Admission Day in California, San Jacinto Day in Texas, and those recognized only by a specific company or industry, were provided in a small number of major agreements.

A few major agreements designated Easter Monday, All Saints Day, Yom Kippur, and other religious days as paid holidays. However, the practice of granting religious holidays may be more common than is suggested by the list in table 4. Some agreements contained a general statement to the effect that religious holidays will be awarded; for example

Employees shall be granted 8 holidays per calendar year to be selected from the following: New Year's Day, Lincoln's Birthday . . . and religious holidays recognized by the present practice of [the company].

If an employer should elect for religious reasons to close his establishment on a working day, which is a religious holiday . . . regular employees shall receive full pay for said day at straight time . . .

Under 17 agreements, each worker was entitled to a paid holiday on his birthday. The advantage of a birthday holiday is that, unlike general holidays, its observance does not result in an interruption of normal operations.

A few agreements permitted the substitution of holidays, if employees so desired, or for other

1 Based on a study of 1,736 agreements, 1,561 of which contained paid holiday provisions.

specified reasons. Such provisions, Such provisions, when included in interstate contracts, allowed local option in the choice of holidays.

Pioneer Day, July 24, or other locally observed holidays may be substituted for Washington's Birthday if a majority of the force in an exchange or group of exchanges so desire.

Washington's Birthday is designated as the holiday in February except when the observance of Lincoln's Birthday would provide a longer weekend, in which event Lincoln's Birthday shall be the observed holiday ..

These will be considered holidays: . . . By local agreement another day of greater local significance may be substituted [for Memorial Day]. This substituted holiday is not subject to change during the life of this agreement. In some instances, scheduling of a holiday depended upon the day of the week on which it fell. For instance, in one contract the following possibilities were mentioned:

There shall be an eighth holiday which will be observed as follows:

1,564

1,412

If Christmas Day is on

1,465

Sunday..

Monday.

Tuesday

Wednesday.

The eighth holiday will be—

Preceding Friday
Preceding Friday
Preceding Monday

Day after Thanksgiving

Following Friday

Preceding Thursday

Preceding Friday

Four agreements designated a list of holidays from which either the employer or the union selected a designated number; three of these agreements were in service industries, and one in transportation equipment.

The employer shall grant to all employees covered by this agreement 6 holidays with pay during each employment year from among the following holidays: New Year's Day, Decoration Day, July 4, Columbus Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and Washington's Birthday.

Rates of Pay for Work on Paid Holidays

Most union contracts with paid holiday provisions also provide for the payment of premium rates to employees who may be required to work on holidays. Among the 1,465 agreements which specifically provided such premium rates, 38 percent stipulated double time (i. e., holiday pay plus straight-time pay for hours worked); 7 percent, double time and one-fourth; 28 percent, double time and one-half; and 18 percent, triple

Work

Work

Work

Other :

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Work

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1 This group includes 17 agreements which prohibited work on all paid olidays, and which therefore made no reference to rates of pay.

* Includes 100 agreements, covering 776,450 workers, which provided double ime and one-fourth. These 100 agreements were distributed as follows: urniture and fixtures, 1 agreement covering 2,400 workers; products of etroleum and coal, 1 agreement covering 1,250 workers; stone, clay and lass products, 2 agreements, 3,500 workers; primary metal industries, 64 greements, 622,200 workers; fabricated metal products, 14 agreements, 70,100 orkers; machinery (except electrical), 4 agreements, 16,950 workers; transortation equipment, 10 agreements, 48,000 workers; mining, crude petroleum nd natural-gas production, 4 agreements, 12,050 workers. Under the terms I most of these agreements, negotiated by the United Steelworkers of Amera, this premium rate went into effect on July 1, 1958. The previous rate, in fect as of July 1, 1957, was double time and one-tenth.

3 In this group were 25 agreements where premium pay varied by holidays, nd a number of maritime agreements where rates depended upon whether

work was performed in port or at sea. In a number of instances, the rate of pay for work on holidays depended upon whether or not the holiday had been scheduled to be worked. Two were found which allowed equal time off for holidays worked, and some in which employees were given the option of accepting pay or the equivalent time added to vacations. Employees covered by one agreement received double time and eight-tenths and in another triple time and one-half. Also included are agreements where premium pay was given for some holidays and no reference made to pay for others, some where premium pay varied by locality and by occupation, and one which was not clear as to whether holiday pay was included in the premium rates.

Excludes railroad and airline industries.

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.

time. The remaining 9 percent of the agreements with premium pay provisions contained other variations.

Since 1950, double time has remained the most common rate, but the proportion of contracts granting premium rates of double time and onehalf rose from 16 percent in 1950 to 28 percent in 1958, while triple time showed a threefold gain (chart 2). In 1950 as in 1958, the payment of rates less than double time was infrequent. Premium rates of double time and one-half or triple time were more common among manufacturing than nonmanufacturing industries (table 5). Penalty rates of double time and one-half were prevalent in chemicals and instrument manufacturing, where they applied to two-thirds or more of the workers receiving paid holidays. Although fewer agreements called for triple time than for double time and one-half, the higher premium rate applied to a larger number of workers, a fact accounted for by several transportation equipment and machinery (except electrical) agreements covering large numbers.

Eighty-one contracts did not fit into any of the premium pay patterns discussed. In 25 agreements, the premium rate differed according to the holiday:

Any work performed on New Year's Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day shall be paid for at time and one-half the regular rate of pay, and any work performed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day shall be paid for at double the regular rate of pay.

A small number of agreements provided variations of an arrangement giving the worker the option of an extra day's pay or compensatory time off for time worked on a holiday.

A few agreements specified different premium pay provisions depending on whether the holiday was a scheduled day of work or whether continuous operations were involved:

Any employee who is scheduled to work . . . shall be paid time and one-quarter rate for his scheduled 8-hour tour of duty on that day . . . In addition, such an

These are a part of the industry's dual premium rate structure; "penalty" refers to certain types of work performed during the regular working day, and the "overtime" rate typically applies to additional hours worked. For a discussion of these rates, see p. 33 of this issue.

Employees not working on continuous 7-day operations, who may be requested to and do work on any of the following holidays, shall not receive holiday pay but shall be paid triple time for hours worked on the holiday .

Employees working on continuous operations who work on 1 of the foregoing holidays which falls on 1 of their regularly scheduled workdays shall not receive holiday pay but shall be paid double time for the hours worked . . .

Work requirements of some industries give rise to unique pay provisions. The maritime industry, for example, negotiates different work and pay provisions for sea or port duty. No work is to be done on holidays unless absolutely necessary for navigation and vessel safety, except that watches are to be kept as required by law; premium rates for overtime and holiday work are referred to as "penalty" and "overtime" rates,* as in the following illustration:

The rate of overtime pay shall be $3.29 per hour and the rate of penalty pay shall be $2.19 per hour. . . The penalty rate of pay shall be paid licensed engineer officers who perform this regular watch work at sea on any of the 9 holidays described above . . . The overtime rate of pay shall be paid licensed engineer officers who perform work in port on any of the 9 holidays described above. . . The overtime rate of pay shall also be paid to nonwatchstanding licensed engineer officers who are required to perform work in port . . . on any of the 9 holidays. Other maritime agreements based premium holiday rates on monthly salaries and some incorporated extra compensation for work on holidays into base salary rates.

Holiday work premiums were not stipulated in 96 contracts, 17 of which prohibited holiday work. Most of the agreements with holiday work restrictions were in retail trade and the apparel industry. Limited restrictions of work on some holidays, usually Labor Day, were found in a number of construction contracts.

-DENA G. WEISS AND HENRY S. ROSENBLOOM

Division of Wages and Industrial Relations

Earnings and Employment of American Seamen in 1957

EDITOR'S NOTE.-This article summarizes the major findings of a study of daily earnings, annual employment, and annual earnings of licensed officers and unlicensed seamen, conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the request of and in cooperation with the Maritime Administration. The study was undertaken following a suggestion to the Maritime Administration by the House of Representatives Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries in 1956. The full report on the study was published as BLS Bull. 1238, The Earnings and Employment of Seamen on U. S. Flag Ships, which also includes information on characteristics of the labor force, collective bargaining, and fringe benefits.

Daily Earnings

FOR THE STUDY of seamen's daily earnings, payroll data were obtained for the latest voyages ending before June 1957 of over 250 ships, which were representative of the 877 ships of the American merchant marine within the scope of the survey.1 Unique pay practices in the industry dictated the reduction of trip earnings to a daily basis.2 In addition to daily gross earnings for both licensed and unlicensed seamen, data are presented on the premium pay component of gross earnings and on supplementary pay derived from war-risk bonuses, division of work payments, passenger pay, and extra meal pay.

The average daily gross pay for men (exclusive of masters and cadets) who went to sea in United States Flag vessels in May 1957, was $20.19 a day (table 1). Of this, $6.21 was payment for an average of 2.8 hours of work calling for premium pay and 23 cents was for supplementary pay provisions. The balance of $13.75, or the average daily basic wage, thus accounted in May 1957 for about two-thirds of seamen's average daily earnings; nearly all of the remainder was premium pay for overtime or for work considered hazardous or disagreeable.

From the operators' viewpoint, most of the premium pay resulting from provisions in the collective bargaining contracts is an unavoidable

part of a ship's operation, i. e., work on weekends for certain members of the crew while at sea is necessary for a 24-hour day, 7-day week operation. Many other types of premium pay provisions which are theoretically controllable are necessary to the orderly day-to-day operation of a ship;3 for example, maintenance painting to prevent corrosion. Thus, much of the variation observed in average daily earnings of seamen among vessels and voyages was due to differences in the extent to which some of the other premium pay provisions were avoided; for example, by delaying maintenance work until a ship reached port.

Licensed Officers. In addition to their base rate, men who were licensed officers generally received two types of premium pay, $3.49 per hour for time classed as overtime and $2.32 for time classed as penalty time. These rates were the same for all officer ratings except that officers who did not stand watches received monthly payments "in lieu of overtime" which, for purposes of this study, were considered part of base pay. Officers were also eligible for some types of supplementary pay, such as war-risk bonuses or extra payments when the ship was carrying explosives or other forms of penalty cargo. Most licensed officers are represented by unions which have contracts. on all coasts and the contracts with individual companies or associations are basically the same, although the individual rates vary by size and type of ship.

Licensed officers as a group averaged $29.80 a day. This included 2.8 hours of premium pay amounting to $8.21 and 21 cents in supplementary pay (19 cents in war-risk bonuses, with the remaining 2 cents primarily penalty cargo payments). Officers were almost evenly divided

1 Of the approximately 3,000 merchant ships under American registry, two-thirds were Government owned and all except 161 of the latter were inactive and laid up in reserve fleets. Among the active ships were 41 passengers ships, about 800 dry-cargo vessels, and over 300 tankers. Threefourths of the tankers were operated by oil companies for their own use and were omitted from the scope of the study.

2 Seamen are frequently paid a day's wages regardless of time worked and their hourly rate is seldom used. In addition, a record of actual hours worked is not readily available because the industry's collective bargaining contracts provide premium rates (both overtime and so-called "penalty" rates) for certain types of work performed during the regular working day. 3 For a classification of controllable and automatic (unavoidable) premium pay, and the relative proportions, see Seafaring Overtime on Privately Operated United States Flag Merchant Ships (U. S. Department of Commerce, Maritime Administration, 1954).

The differences between overtime and penalty provisions are complex and vary by contract.

between the deck and engine departments, each group representing somewhat more than onetenth of the total crew. Officers in the engine department had slightly higher average earnings, even though they averaged less premium pay per day than deck officers.

Chief engineers, the highest paid officers except masters, averaged $39.14 a day, including an average of $1.87 a day of extra vacation allowance which was considered as premium pay for purposes of this study." Descending the earnings scale, the daily earnings of chief mates were generally comparable to those of first assistant engineers, second mates, to second assistant engineers; third mates and radio officers, to third assistant engineers; and fourth mates, to junior third assistant engineers. Pursers on cargo ships, who were not carried on all such vessels, averaged about $23 a day. Passenger pursers generally earned more, owing to more premium time.

Variations in daily earnings among individual officers in the same rating were considerable. The highest daily earnings for a particular rating were frequently double the lowest earnings for the same rating. The widest variation in daily earnings was noted among chief mates and pursers. The majority of officers within each rating, however, had daily earnings within a range of $5 or less; for example, two-thirds of the third mates earned between $25 and $30 a day.

Most licensed officers received from $6 to $11 premium pay per day. In a few cases, premium pay represented half of an individual's total earnings.

Unlicensed Seamen. Nearly four-fifths of the seamen in the survey were classified as unlicensed. The overtime rates for unlicensed seamen, unlike those for officers, differ by rating, ranging from $1.60 an hour for ordinary seamen and messmen on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts to $2.81 an hour for the higher unlicensed ratings on the West Coast. Under certain conditions, these rates are increased by 50 or 100 percent.*

As a group, unlicensed seamen averaged $17.56 per day, including $5.66 for 2.8 hours of premium work. The average also includes supplementary payments of 24 cents a day-11 cents for warrisk bonuses, with nearly all of the remainder representing payments to seamen in the stewards department.

Able-bodied seamen, accounting for about oneeighth of the crew, averaged $19.50 a day, including $7.30 for 3.3 hours of premium pay and 16 cents in supplementary payments. The average base pay for able-bodied seamen was therefore about $12. Provisions relating to base pay varied among the three major collective bargaining units covering this rating."

Messmen, who also accounted for one-eighth of the crew, averaged $14.10 a day, of which $4.31 was pay for 2.6 hours of premium work and 38 cents was accounted for by supplementary pay provisions.

Wipers were the lowest paid seamen studied, with an average of $12.77 per day. Although the average base pay for wipers exceeded that for messmen and ordinary seamen, the latter categories averaged more premium pay. Chief stewards and chefs were the highest paid unlicensed ratings on passenger ships; they averaged over $30 a day exclusive of gratuities. Among unlicensed ratings carried on all types of ships, electricians, with average daily earnings of $24.23, were the highest paid.

As in the case of licensed officers, the difference between lowest and highest earnings for individual unlicensed seamen in the same rating was frequently 100 percent. The majority of seamen in most of the unlicensed ratings, however, had daily average earnings within a $2 to $4 range. In general, the higher the rating, the wider the range of earnings.

Whereas earnings of licensed officers, on the average, were approximately the same on all coasts, unlicensed seamen from West Coast ports averaged $1.81 more per day than those sailing from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Unlicensed seamen on the eastern coasts averaged 3.0 hours of premium pay per day, as compared with 2.4 hours for West Coast seamen, but they had a lower premium pay rate. Their base rates also

5 Chief engineers do not get regular payroll payments for overtime but are given credit in some cases for certain types of overtime when they report it and are later reimbursed at their regular hourly rate, generally at the time of their vacation.

6 The unlicensed seamen in the engine department on the West Coast also have a "penalty" rate in addition to the overtime rate.

7 Watchstanding seamen represented by the Sailors' Union of the Pacific receive base pay which, since 1955, has included part of the regular premium pay and has been paid on the basis of 56 hours a week at sea and 40 hours when in port. The other two major agreements covering able-bodied seamen (negotiated by the National Maritime Union and the Seafarers' International Union) base pay scales on a 40-hour week and call for overtime pay for hours in excess of 40.