652 



[Oct., 



such workers receive an inclusive wage to cover their extra time 

 worked in connection with the care of animals. 



In only 28 areas have agreements been made containing 

 special arrangements for workers under 21. These rates are 

 usually based on a proportion of the adult workers' rates 

 according to the age of the worker. It is understood that in the 

 areas where no agreements have been made for juvenile male 

 wwkers this basis of paj^ment is usually applied, the actual 

 details being left for mutual agreement between workers and 

 employers. Onlv G Committees have fixed rates for female 

 workers, most of the areas concerned being in the North (Cum- 

 berland and Yvestmorland. Xorthumberland and Durham), where 

 it is more usual than elsewhere ^o employ full-time women 

 w^orkers. but women's rates have also been agreed for Notting- 

 hamshire and Devonshire. 



Hours of Work. — Apart from actual wages one of the most 

 contentious matters with which the Committees have had to 

 deal is that of hjurs, and in the East Biding of Yorkshire and in 

 one or tw^o other areas serious trouble arose on this issue. In 

 nearly half of the areas where agreements have been made the 

 50-hour week in summer has been retained, but in 11 areas 

 the agreements provide for a week of 54 hours. In Lancashire 

 die weekly rate is stated to cover the usual " working hours. 



Several Committees have fixed wages on an hourly instead of 

 a w^eekly basis but in the great majority of these cases the 

 v/orker has a guaranteed week of a specified number of hours. 

 In Brecon and Eadnor for example, where the w^age-rate is 7H. 

 per hour to operate up to 60 hours before the overtime rate is 

 payable, there is provided a guaranteed week of 52 hours. 



A number of the Committees have not fixed any special rates 

 for overtime : only 35 of the current agreements deal with this. 



Benefits and Allowances. — In the earlier months there seems 

 to have been a feeling that the svstem of benefits as fixed by 

 the Wages Board should be continued. There appears now, 

 however, to be a growing tendency amongst the Committees, 

 except perhaps in Wales and the North of England, to confine 

 their attention more and more mereiv to making agreements 

 for a cash wage, and to leave all questions of benefits and allow- 

 ances for settlement between individual workers and employers. 

 In the early months many Committees dealt with the benefits 

 question, but of the current agreements only 6 include clauses 

 fixing valuations for the provision of board and lodging. These 

 areas are, of course, those where a large proportion of the 



