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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 20 May 1943

Vol. 90 No. 4

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Holidays (Employees) Act, 1939.

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that, at the request of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, the State Solicitor in September last instituted proceedings against a number of shipping companies for the purpose of determining whether the provisions of the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1939, applied to casual dockers; that an adverse decision in the action was pronounced by the courts; and whether he will consider introducing proposals for the purpose of amending the Act to ensure that its provisions will apply to the class of workers concerned.

I would refer the Deputy to the answer I gave to a similar question on the 3rd February last. The position has not altered in any respect since that date.

Is the Minister aware that dockers who may have worked 1,000 hours for one employer and 1,000 hours for another employer still cannot get holidays under the Act? Is that not a sufficient reason to amend the Act as it is at present?

The Deputy is wasting time talking about amending the Act. The purpose of the Act is to secure holidays with pay for workers in continuous employment. The problem of applying that principle to casual workers is obvious. If the Deputy has any suggestions as to how it can be done, let him put forward his suggestions, but so far as I know none of the trade unions catering for dockers or other classes of people interested in this matter have yet been able to solve the difficulty of applying the principles of the Act to those workers.

If casual labourers like builders' labourers are able to get holidays, is there any reason why a similar position could not apply in the case of dockers who also are casual workers and very often are employed by a particular stevedore?

There is no one excluded from the provisions of the Act because he is either a builder's labourer or a docker. If he fails to get the benefit of the Act it is because he cannot comply with the conditions set out in the Act.

Is not the Minister aware that dockers' work is casual work? Very few of them are employed permanently. Some of them will work 1,000 hours for one employer and perhaps 800 hours for another. What difficulty would there be in amending the Act so that their periods of employment could be pooled, and so that they might get the benefit of an annual holiday like other industrial workers?

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