WOODWORKING INDUSTRY SCHEME - SCHEME NO. 1

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 594.01

WOODWORKING INDUSTRY SCHEME

- SCHEME NO. 1

2nd May, 1952

GOVERNMENT NOTICE 213 of 1952, as amended by Government

Notices 114 and 523 of 1953, and 209 of 1957, Act XLIV of 1965, and

Legal Notices 32 of 1967, 119 of 1969, 47 and 77 of 1970, 124 of 1976, 61

and 86 of 1977, 51 of 1978, 80 of 1979 and 424 of 2007.

The title of this Scheme is the Woodworking Industry

Scheme - Scheme No. 1.

In this scheme, unless the context otherwise requires, the

words and expressions used shall have the same meanings as those

assigned to them in the Employment and Training Services Act.

This scheme shall apply to the callings of joiner and

cabinet-maker in any factory.

No person may be employed as an apprentice under this

scheme unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Director that

such person has either completed the fourth year of a Secondary

School or the full Trade School Course.

Employers engaging apprentices under this scheme shall

undertake to teach them and to grant them facilities to learn the

following processes

(a) Joiner - woodcutting, plaining, mortising, dove-tailing

and tenoning by hand and/or machines used in the

calling, care of machines and/or tools; recognition of

timber; staining and primary painting; making of

windows, doors, cupboards, boxes and other fitments;

the making of working drawings and interpretation of

drawing used in the calling; safety precautions;

(b) Cabinet-maker - of soft and hard woods, plaining,

mortising, dovetailing, tenoning, and simple moulding

by hand and/or machines used in the calling; care of

machines and/or tools; recognition of timber; staining

and primary painting; making of cupboards, chests,

tables, chairs, bedroom furniture and other items of

furniture; history and styles of furniture; finishing and

polishing; the making of working drawings and

interpretation of drawings used in the calling; safety

precautions.

The period of apprenticeship shall be of six years

Provided that six months shall be deducted from the said

period of six years, to a total deduction of not more than two years,

in respect of

(i)

each year of attendance by the prospective

apprentice following the attainment by him of

the twelfth year of his age, at any woodworking

course in a Government technical day-school, in

St. Joseph Institute, Hamrun, or in any other

technical or trade school or institute of

comparable standard approved by the Minister,

such attendance being certified as satisfactory

by the Director of the school or institution

concerned; and

(ii) each year or learnership in either of the callings

of joiner or cabinet-maker undergone by the

prospective candidate with the permission of the

Director

Provided that in respect of contracts of apprenticeship

entered into after the first day of January, 1970, for the words "six

years" wherever they occur in this article, there shall be substituted

the words "five years".

A person who has completed his apprenticeship in one

calling shall be credited with four years towards a period of a

subsequent apprenticeship in respect of the other calling covered by

this scheme.

The wages payable to apprentices in the callings to which

this scheme applies shall be as follows

Year

Wages per week

First

€24.57

Second

€29.23

Third

€33.92

Fourth

€38.60

Fifth

€43.26.

(1) The hours of work of apprentices employed under this

scheme shall not exceed nine hours in any one day

Provided that employers may employ apprentices on

overtime work with the approval of the Director, who may impose

such conditions as he may deem fit, at the following rates of

remuneration

(a) for all time worked in excess of nine hours daily: time

and a half;

(b) for all time worked in excess of forty-five hours in any

week, exclusive of any time paid at overtime rates

time and a half;

(c) for all time worked on Sundays and on customary

holidays: double time.

(2) Apprentices under 16 years of age may not be employed

between 11 p.m. of any one day and 6 a.m. of the next following

day.

The wage rates specified in article 8 shall be related to a

week of forty-eight (48) hours of work, exclusive of overtime and

of breaks for mealtimes and rest. Overtime shall be payable as

follows

(a) for work in excess of nine (9) hours on any day -

time-and-a-half;

(b) for work in excess of forty-eight hours in any week

exclusive of any time paid for at overtime rates -

time-and-a-half

Provided that in any week which includes a Holy Day of

Obligation, Good Friday or the 8th of September, overtime at

time-and-a-half shall be payable for work in excess of forty (40)

hours, exclusive of any time paid for at overtime rates.

For the purposes of this article time-and-a-half means one

and a half times the rate applicable to the apprentice.

The employer shall afford to any apprentice employed by

him under this scheme facilities for attending during the period of

apprenticeship such classes of instruction as the Minister may by

order determine. Such classes shall not take up more than ten hours

in any one week, and if such classes are held during ordinary

working hours, the hours so spent shall be reckoned as hours of

employment for the purpose of the payment of wages.

The apprentice shall be bound to attend all classes

determined as aforesaid. Should he fail so to attend on any day

without just cause, the employer shall be entitled to make a

deduction from the wages of the apprentice equivalent to

one-twelfth of the weekly rate in respect of each half day or part

thereof of default.

Apprentices shall be granted one whole day of rest in every

calendar week.

Apprentices shall be entitled, in every calendar year, to -

(a) all customary holidays with full pay, and

(b) after three months in employment, vacation leave of

such number of working days with full pay as is

equivalent to the number of working days as that

particular apprentice should normally attend to work

during a period of four weeks

Provided that -

(a) all apprentices who have been in employment for less

than one year shall be entitled to such part of the said

vacation leave as is in proportion to the number of

months in employment, and

(b) vacation leave may not normally be availed of on any

day when the apprentice is required to attend school

for theoretical instruction..

(1) After completing the first six months of

apprenticeship, apprentices shall be entitled to twenty days sick

leave on full pay in every calendar year less any sickness benefit to

which they may be entitled under the Social Security Act

Provided that a medical certificate certifying incapacity for

work covering the period of absence is produced to the employer,

who may require his medical practitioner to examine the

apprentice.

(2) Apprentices shall not be entitled to the payment of any

wages for the first three days of every period of sick leave

Provided that the number of unpaid days of sick leave shall

not be deducted from the entitlement of paid sick leave.

Apprentices shall be allowed two days paid leave on the

death of any of the following: the wife, husband, mother, father (or

the person who at the time was in fact acting as the mother or

father), son, daughter, brother and sister of the apprentice.

In this scheme "customary holidays" means the days (other

than Sundays) declared for the time being to be public holidays by

or under the National Day and other Public Holidays Act.

An apprentice shall be entitled to one year injury leave on

full pay, less the full amount of any injury benefit to which an

apprentice may be entitled in terms of the Social Security Act, if he

is injured during the actual discharge of his duty and such injury is

not due to contributory negligence on his part or to contravention

by him of safety rules laid down by the management.