WAGE INCREASE, CHRISTMAS BONUS
AND NEW HOLIDAY PLAN ANNOUNCED
On December 8, officials of the Company an
nounced a 4-cent hourly wage increase, a Christ
mas bonus and a new holiday plan.
The wage increase will become effective on
December 29, 1952 for hourly and weekly pay
roll employees, and on January 1, 1953 for em
ployees on monthly and semi-monthly payroll.
Christmas bonuses will be given this year on
the same basis as last year. This will include all
employees who were on the payroll before De
cember 1, 1952.
In the past our holiday plan provided for only
two days on which hourly employees could be off-
the-job and still be paid. The new plan is de
signed to permit a maximum number of em
ployees to have six holidays each year and still
receive a regular day s pay. This does not mean
that all departments will be closed on these six
days, but an effort will be made to release a maxi
mum number of employees and still maintain
necessary production schedules.
Each employee who works on any of the six
liolidays will receive eight hours pay, plus straight
time for hours actually worked on that day.
If an employee’s regular schedule would call for
him to work on the holiday, but is given a day
off because it is a holiday, he will receive his regu
lar pay at straight time for that day. An em
ployee must work his scheduled working day im
mediately before and after such holiday to be
eligible.
Employees who are not scheduled to work on a
holiday, and do not work, will not be paid for
that day.
If an employee is on vacation during a week
in which one of the six holidays fall, and his regu
lar schedule called for him to work on that day,
he will be given an extra day of vacation.
The six paid holidays are: New Years Day,
Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day,
Thanksgiving and Christmas.
DON'T LET FIRE SPOIL YOUR CHRISTMAS
The Christmas rush is upon us again, and it’s
something no one in the family can escape. Be
sides gifts to buy, there’s the tree to arrange for,
and the house to decorate, and Christmas cookies
to make—all added to the ordinary chores of every
day living. Everyone is pressed into service, and
it seems as if there isn’t time for one more thing!
But there is one more item that must be worked
into that overflowing schedule, and that’s fire pre
vention. Otherwise, fire can easily wipe out every
thing you were rushing so madly to get done—
and a great deal more!
Perhaps you never realized it, but Christmas is
a particularly dangerous time of year for your
home and family, warns the National Board of
Fire Underwriters. Naturally the usual winter
hazards are present: open fires, plus heaters and
furnaces in operation — which, besides being
dangerous in themselves, lower the humidity in
the house and tend to dry things out. Besides
these things, there are the seasonal hazards of
combustible objects like Christmas greens and
trees, paper wrappings and decorations, besides
extra electrical wiring and maybe lighted candles,
too.
Biggest holiday problem—and it’s in a class by
itself when we’re discussing hazards—is the Christ
mas tree. Because it is full of pitch and resin, a
fir tree is one of the most combustible objects
known—and once ignited it burns so rapidly that
it is just about impossible to extinguish. Here are
the National Board’s suggestions to minimize the
danger of having a Christmas tree fire:
1. Choose a small tree. It’s less dangerous than
a large one.
2. Don’t set it up until a few days before
Christmas. Until then, keep it outdoors.
3. Place it in the coolest part of the house, away
from fireplaces or radiators. Don’t let it
block an exit.
4. Stand it in water, or use a live tree planted
in a tub of earth.
5. Never use cotton or paper for decoration on
or around the tree.
6. Don’t put electric trains under the tree.
7. Use only electric lights, never candles, and
see that the wires are not frayed. Be sure the
wiring sets for the lights you choose are
marked as having been inspected by Under
writers’ Laboratories, Inc.
8. Provide a switch some distance from the
tree for turning tree lights on and off. Don’t
plug or unplug them beneath the tree.
9. Throw away gift wrappings as soon as the
presents are opened; don’t let them pile up
near the tree.
10. Don’t leave tree lights burning when no one
is home.
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