asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he is aware that men employed under rotational schemes in County Kildare are being required by the county surveyor to work longer than eight hours per day; whether he is aware that these men are employed on a day-to-day basis and do not therefore enjoy the privilege of working a short day in the week, and whether in the circumstances he will issue instructions that the men in question must not be employed for more than eight hours on any day.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Eight Hours Day on Relief Schemes.
I am aware of the position stated by the Deputy but the demands of employment have to be regulated so as to fit into the organisation for the supervision of road works in the county.
Arising out of the Minister's reply, does he not consider it unfair that men employed for three or four days per week should be expected to give the same daily hours of attendances as regular road men, seeing that the regular road men's hours of work are unduly prolonged from Monday to Friday because of the fact that they get a half-holiday on Saturday? The temporary road men are unable to get that half-holiday on Saturday because they are deliberately unemployed on Saturday. Does he not further think it unfair that those men should be required to give extra attendances each day for a concession which, under an instruction issued by the Government, they can never obtain?
I do not think a difference of half an hour per day is enough to cause any great concern.
May I point out to the Minister that it is not half an hour per day. In those particular cases it is often more—possibly three—quarters of an hour. Will the Minister then have those people paid at an hourly rate instead of at a daily rate, so as to give them the advantage of the extra time which they work?
That is a matter for the county council.
Does the Minister not consider it unfair to stand aloof in this matter, when at the same time the Department of Industry and Commerce is endeavouring to ensure, under the Conditions of Employment Act, that the normal working week will be 48 hours, or that the daily attendance will be eight hours? In this particular case the men are working in excess of 48 hours per week, which is the maximum prescribed by the Conditions of Employment Act. Surely there should be some consistency in the matter?
On the days when they are working they work the same hours as the ordinary road employees. I think it would be a matter of serious inconvenience to the overseers, the county surveyors and assistant county surveyors, to have different hours for men working in the same gang.