificates to Female Learners shall be governed by the following conditions relative to the provision of reasonable facilities for learning the Trade :--

(1) The proportion of Learners in the Trade to other workers employed therein, shall not, as a general rule, exceed one Female Learner to two other Female Workers, in the case of any particular employer, and the issue of Learner's Certificates shall be restricted accordingly.

(2) Where, however, the Joint Labour Committee is satisfied in any particular case that special facts or circumstances so require, the Committee may authorise the issue of Learners' Certificates in excess of the proportion above specified.

Section III--

The Joint Labour Committee may if it thinks fit refer to a sub-committee appointed under the provisions of paragraph 8 of the Second Schedule to the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 , applications made to it under this Part of the Schedule, and may also, if it thinks fit, delegate to the sub-committee so appointed any or all of its powers and duties thereunder and the expression Joint Labour Committee used in Sections I and II of this Part shall include the sub-committee so appointed.

PART VI

DEFINITION OF WORKERS

The above statutory Minimum Remuneration shall be payable subject to the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 , and of this Order to all workers specified in this Schedule in respect of any time during which they are employed in any Branch of the Trade specified in the Trade Boards (Packing) Order, 1934, that is to say :--

" The processes of wrapping, filling, labelling, bottling, placing in boxes, tins, cartons, envelopes, cardboard or other containers of any kind whatsoever, and all similar operations incidental to the sale, retail or wholesale, of the following commodities :--

(a) seeds of fruits, vegetables and flowers ;

(b) foods, drinks, and condiments (whether for the consumption of human beings, animals or birds) ;

(c) cosmetics, perfumes, medicinal preparations, druggists' sundries ;

(d) polishes, blacklead, starch, blue, soda, soap powders, candles, chandlery and matches ;

(e) ink, glue and paste ;

BUT EXCLUDING :--

(i) Any such process or operation which is included in a trade to which the Trade Boards Acts, 1909 to 1918, apply for the time being;

(ii) Any such process or operation which is carried on in premises in which the commodity, the object of such process or operation, is manufactured ;

(iii) Any such process or operation which is carried on in premises in which the commodity the object of such process or operation is sold retail or offered for sale retail ;

(iv) Any such process or operation in respect of alcoholic drinks ;

(v) Any such process or operation in respect of eggs in shell."

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Court this 2nd day of July, 1951.

(Signed) N. MAC LIAM

A person authorised under Section 18 of the Act to authenticate the Seal of the Court.