NEON SIGN MAKERS SCHEME - SCHEME NO. 5 g S.L.343.04 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 343.04
NEON SIGN MAKERS SCHEME
- SCHEME NO. 5
21st December, 1952
GOVERNMENT NOTICE 554 of 1952, as amended by Government
Notices 114 and 132 of 1953, and 213 of 1957, Act XLIV of 1965, and
Legal Notices 32 of 1967, 119 of 1969, 47 and 77 of 1970, 124 of 1976, 61
and 86 of 1977, 51 of 1978 and 80 of 1979.
Citation. 
Scheme No. 5.
Interpretation.
Cap. 343.
2. The meaning of words and expressions set out in the
Employment and Training Services Act shall apply in this scheme,
unless the context otherwise requires.
Applicability.
Employment as 
apprentice.
Amended by:
XLIV. 1965.4.
Substituted by:
L.N. 61 of 1977;
L.N. 51 of 1978.
4. No person may be employed as an apprentice under this
scheme unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Director that
such person has a standard of education at least equivalent to that
of a person who has either completed the fourth year of a
Secondary School or the full Trade School Course, and has
completed a period of six months as a learner in the calling of neon
sign maker.
Processes to be 
learnt.
5. Employers engaging apprentices under this scheme shall
undertake to teach them and to grant them facilities to learn the
following processes:
( a ) glass treatment and blowing; cleaning, cutting,
bending, welding, stretching, jointing, stemming and
flat-bottoming;
( b ) cleaning, drying and powdering tubes;
( c ) preparation of electrodes;
( d ) exhausting, bombardment and filling of tubes;
( e ) testing tubes, masking electrodes and sections of
tubes;
( f ) assembly, erection and maintenance of neon signs on
site;
( g ) use, care and maintenance of high vacuum equipment,
bench and hand torches.
Period of 
apprenticeship.
Amended by:
L.N. 119 of 1969.
6. The period of apprenticeship shall be of five and a half
years:
Provided that six months shall be deducted from the said
period of five and a half years, up to a total deduction of not more
than two years, in respect of each complete year of attendance by
the prospective apprentice, at any electrical course in a
Government Technical Day-School, as long as such attendance is
certified to be satisfactory by the Director of the School concerned:
2 g S.L.343.04 NEON SIGN MAKERS SCHEME - SCHEME NO. 5
Provided that in respect of contracts of apprenticeship
entered into after the 1st day of January, 1970, for the words "five
and one half years" wherever they occur in this article, there shall
be substituted the words "five years".
Wages.
Substituted by:
G.N. 132 of 1953;
G.N. 213 of 1957;
L.N. 32 of 1967;
L.N. 119 of 1969;
L.N. 124 of 1976;
L.N. 61 of 1977;
L.N. 80 of 1979.
7. The wages payable to apprentices in the callings to which
this scheme applies shall be as follows:
Classes of 
instruction.
Amended by:
G.N. 213 of 1957;
XLIV. 1965.4.
8. The employer shall afford to the apprentices facilities for
attending during the term of apprenticeship such classes of
instruction as the Minister responsible for labour may by order
determine. Such classes shall not take up more than ten hours in
any one week, and if such classes occur during ordinary working
hours, the hours so spent shall be reckoned as hours of employment
for the purposes of the payment of wages.
The apprentice shall be bound to attend all classes
determined as aforesaid. Should he fail so to attend 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.
Hours of work.
Substituted by:
L.N. 119 of 1969;
L.N. 47 of 1970.
9. (1) The hours of work of apprentices employed under this
scheme shall not exceed nine hours in any one day:
Provided that employers may employ apprentices on
overtime work 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 nine hours daily: time
and a half;
( b ) for all time worked in excess of forty-five 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. of any one day and 6 a.m. of the next following
day.
Periods of rest.
Added by:
L.N. 119 of 1969.
Substituted by:
L.N. 80 of 1979.
10. Apprentices shall be granted one whole day of rest in every
calendar week.
Year Wages per week
First Lm 10.55,0
Second Lm 12.55,0
Third Lm 14.56,0
Fourth Lm 16.57,0
Fifth Lm 18.57,0.
NEON SIGN MAKERS SCHEME - SCHEME NO. 5 g S.L.343.04 3
Vacation leave.
Added by:
L.N. 119 of 1969.
Substituted by:
L.N. 77 of 1970;
L.N. 86 of 1977.
11. 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 -
( a ) 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
( b ) vacation leave may not normally be availed of on any
day when the apprentice is required to attend school
for theoretical instruction.
Sick leave.
Added by:
L.N. 119 of 1969.
Cap. 318.
12. (1) 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.
(2) Apprentices shall not be entitled to the payment of any
wages for the first three days of every period of sick leave:
Provided that the number of unpaid days of sick leave shall
not be deducted from the entitlement of paid sick leave.
Bereavement 
leave.
Added by:
L.N. 119 of 1969.
13. Apprentices shall be allowed two days paid leave on 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), son, daughter, brother and sister of the apprentice.
Customary 
holidays.
Added by:
L.N. 119 of 1969.
Amended by:
L.N. 124 of 1976.
Substituted by:
L.N. 61 of 1977.
Cap. 252.
14. In this scheme "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.
Injury leave.
Added by:
L.N. 80 of 1979.
Cap. 318.
15. 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 contravention
by him of safety rules laid down by the management.
