S.I. No. 28/1956:

EMPLOYMENT REGULATION ORDER (HANDKERCHIEF AND HOUSEHOLD PIECE GOODS, JOINT LABOUR COMMITTEE), 1956.

EMPLOYMENT REGULATION ORDER (HANDKERCHIEF AND HOUSEHOLD PIECE GOODS, JOINT LABOUR COMMITTEE), 1956.

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 an Employment Regulation Order dated the 25th January, 1955, (hereinafter called " the said Order ") fixing the statutory minimum remuneration and regulating the conditions of employment of workers in relation to whom the Handkerchief and Household Piece Goods 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 (Handkerchief and Household Piece Goods Joint Labour Committee), 1956.

(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 3rd day of March, 1956, and as from that date the said Order shall be revoked.

SCHEDULE.

PART I.

GENERAL MINIMUM TIME-RATES AND PIECE-WORK BASIS TIME RATE.

Female Workers (including Learners) while employed on Piece-work shall be paid Piece-Rates each of which would yield, in the circumstances of the case, to an ordinary worker, not less than the above Piece-Work Basis Time Rate. 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 Learners or infirm workers, or workers of greater or less than ordinary skill and experience.

PART II.

NORMAL WORKING HOURS AND OVERTIME RATES.

Section I.--The normal number of hours of work shall be as follows :--

The Minimum Rate for Overtime, which shall be payable in respect of all time worked by a worker (whether on Time-Work or Piece-Work) in excess of the normal number of hours of work, shall be Time-and-a-half, i.e., One-and-a-half times the Minimum Rate otherwise applicable.

PART III.

CONDITIONS GOVERNING LEARNERSHIP.

Section I.--A Learner is a Female 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 certificate to the effect that she is a member of the Learner Class in the Trade, or has made an application for such certificate which has been duly acknowledged and is still under consideration.

Provided that--

(i) An employer may employ a Learner on first employment in the Trade, as defined in this Schedule, without a certificate, for a probationary period not exceeding four weeks, but in the event of such Learner being continued thereafter in the employment, the probationary period shall be included in the period of learnership.

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

  (This provision does not interfere with the right of a Learner who is employed on Piece-Work to be paid the appropriate Piece-Rate in accordance with the Provisions of Part I, Section III, of this Schedule.)

(iii) Any Worker employed as a Learner who has previously been employed in any Branch of the Trade, as defined in this Schedule, shall count the whole period of such previous employment in calculating the period of Learnership completed by her and for the purpose of claiming the minimum time-rate at which she is entitled to be paid.

(iv) 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 female workers other than Learners.

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

Section II.--The issue of Certificates to 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 female workers employed therein, shall not, as a general rule, exceed Two Learners to Five other female workers in the case of any particular employer, and the issue of Learners' 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 for the issue of Learners Certificates in excess of the proportion normally permitted and may also, if it thinks fit, delegate to the sub-Committee so appointed any or all of its powers and duties in connection therewith and the expression " Committee " used in Section I and II above shall include the sub-Committee so appointed.

PART IV.

WORKERS IN RELATION TO WHOM THE COMMITTEE OPERATES.

The above minimum Rates of Remuneration and Conditions of employment, shall apply, subject to the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 , and of this Order, to all workers in respect of any time during which they are employed in any Branch of the Trade specified in the Trade Boards (Handkerchief and Household Piece Goods) Order, 1935, that is to say :--

The making of such articles as are specified in (a) and (b) below, from linen, cotton, silk or other materials, excluding paper, rubberised material and American oilcloth, viz :--

(a) Handkerchiefs (including Mufflers and Scarves) ;

(b) Bed-linen, Bed-spreads, Towels, Dusters, Table-napery, Tea-cloths, Table-centres, Side-board covers, Cushion covers, or similar household articles ; including all or any of the following operations :--

(i) hooking, cutting or tearing the material ;

(ii) vice-folding ;

(iii) machine hemming, hem-stitching, spoking, over-looking, tambouring, button-holing and other plain or fancy machine stitching ;

(iv) all processes of embroidery or decorative needlework done by machine, whether before or after the making of the articles of the description specified above ;

(v) the following processes if done by machine :--thread-drawing, thread-clipping, top-sewing, scalloping, nickelling and paring ;

(vi) all processes of laundering, smoothing, folding, ornamenting boxing, finishing, warehousing, packing and other similar operations incidental to or appertaining to the making of the articles of the description specified above.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Court, this 28th day of February, 1956.

(Signed) E. DE BÚRCA,

A person authorised under Section 18 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 , to authenticate the Seal of the Court.