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29 1924

RAILWAYS ACT, 1924

PART IV.

Wages and Conditions of Service.

Regulation of conditions of service of railway employees.

55. —(1) From and after the passing of this Act the rates of pay, hours of duty, and other conditions of service of railway employees shall be regulated in accordance with agreements made or to be from time to time made between the trade unions representative of such employees of the one part and the railway companies and other persons by whom they are respectively employed of the other part.

(2) The original or a counterpart, or a copy, certified in such manner as the Minister shall direct to be a true copy, of every such agreement as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section shall be deposited with the Minister within one month after the passing of this Act or the making of such agreement, whichever shall be the later.

(3) In this Part of this Act the expression “railway employee” means a person who is employed by a railway company or the Irish Railway Clearing House, in any of the grades specified in the Eighth Schedule to this Act, and in such other grades as may hereafter be brought within the scope of the agreements referred to in this section by agreement between the parties thereto, and whose station, depôt, or other place of employment is situate in Saorstát Eireann.

Appointment to clerical grades.

56. —(1) Save as is hereinafter in this section provided, all appointments to any office or situation in the clerical grades of the service of the amalgamated company shall be made by means of open competitive examination in accordance with regulations made by the amalgamated company. Irish shall be a compulsory subject at such examinations.

(2) Every such open competitive examination shall be open to all persons desiring to attend the same who are ordinarily resident in Ireland and pay the fees and possess the qualifications as to age, health and character prescribed by the regulations relating to the examination.

(3) The amalgamated company may by special regulation provide that such proportion as may be approved by the Minister of the vacancies in the clerical grades of its service shall be filled by means of limited competitive examinations, and where an examination is so limited only persons in or who have been in the employment of the amalgamated company or the children of such persons shall be admitted thereto.

Preparation of scheme for superannuation fund.

57. —(1) The amalgamated company shall, within one year after the 1st day of January, 1925, or such other period as may be fixed by the Minister, prepare for discussion with the trade unions representing the employees of the amalgamated company a scheme for providing on a contributory basis a superannuation fund for such of the employees of the amalgamated company as can, with due regard to actuarial considerations, be provided for out of such a fund.

(2) The scheme so to be prepared by the amalgamated company shall provide for representatives of the employees being associated in the management of the superannuation fund.