DIAMOND CUTTING INDUSTRY SCHEME - SCHEME NO. 20

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 594.13

DIAMOND CUTTING INDUSTRY SCHEME

- SCHEME NO. 20

28th August, 1979

LEGAL NOTICE 85 of 1979, as amended by Legal Notices 171 of 1989

and 424 of 2007.

The title of this Scheme is the Diamond Cutting Industry

Scheme - Scheme No. 20, and it shall apply to the callings of

diamond girdling, diamond polishing, diamond sorting and fixing,

and in the discs preparation section for the processing of diamonds,

which occupations are hereby being designated as "callings" within

the meaning and for the purposes of the Employment and Training

Services Act.

Article 5

Calling of Diamond Girdling

(a)

Use of bruting machine

(b)

Cementing of diamonds in dops

(c)

Handling of bruting stick

(d)

Marking diamonds/Sorting diamonds for girdling

(e)

Girdling for rounding of diamonds

(f)

Use of louping glass

(g)

Assembling bruting machine

(h)

Safety precautions

Calling of Diamond Polishing

(a)

Use of louping glass

(b)

Use of polishing wheel

(c)

Handling of tangs

(d)

Use of dops for top polishing

(e)

Use of dops for bottom polishing

(f)

Use of dops for table polishing

(g)

Polishing of single cut diamonds

(h)

Polishing of full cut diamonds

(i)

Diamond powder cementing on wheel

(j)

Cementing diamonds in dops/fixing

(k)

Installing polishing wheel on machine

(l)

Safety precautions.

Calling of Diamond Sorting and Fixing

(a)

Sorting of girdled stones

DIAMOND CUTTING I

NDUSTRY SCHEME- SCHEME NO. 20

(b)

Fixing stones in diamond holder pots

(c)

Setting diamonds on the grain

(d)

Administration and preparation of sorted diamonds.

Calling in the Discs Freparation Section

for the Processing of Diamonds

(a)

Use of

(i)

point grinding machine

(ii) scouring machine

(iii) lathe machine

(iv) balance machine

(b)

Safety precautions.

In the scheme, unless the context otherwise requires

"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.

Substituted by

L.N. 171 of 1989;

Article 8

L.N. 424 of 2007.

Year

Wages per

week

First .........................................

€57.19

Second .....................................

€63.41

Third ........................................

€69.65

Fourth ......................................

€75.87.

No person may be employed as an apprentice under this

scheme unless it is shown to the Director or his delegate that such

person has a standard of education at least equivalent to that of a

person who has either finished the fourth year of Secondary School

or the full Trade School Course.

The period of apprenticeship in any of the callings under

this scheme shall be of four years.

An employer engaging apprentices under this scheme shall

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

the processes listed in the First Schedule in relation to each of the

callings

Provided that in respect of any of the callings the

employer, after carefully considering the aptitude and suitability of

an apprentice, and after consultation with the Director, will have

the right to decide whether such apprentice should be trained in any

one or more of the said callings as the case may be.

(1) The Minister may by order specify such classes of

instruction which apprentices employed under this scheme should

attend.

(2) Any employer shall afford to any apprentice employed

under this scheme facilities for attending such classes throughout

the period of apprenticeship.

(3) Such classes shall not take up more than ten hours in any

one week.

(4)

Should the apprentice fail to attend any classes of

instruction 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

Provided that when the apprentice is conditioned to a five

day week, the deduction shall be at the rate of one-tenth of the

weekly rate in respect of each half-day or part thereof, of default.

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

scheme shall not exceed eight hours in any one day

Provided that employers may employ apprentices on

overtime 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 eight hours daily -

time and a half;

(b) for all time worked in excess of forty 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. on any one day and 6 a.m. of the next following

day.

The wages to be paid to apprentices under this scheme

shall be those specified in the Second Schedule.

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 -

(i)

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

(ii) vacation leave may not normally be availed of

on any day when the apprentice is required to

attend school for theoretical instruction.

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.

Apprentices shall be allowed two days paid leave on the

occasion of 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 as

the case may be), son, daughter, brother and sister of

the apprentice.

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 the

contravention by him of safety rules laid down by the management.