The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
U N IT E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F L A B O R
Frances Perkins, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Isador Lubin, Com m issioner (on leave)
A. F. Hinrichs, A ctin g Com m issioner
+
Paid Vacations in
Am erican Industry
1 9 4 3 and 1 9 4 4
B ulletin 7s£o. 811
{R eprinted from the M onthly L abor R eview, January and February 1945,
w ith additional data]
For sale by the Superintendent o f Documents
United States Government Printing Office
W ashington, D. C.
Price 10 cents
Letter o f Transmittal
U n it e d S t a t e s D e p a r t m e n t of L a b o r ,
B u r e a u of L a b o r S t a t is t ic s ,
U
Washington, D. C., February 17, 1945.
The S e c r e t a r y of L a b o r :
I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on vacations with pay. The
report is in two parts, which appeared in the January and February 1945 issues
of the Monthly Labor Review. In Part I, additional statistical data are included,
and in Part II sample vacation clauses from union agreements are appended.
Vacations with pay in selected industries, 1943 and 1944 (Part I) was prepared
in the Bureau’s Division of Wage Analysis by Pamela Brown under the super
vision of Margaret L. Plunkett; tabulation of the statistical material was under
the supervision of Ida E. Alpert.
Paid-vacation provisions in union agreements, November 1944 (Pi
(Part II) was
prepared in the Bureau’s Industrial Relations Division by James C. Nix under
the supervision of Elizabeth F. Stark.
Chief of the
The introduction to the bulletin was written by N. Arnold Tolies, C
Working Conditions and Industrial Relations Branch of the Bureau.
A. F. H in r ic h s , Acting Comn
Commissioner.
H o n . F r a n c e s P e r k in s ,
Secretary of Labor.
Contents
Page
Introduction___________________________________________________________
Part I.— Vacations with pay in selected industries, 1943-44:
Summary_________________________________________________________
Scope of study:
Source of data________________________________________________
Industry and area coverage____________________________________
Method of analysis and definition of terms_________________________
Vacation provisions for plant employees:
Proportion of workers receiving paid vacations_________________
Type of paid-vacation provisions______________________________
Length of vacation and service periods_________________________
Effect of unionization_________________________________________
Geographical variation________________________________________
Vacation provisions for office employees____________________________
Part II.— Paid-vacation provisions in union agreements, November 1944:
Summary_________________________________________________________
Extent of paid vacations___________________________________________
Vacation provisions in nonmanufacturing-industry agreements:
Mining industry______________________________________________
Transportation industry_______________________________________
Public utilities________________________________________________
Trade, clerical, and professional workers_______________________
Vacation provisions in manufacturing-industry agreements:
Length of paid vacations and service requirements_____________
Minimum work requirements__________________________________
Work requirements in relation to type of vacation plan.________
Effect of lay-offs on vacation eligibility________________________
Vacation pay_________________________________________________
Bonus in lieu of vacation______________________________________
Vacation rights when leaving jobs_____________________________
Timing* of vacation period_____________________________________
Sample vacation clauses in union agreements_______________________
2-week maximum_____________________________________________
Minimum work requirement___________________________________
n
1
3
4
5
6
8
9
9
13
17
17
20
20
21
22
22
23
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
29
29
29
30
B ulletin ?<[o. 811 o f the
U nited States B ureau o f Labor Statistics
[Reprinted from the Monthly Labor Review, January and February 1945, with additional data]
Paid Vacations in American Industry
1943 and 1 9 4 4
Introduction
More than four-fifths of the employees of private industry in the
United States are eligible for vacations with pay, provided they have
met the requirements as to length and regularity of service. Most
office workers have long enjoyed paid vacations and 97 percent of this
group is now eligible for them. For most of the plant workers,
however, paid vacations were not obtained until recently. At present,
vacation provisions apply to about four-fifths of the plant employees
of private industry, including those in both manufacturing and non
manufacturing enterprises.
These over-all proportions of workers under vacation plans are
derived from the results of the two studies of this subject that are
reprinted in this bulletin. The study of Vacations With Pay in
Selected Industries (Part I) has been prepared by the Wage Analysis
Division of the Bureau as a byproduct of its plant surveys of occupa
tional wage rates. The study of Paid Vacation Provisions in Union
Agreements (Part II) has been prepared by the Industrial Relations
Division of the Bureau as part of its continuous analysis of tradeunion agreements.
The Bureau’s two studies of vacation plans provide the basic infor
mation for the following estimates of the proportions of workers who
are eligible for vacations with pay:
Percent under
vacation plans
All employees of private industry_________________________________________
Office employees_____________________________________________________
Plant employees_____________________________________________________
All employees of private industry_________________________________________
Workers under employer-union agreements___________________________
Workers outside employer-union agreements__________________________
All employees of private industry_________________________________________
Manufacturing industries_____________________________________________
Nonmanufacturing industries_________________________________________
Factory workers__________________________________________________________
Office employees of manufacturing plants_____________________________
Plant employees_____________________________________________________
Workers in nonmanufacturing establishments______________________________
Office employees_____________________________________________________
Plant employees_____________________________________________________
86
97
82
86
86
85
86
86
85
86
97
84
85
97
79
Among the workers employed under union agreements, a greater
proportion have vacations in manufacturing (90 percent) than in
nonmanufacturing (75 percent). The reverse is the case for workers
1
2
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
who are not employed under union agreements; slightly more of these
have vacations in the nonmanufacturing industries (87 percent)
than in manufacturing industries (81 percent). The explanation of
this situation lies in the fact that union agreements in nonmanu
facturing are concentrated in industries such as construction, where
vacations with pay are infrequent. Vacation provisions are also
common among the office workers who are numerically more important
in nonmanufacturing than in manufacturing industries. Thus,
nonmanufacturing (only moderately unionized) has a slightly higher
proportion of workers with vacations than manufacturing (highly
unionized). The details are as follows:
Total number
Estimated
of workers
percent under
(in millions) vacation plans
Manufacturing_____________
Union__________________
Nonunion______________
Nonmanufacturing__________
Union__________________
Nonunion______________
Unionized manufacturing___
Office workers__________
Plant workers__________
Nonunion manufacturing___
Office workers__________
Plant workers__________
Unionized nonmanufacturing.
Office workers__________
Plant workers__________
Nonunion nonmanufacturing.
Office workers__________
Plant workers__________
15.6
8. 8
6. 8
16. 8
5.0
11. 8
8. 8
.3
8. 5
6. 8
2 .3
4. 5
5.0
.7
4. 3
11.8
4. 4
7. 4
86
90
81
85
75
87
90
100
90
81
97
73
75
100
73
87
97
82
Among the nonmanufacturing industries, there are sharp contrasts
in the prevalence of paid vacations. Practically all of the coal
miners and almost nine-tentbs of the workers in trade and finance
are employed under vacation plans. About three-fourths of the
workers in transportation have similar benefits. On the other hand,
very few of the workers in the construction industry enjoy paid
vacations.
Where vacation plans exist, there are wide differences in the
liberality of the benefits. The length of the paid vacation varies
from a few days to several weeks. The right to any vacation with
pay depends upon a period of service with the employing company.
This may be less than half a year or more than 5 years. Under some
plans, the length of the allowed vacation is graduated in accordance
with the length of service. In other cases, there is a single vacation
period for all who have been employed for the minimum period of
time. Some of the vacation plans are conditional on a minimum
work requirement, that is, a stipulated length of service within the
previous year.
The nature of the characteristic vacation provisions are presented
in detail in the two parts of this bulletin. It should be noted that
there is considerable divergence in industry coverage. Also, while
these two studies are entirely consistent as regards their general find
ings, there are apparent inconsistencies in detail which arise from
different methods of approach to the subject. In Part I attention is
directed to the amount of vacation pay. Hence, vacation pay is
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES, 19 4 3 AND 1 9 4 4
3
expressed in relation to the actual earnings of workers on the basis of
the prevailing workweek. In Part II attention is directed to the
standard provisions of union agreements, hence the length of vaca
tion is expressed in terms of normal weekly hours as provided by the
agreement. To illustrate the difference in approach, suppose that a
plant which normally worked 40 hours per week has provided 1 week
of vacation with pay. The plant now moves to a 48-hour week. In
terms of the union agreement, the vacation provision is for 1 week.
In terms of the current workweek, the provision gives the worker the
equivalent of what he would earn, not in 6 days, but about what he
would earn in 5 days.
These two studies, taken together, provide the most comprehensive
and detailed analysis ever presented of the vacation benefits provided
to workers in the United States. The findings of the two studies are
reprinted for the purpose of providing a balanced account of vacations
with pay as now provided by private industry in this country.
P art
L— Vacations With Pay in Selected Industries,
1943-44
Sum m ary
Vacations with pay in American industry have become increas
ingly widespread during the past few years. Although the vacation
movement has been gradually gaining in acceptance since the first
World War, it is only in recent years that the practice of granting
paid vacations has become common in many industries. While it
is true that vacation allowances have been considered a prerogative
of office workers for some time, the majority of industrial plant
employees have gained this benefit only in the last few years. In
manufacturing industries vacation plans now apply to about ninetenths of the workers in unionized plants and to three-fourths of those
in unorganized plants. In some of the nonmanufacturing industries
the proportions are even higher.
Wide differences exist among the various vacation plans now in
operation, especially in the liberality of these plans as between the
different branches of manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industry.
The length of the vacation ranges from a few days to several weeks.
The right to any vacation with pay depends on a period of service
with the company, which may be less than half a year or more than
5 years. Under some plans the length of vacation is graduated accord
ing to length of service; under other plans, there is a single provision
for all who meet the minimum terms of eligibility.
The current interest of trade-unions in vacation provisions is well
known, and the extension of such provisions has assumed a prominent
place among union objectives. During the war period, in which wage
increases have been controlled by the Government, one of the most
important benefits that a union could obtain for its members has been
a new or more liberal vacation arrangement. The National War
Labor Board has been deeply concerned with the subject, and its
general policy has been to permit the establishment, and sometimes
the liberalization, of paid-vacation allowances. Specifically, the
Board has usually approved vacations of 1 week after 1 year’s service
4
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
and 2 weeks after 5 years of service. Its recent award in the “ Basic
Steel” case is a notable example of this policy.1
Over 15,000 establishments and 4 million workers in a variety of
important manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries in all
sections of the countiy were covered in a study, made by the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, of vacations with pay in the war year of 1943.
In this period 66 percent of the establishments reporting on plant
employees and 86 percent of those reporting on office employees
allowed these groups of workers some vacation with pay, after various
specified periods of service. More than 3 million plant workers and
over 430,000 office workers were found in these establishments, con
stituting 85 and 97 percent, respectively, of all such workers studied.
Paid vacations were more widespread and applied to somewhat
higher proportions of workers in retail trade and the other selected
nonmanufacturing industries that were studied than in the manufac
turing groups as a whole. In individual manufacturing industries,
however, particularly in some branches of metalworking, equally high
proportions of workers were covered by paid-vacation plans.
One week’s vacation after 1 year of service was the allowance most
commonly provided for plant employees under both single- and graduated-type plans in all industries studied. Over 60 percent of all
plant workers covered by some type of paid-vacation plan, however,
could receive a maximum vacation of more than 1 week after meeting
varying service requirements. Seventy-one percent of the workers
covered by single-plan provisions received a week or less of paid
vacation, generally after 1 year or less of service; another 25 percent
were in plants providing 2 weeks’ vacation. The same type of con
centration applied to workers covered by graduated plans, 97 percent
being found in plants allowing a minimum of up to 1 week after a
specified minimum service period. Seventy-three percent of the
workers in such plants, however, could receive up to 2 weeks’ vacation,
usually after longer periods of service. In two-thirds of the 10,000
plants granting paid vacations the single-type plan prevailed, but the
majority of employees covered were found in establishments having
some form of graduated-type plan.
Practically all the office workers studied (97 percent of the nearly
450,000 office workers for whom data were available) were covered by
paid-vacation provisions. More of these employees were covered by
graduated than by single-type plans. In single-type-plan establish
ments, 63 percent of the office employees received a 2 weeks’ vacation
with pay, usually after 1 year of service. Under graduated plans the
majority had 1 week off with pay after less than a year’s service and
a maximum of 2 weeks after a longer period.
Scope o f Study
SOURCE OF DATA
The wealth of material collected in connection with the Bureau’s
Nation-wide Occupational Wage-Kate Surveys in 1943 and 1944 pro
vides a new opportunity for an analysis of provisions for vacations with
pay in a broad cross section of American industry. Occupational
wage-rate surveys of the major industries in all important cities have
been made in the last 2 years, primarily to furnish the War Labori
i For “ Basic Steel” decision, see Monthly Labor Review, January 1945 (p. 41).
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES.
5
19 4 3 AND 19 4 4
Board with necessary information for use in the setting of wage brack
ets. In addition to the wage and occupational information, however,
these surveys also extended into related subjects in the field of work
ing conditions and labor relations. Among data collected was infor
mation on paid-vacation provisions in effect at the time these estab
lishments were studied. As a result it is possible to summarize infor
mation on this subject as obtained from several thousand establish
ments in all sections of the country.
IN DU STRY A N D AREA COVERAGE
Twenty-one major industry groups were selected for analysis in
this study, 13 in manufacturing, and 8 in nonmanufacturing (table 1).
The major manufacturing industries covered are in the broad fields
of metalworking, foods, textiles, and printing; the major nonmanu
facturing industries are retail trade, banking, metal mining, and
power laundries. The manufacturing industries included are widely
representative of that group, but some significant omissions in the
nonmanufacturing industries should be noted. The only extractive
industries for which data were available— crude-petroleum production
and metal mining— obviously represent the mining groups to only a
limited extent. The omission of the construction industry, which
does not generally provide for paid vacations, and of certain services
such as public utilities and transportation, also undoubtedly affects
the results shown for the nonmanufacturing group. The results of
the study are believed, nevertheless, to be generally significant for
American industry as a whole at the beginning of 1944.1
T
able
1.—Number of Establishments and Employees Studied, by Industry Group,
April 1943-Aprit 1944
Industry group
All selected industries.......................................................
Selected manufacturing industries..................................
Aircraft....... ............................................................
Chemicals and allied products..................................
Electrical machinery........ .......................................
Food and kindred products......................................
Iron and steel products3 ..........................................
Leather and leather products....................................
Lumber and timber basic products......................... .
Machinery (except electrical)....................................
Ordnance and accessories..........................................
Paper and allied products....... ..................................
Printing, publishing and allied industries................
Smelting- nonferrous metals.....................................
Textile-mill products..................................................
Selected nonmanufacturing industries.............................
Banking.............. ......................................................
Crude-petroleum production.....................................
Ferrous and nonferrous metal mining......................
Power laundries..........................................................
Retail trade:
Department stores...............................................
Dry goods stores........................... ......................
Women’s ready-to-wear stores............................
Grocery stores................ .................... ...............
Number of
establish
ments
Number of employees
Total
115,172
4,167,543
11,047
3,665,159
1,152,326
100
673
94,281
593
380,028
2,527
286,043
1,374
364,118
368
57,815
315
22,257
2,022
477,873
432
406,629
605
65,527
1,105
90,748
111
29,155
822
238,359
' 4,125
502,384
649
54,206
155
14.133
314
73,987
724 1
56,455
521
57
566
1,139
208,000
2,399
30,490
62,714
Plant
3,622.877
3,220,998
963,735
78,770
326,490
261,409
333,836
55,126
20,833
421,388
368,340
60,265
72,288
27,018
231,500
401,879
Office
8,521
70,824
53,177
3 544,666
444,161
188,591
15,511
53,538
24,634
30,282
2,689
1,424
56,485
38,289
5,262
18,460
2,137
6,859
100,505
54,206
5,612
3,163
3,278
182,282
2,148
27,033
57,894
25,718
251
3,457
4,820
1 Exceeds the number of establishments reporting for plant employees by the number of banking estab
lishments. all of which are considered to have only office employees.
* Includes 97,887 office employees for whom definite information on paid-vacation provisions was not avail
able. This total thus exceeds, by that number, the total of office employees for whom detailed informa
tion is shown in tables 2 and 10.
8 Includes iron and steel foundries, tin, wire, hand tools and hardware, sanitary ware, boiler shop, metal
stamping and fabricated structural-metal products; excludes blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling mills.
6
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
After selection of these significant industries for study, 83 important
wage areas throughout the country were chosen as a basis for geo
graphical representation. These areas covered 115 cities of 50,000
population and over (including most of the largest cities) as well as
many towns of less than 50,000 population. A distribution of the
establishments and employees covered, by major geographical region,
is shown in table 2. Not all of the industries used in the present
study are found in each of these selected wage areas, however, since
in the occupational wage-rate studies on which this summary is based
only those industries were scheduled which were most important in
each individual area. Because of this variation in industry coverage
from one area to another, no attempt has been made in the survey to
apply weights in order to arrive at comprehensive Nation-wide figures.
T able 2.—Geographic Distribution of Establishments and Employees Studied, by Type
of Paid-Vacation Provision, April 1943-Apru 1944
Establishments
Class of employee and geographic
region
Total
Employees covered
With With With
no
single gradu
ated provi
plan plan
sion
Total
By
single
plan
By
gradu
ated
plan
Plant employees: All regions........ 14,523
Northeast................................ 4,572
Southern and Border States.. 2,875
Middle West........................... 5,433
Mountain and Pacific States.. 1,643
6,388
1,934
926
2,533
995
3,249
1,169
382
1,431
267
4,886 3,622,877 1,177,389 1,891,346
1,469 1,067,433
318,165
629,053
516,154
186,685
155,739
1,567
419,607
1,469 1,631,515
969,331
252,932
381
137,223
407,775
Office employees: All regions....... i 10,869
Northeast------ -------------------- 3,528
Southern and Border States.. 2,231
3,886
Middle West____ ______ ____
Mountain and Pacific States. 1,224
6,847
2,280
1,316
2,413
838
2,523
854
370
1,125
174
1,499
394
545
348
212
446,779
125,691
69,380
203,099
48,609
192,770
39,479
33,178
79,252
40,861
240,170
83,600
34,306
116,810
6,454
No
pro
vision
554,142
120,215
173,730
242,577
17,620
13,839
2,612
1,896
7,037
2,294
1Excludes 2,003 establishments reporting no office employees and 2,300 for which definite information on
paid-vacation provisions for office employees was not available.
Since establishments usually have varying provisions for plant and
office workers, the data have been tabulated separately for the two
groups and are discussed in separate sections of this report. In
general the" term “ plant employees” refers to maintenance, custodial,
and processing workers and may be considered to cover much the same
segment of industrial employees as the term “ wage earners.” All
employees in banks have been classified as office employees.
M ethod o f A n a lysis and D efinition o f Term s
Computation of vacation period.—Any study of paid vacations in
wartime requires an important decision as to the treatment of the
lengthened workweek. Since the beginning of the war the workweek
in many industries has been extended far beyond the usual pre-war
week of 40 hours. In some establishments it has risen to 70 hours.
In attempting to interpret paid-vacation provisions for such a period,
numerous difficulties are inevitably encountered in collating data for
companies having widely varying workweeks. For purposes of this
study, therefore, the length of the paid vacation allowed to plant em
ployees has been related to the current prevailing workweek in each
establishment, rather than to any standard agreement that may have
previously been in effect, and is equivalent to the number of workdays
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES,
19 43 AND 1 9 4 4
7
in a workweek under prevailing wartime conditions, paid for at no less
than straight-time rates.
A simple example will suffice to illustrate the point. Suppose that
a vacation plan; whether included in a union agreement or not, was
drawn up when a plant was working on a 40-hour schedule, and that
it provided for a week’s vacation (40 hours) with pay. Later the
plant shifted to a 48-hour schedule. The worker is still entitled under
the agreement to take a full week’s time off, but with pay for only
the previously scheduled hours (e. g., 40 hours). The above situation
is classified in the following analysis as providing only 5 days of vaca
tion pay, rather than 1 week. Similarly, a 60-hour-week establish
ment providing 40 hours of paid vacation, is classified as having a 4day vacation period. For statistical consistency, establishments cur
rently having a 40-hour workweek and providing 40 hours of paid
vacation have been considered 5-day-vacation establishments. Al
though in these establishments the vacation period is the same as the
current workweek, the treatment given below avoids their classifica
tion in the same group as 48-hour establishments granting 48 hours
or 6 days (1 week) of paid vacation. Establishments providing extra
pay in lieu of vacation have been treated in the same manner as
though time off were allowed, but allowances for additional days off
without pay have not been regarded as the equivalent of paid vacation.
No vacation-period adjustment has been necessary in the data for
office employees, since, in most establishments, office employees are
paid on a weekly or monthly salary basis and receive their regular
pay for vacation periods, regardless of the length of the workweek.
Service 'period.—The term “ service period,” as used in this study,
represents the length of time an employee must have worked to be
come eligible for a specified paid vacation. It should be noted that
for the service period designated as “ 1 year and less than 2 years”
the greater number of plants fall at the lower end of the bracket, com
pletion of 1 year of service being the most common requirement in
the 1- to 2-year range.
Single arid graduated plans.—Paid-vacation provisions may be di
vided into two general types—single or graduated plans. The “ single”
or “ uniform” plan is one which provides a vacation of uniform length
after a fixed minimum period of service but does not increase the
length of vacation after additional years of service; for instance, in
many establishments an employee becomes entitled to a week’s vaca
tion after a year’s service, and his vacation allowance thereafter re
mains 1 week, regardless of the length of time he remains in the com
pany’s employ. The “ graduated” plan, on the other hand, varies the
length of vacation with length of service up to a fixed maximum so
that, within limits, the longer an employee works in a given plant the
more vacation days he is allowed; for example, an establishment
may allow 5 days of paid vacation after 1 year of service and an
additional day, up to a maximum of 10 days, for each subsequent
year of service, the maximum vacation in this case being reached after
6 years of service. There are many variations, of course, in the
amount of increase and required length of service leading up to what
ever maximum vacation period is allowed. Frequently, a graduated
plan provides for a single change from a minimum of 1 week to a
maximum of 10 days or 2 weeks.
638287°— 45----- 2
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
8
Vacation Provisions fo r Plant Em ployees
PROPO RTION OF W O R K E RS R E C E IV IN G PA ID VACATION S
Over 3K million plant workers were employed in the establishments
studied. Eighty-five percent of these workers, employed in twothirds of the establishments, were eligible for paid vacations after some
minimum service period (table 3).
T able 3.—Existence of Paid-Vacation Provisions for Plant Employees, by Type of In
dustry and Unionization, April 1943-April 1944
Establishments
Type of industry and
unionization
Total
Employees covered
With paid- With no
vacation
provisions provisions
Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber cent ber cent ber cent
Num
ber
No pro
visions
Per Number Per Num Per
cent
cent
cent ber
100 9,637
66 4,886
34 3,622,877
100 3,068,735
85 554,142
15
11,047
4,892
6,058
100 7,104
100 3,994
100 3,058
64 3,943
898
82
51 3,000
36 3,220,998
18 2,344,873
49 865,441
100 2,712,641
100 2,065,836
100 637,708
84 508,357
88 279,037
74 227,733
16
12
26
3,476
926
2,524
100 2,533
842
100
100 1,667
73
91
66
27
9
34
100
100
100
356,094
174,986
177,116
89 45,785
96 6,589
82 39,158
11
4
18
All selected industries___ 14,523
Manufacturing in d u s
tries i.............................
Union....... ................
Nonunion..................
Nonmanufacturing in
dustries 1................... .
Union........................
Nonunion..................
By paidvacation
provisions
Total
943
84
857
401,879
181,575
216,274
i The manufacturing and nonmanufacturing subtotals include establishments and employees for which
unionization was not reported. Therefore, the sum of union and nonunion figures in each group will not
equal the group total. A grand total of 123 establishments and 14,714 employees could not be classified by
union status.
In the particular nonmanufacturing industries studied, 73 percent of
the establishments allowed vacations with pay, as compared with 64
percent of the manufacturing establishments. On the basis of workers
rather than establishments, however, less variation was found be
tween the two industry groups, 84 percent of the employees in manu
facturing and 89 percent in the particular nonmanufacturing indus
tries being covered by some form of vacation plan. That the larger
establishments tend to be more liberal in providing paid vacations is
apparent from the uniformly greater proportion of employees, as com
pared with establishments, covered by such provisions.
Considerable variation is observable also among individual industry
groups; for example, 85 percent or more of all the workers in the metal
working industries studied, except iron and steel products, were em
ployed in plants providing some type of vacation. Chemicals, food,
and paper manufacture showed equally high proportions, while in
leather and lumber less than half the workers were covered. Among
those nonmanufacturing groups that were studied the most liberal in
dustries were banking ana retail trade, in which over 90 percent of the
employees enjoyed vacation privileges. Only half of the laundry
workers, on the other hand, received any time off with pay.
9
-PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES, 19 4 3 AND 19 4 4
T Y P E OF P A ID -V A C ATIO N PROVISION
Single- rather than graduated-type plans were in effect in the ma
jority of both the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing establish
ments having paid-vacation provisions, but this type of plan appeared
to be most common in the smaller plants, since only 38 percent of the
covered workers studied were employed in plants having this type of
provision (table 4). It is of interest to note that efforts to liberalize
vacation plans frequently take the form o an attempt to change from
the single to the graduated type of plan.
T able 4.— Type of Paid-Vacation Plan for Plant Employees, by Type of Industry
and Unionization, April 1943-April 1944
Establishments having—
Paidvacation
Type of industry and provisions:
unionization
Total
Single
plan
Employees covered by—
Graduated
plan
Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber cent ber cent ber cent
All selected industries. 9,637
Manufacturing indus•tries1.........................
Union.................
Nonunion..............
Nonmanufacturing in
dustries 1...................
Union....................
Nonunion..............
Paidvacation
provisions:
Total
Num
ber
Per
cent
Single
plan
Num
ber
Graduated
plan
Per
cent
Num
ber
Per
cent
100 6,388
66 3,249
34 3,068,735
100 1,177,389
38 1,891,346
62
7,104
3,994
3,058
100 4,744
100 2,502
100 2,206
67 2,360
63 1,492
72
852
33 2,712,641
37 2,065,836
28 637,708
100 1,037,481
100 756,328
100 276,314
38 1,675,160
37 1,309,508
43 361,394
62
63
57
2,533
842
1,667
100 1,644
518
100
100 1,115
65
62
67
35
38
33
100
100
100
39
40
39
61
60
61
889
324
552
356,094
174,986
177,116
139,908
70,455
68,388
216,186
104,531
108,728
1 The manufacturing and nonmanufacturing subtotals include establishments and employees for which
unionization was not reported. Therefore, the sum of union and nonunion figures in each group will not
equal the group total. A grand total of 76 establishments and 13,089 employees could not be classified by
union status.
LEN GTH OF V A C ATION AND SERVICE PERIODS
Generally speaking, the length of vacation allowed to a plant worker
depends upon the length of time he has worked for a given employer.
If an attempt is made to measure the maximum vacation allowed
under both single and graduated types of plan, it is found that 65
percent of the establishments within the scope of this survey, providing
paid vacations for plant employees, allowed a maximum of 1 week or
less, but that these establishments employed only 36 percent of the
plant workers studied (table 5). The majority of the plant workers
(56 percent) were found in the smaller number of establishments
providing a maximum of from 8 days to 2 weeks, the exact amount
again being related to length of service. Five percent of the em
ployees studied were eligible for more than a 2-weeks vacation after
working for longer periods, usually 10 years or more. Workers re
ceiving a maximum of only 1 week or less were usually required to
have worked 1 year before any vacation was allowed; for workers
receiving a maximum of from 8 days to 2 weeks the most common
service period required was from 2 to 6 years.
10
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
T a ble 5.—Percentage Distribution of Establishments and Plant Employees, by Maxi
mum Paid-Vacation Period 1 and Service Requirement, April 1943-April 1944
All selected in
dustries
Maximum paid-vacation period and
service-period requirement
All plants.................................................
Estab
lish
ments
9,637
Manufacturing
Estab
lish
ments
Employ
ees
Employ
ees
7,104
3,068,735
N onmanufacturing
2,712,641
Estab
lish
ments
Employ
ees
2,533
356,094
Percentage distribution
Vacation of 1 week or less........................
Service of—
Less than 1 year..........................
1 year and less than 2 years........
2 and less than 6 years................
6 and less than 10 years________
10 years and over........................
Service period not specified.......
(2)
(2)
65
36
68
36
58
36
7
48
3
5
27
2
8
48
4
6
26
2
4
47
3
2
30
2
6
(2)
(2)
2
Vacation of 8 days-2 weeks.....................
Service of—
Less than 1 year..........................
1 year and less than 2 years........
2 and less than 6 years................
6 and less than 10 years..............
10 years and over........................
Service period not specified........
32
56
1
9
17
1
2
2
1
13
30
6
5
1
Vacation of over 2 weeks.........................
Service of—
Less than 1 year______________
1 year and less than 2 years........
2 and less than 6 years................
6 and less than 10 years__ _____
10 years and over........................
Service period not specified.......
1
5
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(*)
1
(2)
1
7
(2)
(2)
29
(2)
7
16
1
3
2
2
(2)
2
39
50
1
14
29
7
5
1
11
22
1
2
2
1
9
31
1
6
2
4
4
1
(2)
4
56
(2)
(2)
<*>
(2)
(2)
(2)
1
4
(2)
(2)
(2)
«
(2)
2
(2)
(2)
(2>
(2)
13
(*)
(2)
1
(2)
3
1
9
(*)
Vacation period not specified..................
2
3
2
4
1
1
Total............... ..............................
100
100
100
100
100
100
1 Represents all vacation provisions under single-type plans and the maximum vacation allowed under
graduated-type plans.
* Less than 0.5 percent.
The full significance of the type of vacation plan— single or gradu
ated— is apparent only upon more particular analysis of vacation
allowances under both types. One week or less was by far the most
common paid-vacation period for single-plan establishments, only 11
percent of such establishments granting longer paid-vacation periods
(table 6). Of over 6,000 establishments that had single-type plans,
only 429, employing 291,612 workers, allowed paid vacations of 2
weeks. These workers were heavily concentrated in a comparatively
small number of plants in the aircraft and ordnance industries; a much
larger number of establishments granting this comparatively liberal
vacation were in the food industry, but these establishments employed
relatively few workers. An insignificant number of establishments,
operating under the single-type plan, gave more than a 2-weeks>
vacation, and these were all in retail trade.
11
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES, 19 4 3 AND 19 4 4
T
able
6 . —Percentage
Distribution of Establishments and Plant Employees, by Type of
Plan and Length of Vacation, April 1943-April 1944
Establishments having1—
Employees covered b y »—
Graduated plan3
Length of paid-vacation period
All selected industries................................
Manufacturing _ _.................................
Nonmanufacturing...............................
Single
plan
6,388
4,744
1,644
Mini
mum
period
Maxi
mum
period
3,249
2,360
889
Graduated plan3
Single
plan
Mini
mum
period
3,249 1,177,389 1,891,346
2,360 1,037,481 1,675,160
889
139,908
216,186
Maxi
mum
period
1,891,346
1,675,160
216,186
Percentage distribution
All selected industries: Vacation of—
1 week or less........................................
Less than 5 days............................
5 days............................................1 week (6-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 d ay s.-................................. —
2 weeks...........................................
Over 2 weeks______________________
Vacation period not specified..............
W 1
1
20
1
10
9
74
31
43
4
2
2
3
15
1
8
6
73
48
25
8
4
Total..................................................
100
100
100
100
100
100
Manufacturing industries: Vacation of—
1 week or less........................................
Less than 5 days............................
5 days.............................................
1 week (6-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Over 2 weeks_____________ _________
Vacation period not specified.............
88
4
46
38
10
4
6
99
38
32
29
69
3
35
31
29
2
27
97
37
35
25
2
1
25
1
13
11
69
40
29
4
2
• 2
3
16
1
9
6
73
51
22
7
4
Total..................................................
100
100
100
100
100
100
Nonmanufacturing industries: Vacation
of—
1 week or less........................................
Less t-han 5 days..
... .
5 days___________ - ......................
1 week (6-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 d a y s.......................................
2 weeks..........................................
Over 2 weeks_________ _____ _______
Vanatinn parind not spool*fif'd
86
1
5
80
13
2
11
99
15
7
77
1
6
86
1
10
75
13
2
11
100
28
16
56
(8)
(8)
(8)
Total..................................................
88
3
36
49
11
4
7
(8)
(3)
100
99
32
25
42
<*>
(3)
(3)
0
0
(3)
(3)
(3)
100
0
6
87
10
77
5
2
100
71
2
32
37
27
2
25
(3)
(3)
(8)
(3)
(3)
97
36
33
28
0
(8)
(8)
1
100
100
3
(3)
3
73
21
52
22
2
100
i Includes data for establishments for which unionization was not reported; in total there were 76 establish
ments employing 13,089 workers; 47 of these est ablishments, employing 6,904 workers, had single plans, and
29 establishments, employing 7,185 workers, had graduated plans.
3 The minimum vacation period under a graduated plan represents the shortest paid-vacation period
provided after a specified minimum service period, whereas the maximum is the longest paid-vacation period
provided after a specified longer service period.
3 Less than 0.5 percent.
In establishments having graduated plans, the workers have greater
opportunity, depending on length of service, for longer vacation
periods. Although it is true that the most common minimum vaca
tion under such plans is again 1 week or less (fewer than 1 percent of
such plans provide a minimum of over a week) the maximum period
allowed in such establishments ranges up to more than 2 weeks.
In the manufacturing industries, the most usual maximum was from
8 to 10 days of vacation at regular pay, while in nonmanufacturing.
2 weeks was the most common maximum allowance.
12
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
T able 7.—Percentage Distribution of Establishments and Plant Employees, by Length
of Required Service Period, April 1943-April 1944
Establishments having1—
Employees covered by *—
Graduated plan *
Length of required service period
All selected industries................................
Manufacturing.............. ......................
Nonmanufacturing...............................
Single
plan
Require Require
ment for ment for
minimum maximum
period
period
6,388
4,744
1,644
Graduated plan >
Single
plan
Require Require
ment for ment for
minimum maximum
period
period
3,249 1,177,389 1,891,346
2,360 1,037,481 1,675,160
889
139,908
216,186
3,249
2,360
889
1,891,346
1,675,160
216,186
Percentage distribution
All selected industries: Service of—
Less than 1 year...................................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years.........................
6 and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over___ _ ____________
Service period not specified.................
Total..................................................
Manufacturing industries: Service of—
Less than 1 year...................................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years.........................
6 and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over____ ___________ _
Service period not specified.................
34
59
5
10
74
3
11
80
3
13
2
3
22
57
3
11
4
100
100
100
100
100
100
11
72
3
36
56
6
12
79
3
36
59
4
3
16
54
12
14
1
(3)
(a)
(3)
(3)
(3)
37
58
5
3
15
54
11
16
1
(3)
6
(3)
' 14
2
4
23
54
4
11
4
Total..................................................
100
100
100
100
100
100
Nonmanufacturing industries: Service
of—
Less than 1 year....... ...........................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years..........................
fi and less than 1ft years
10 years and over___________________
Service period not specified.................
7
80
4
28
65
5
5
83
4
41
49
9
9
2
1
19
65
2
9
4
100
100
100
Total..................................................
<3)
(»)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
<3)
6
(3)
7
1
1
12
58
2
25
2
100
100
100
("*)
* Includes data for establishments for which uniormation was not reported; in total there were 76 estab
lishments employing 13,089 workers; 47 of these establishments, employing 5,904 workers, had single plans,
29 establishments, employing 7,185 workers, had graduated plans.
* The minimum service period under a graduated plan represents the shortest service period required
before any paid vacation is allowed, whereas the maximum is the shortest service period required before
the maximum paid vacation is allowed.
* Less than 0.5 percent.
Analysis of the data for individual industries shows that the indus
tries in which vacation provisions were most common (aircraft,
electrical machinery, chemicals, food, and retail trade) were also
those in which the longer vacation periods were provided. It is
also of interest that graduated rather than single-type plans pre
dominated in these industries. Among establishments having the
single-type plan, the aircraft, chemical, and crude-petroleum indus. tries were the only ones in which over 50 percent of the plant workers
were allowed a paid vacation of more than 1 week. By contrast, in
another group of industries— textiles, smelting, paper, electrical
machinery, and laundries—over 95 percent of the workers were
allowed vacations of 1 week or less.
In graduated-plan establishments the majority of workers were
covered by provisions for a maximum paid-vacation period of over
1 week in all industries except textiles and lumber products. The
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES, 1 9 4 3 AND 19 4 4
13
aircraft, chemical, ordnance, electrical machinery, food, and nonferrous-smelting industries had the highest proportion of workers
eligible for the more liberal paid-vacation allowances. Practically
all workers in the chemical and food industries and in the nonmanu
facturing industries surveyed, other than laundries, were in plants
providing a maximum of over 1 week. Over 40 percent of the workers
in the food industries, one-fifth of those in electrical-machinery pro
duction, and about one-third of those in department stores were
employed in plants providing a maximum of over 2 weeks.
Establishments shown in the “ not specified” vacation-period group
include chiefly those which paid a fixed amount of money to the worker
for the vacation period, unrelated to a day’s wage. Many of these
paid a percentage of annual earnings. In some establishments hav
ing graduated plans the minimum but not the maximum vacation
period was specified; hence, with respect to the maximum, these
plants were classified in the “ not specified” group.
The service period required for eligibility for the various paidvacation periods was usually 1 year under the single-plan provisions
and for the minimum allowed by the graduated plans (table 7).
Many graduated-plan establishments, however, granted the minimum
vacation after less than 1 year’s service. From 2 to 6 years’ service
was required for the maximum vacation under graduated plans in
54 percent of the manufacturing and 65 percent of the nonmanu
facturing establishments.
EFFECT OF UN ION IZATION
Plants are classified by the Bureau as union or nonunion on the
basis of whether or not the majority of their workers are covered by
union agreements. Hence, not all of the employees shown under
“ union” are actually covered by union agreements.
The number of establishments operating under union agreements
represented only 40 percent of all establishments covered in the study
and a considerably smaller proportion of the nonmanufacturing
industry groups alone (table 3). However, workers in union estab
lishments accounted for 70 percent of all plant workers studied.
A much higher proportion of union establishments had paid-vaca
tion provisions than did nonunion establishments in manufacturing
industry. Although in terms of the number of employees the varia
tion between union and nonunion plants was not quite so great, there
was still a very noticeable difference. It is generally true, of course,
that more liberal provisions prevail in larger plants and larger commu
nities. Examination of establishments by size, however, indicates
that although both union and nonunion plants in the larger-size group
more often had paid-vacation provisions than did the smaller plants,
in each size group a considerably larger proportion of union than of
nonunion establishments had such provisions.
A somewhat larger proportion of union than of nonunion establish
ments had graduated rather than single plans (but, as for all estab
lishments, these were fewer in number than single-plan estab
lishments, table 4). The length of paid vacations and service-period
requirements in union establishments (tables 8 and 9) do not differ
markedly from those shown for the entire group of plants studied.
14
T
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
able
8 . —Percentage Distribution of Establishments
and Plant Employees, by Unioniza
tion and Type of Vacation Plan, April 1943-April 1944
UNION ESTABLISHMENTS
Establishments having—
Length of paid-vacation period
All selected industries.................................
Manufacturing.....................................
Nonmanufacturing...............................
Employees covered by—
Graduated plan1
Single
plan
Maxi
mum
Mini
mum
3,020
2,502
518
1,816
1,492
324
Graduated plan1
Single
plan
1,816
1,492
324
Mini
mum
Maxi
mum
826,783 1,414,039
756,328 1,309,508
70,455
104,531
1,414,039
1,309,508
104,531
Percentage distribution
All selected industries: Vacation of—
1 week or less........................................
Less than 5 days............................
5 days.............................................
1 week (6-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Over 2 weeks ___
_ _ __ _ _
Vacation period not specified..............
80
2
45
42
9
4
5
2
Total..................................................
100
Manufacturing industries: Vacation of—
1 week or less........................................
Less than 5 days............................
5 days......... ...................................
1 week (6-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Over 2 weeks___ ___ _
_______
Vacation period not specified...........
88
3
52
33
9
4
5
3
Total..................................................
100
Nonmanufacturing industries: Vacation
of—
1 week or less........................................
Less than 5 days....
R days ___ _ _
_ _
1 week (6-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days........................................
2 weeks
_
,
Over 2 weeks _______ _ _______
Vacation period not specified________
Total..................................................
See footnotes at end o f table.
98
30
31
37
69
2
35
32
28
2
26
1
19
1
11
7
75
38
37
4
2
3
4
7
4
76
51
25
8
5
100
100
100
100
100
98
34
36
28
67
2
37
28
29
2
27
96
31
42
23
i
22
1
13
8
72
44
28
4
2
4
4
8
4
76
52
24
7
5
100
100
100
100
100
93
1
8
84
7
2
5
100
14
7
79
(2)
(2)
3
93
1
8
84
7
2
5
100
31
19
50
(2)
(2)
2
100
100
100
100
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
3
90
14
76
5
2
100
96
31
40
25
11
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
12
(2)
2
78
30
48
19
1
100
15
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES, 1 9 4 3 AND 1 9 4 4
T
able
8 . —Percentage
Distribution of Establishments and Plant Employees, by Unioniza
tion and Type of Vacation Plan9 April 1943-April 1944—Continued
NONUNION ESTABLISHMENTS
Establishments having—
Length of paid-vacation period
AH selected industries.................................
Manufacturing.....................................
Nonmanufacturing...............................
Employees covered by—
Graduated plan 1
Single
plan
3,321
2,206
1,115
Mini
mum
Maxi
mum
1,404
852
552
1,404
852
552
Graduated plan1
Single
plan
344,702
276,314
68,388
Mini
mum
Maxi
mum
470,122
361,394
108,728
470,122
361,394
108,728
99
51
11
37
Percentage distribution
AM selected industries: Vacation of—
1 week or less.......................................
Less than 5 days............................
5 days.............................................
1 week (6-7 days)......................... .
8 days-2 weeks.................................... .
8-10 days........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Over 2 weeks______________________
Vacation period not specified..............
i
24
1
12
11
66
41
25
8
2
Total..................................................
100
100
100
100
100
100
Manufacturing industries: Vacation of—
1 week or less.......... .............................
Less than 5 days............................
5 days.............................................
1 week (6-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days........................................
2 wpfiks
. _
Over 2 weeks______________________
Vacation period not specified..............
90
5
41
44
10
5
5
100
47
23
30
(2)
(2)
31
1
14
16
64
32
32
3
2
73
5
29
39
27
2
25
99
57
11
31
87
4
28
55
12
4
8
(2)
(2)
99
34
17
48
1
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
Total........................................... ......
100
100
Nonmanufacturing industries: Vacation
o f1 week or less........................—............
T,ass than Rdays
5 days_________________________
1 week (6-7 days)..........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Over 2 weeks______________________
Vacation period not specified_______
83
1
3
79
16
2
14
99
16
7
76
1
Total..................................................
(2)
22
1
9
12
72
22
50
4
2
(2)
1
1
100
100
(2)
74
4
26
44
26
2
24
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
1
29
2
15
12
65
49
16
4
2
100
100
100
100
7
78
1
11
66
21
3
18
99
26
13
60
1
7
86
7
79
5
2
100
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
1
100
100
4
(2)
4
69
13
56
24
3
100
i The minimum vacation period under a graduated plan represents the shortest paid-vacation period
provided after a specified service period, whereas the maximum is the longest paid-vacation period provided
after a specified longer service period.
* Less than 0.5 percent.
638287°— 45----- 3
16
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
T ab le 9.—Percentage Distribution of Establishments and Plant Employees, by Union
ization and Length of Required Service Period, April 1943-April 1944
UNION ESTABLISHMENTS
Establishments having—
Employees covered by—
Graduated plan 1
Length of required service period
All selected industries........... ....................
Manufacturing.....................................
Nonmanufacturing...............................
All selected inustries: Service of—
Less than 1 year...........— ...................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years..........................
€ and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over___________________
Service period not specified.................
Total..................................................
Single
plan
3,020
2,502
518
Single
plan
Require Require
ment for ment for
minimum maximum
period
period
1,816
1,816
826,783 1,414,039
1,492
1,492
756,328 1,309,508
324
324
70,455
104,531
Percentage distribution
9
76
3
27
65
6
12
100
2
100
11
74
2
30
63
5
13
100
2
100
4
83
7
17
69
13
6
100
1
100
(2)
Manufacturing industries: Service of—....
Less than 1 year_________ _________
1 year and loss than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years.........................
6 and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over......... ...... ..................
Service period not specified.................
Total.................................................
Nonmanufacturing industries: Service of—
Less than 1 year...................................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years.........................
6 and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over.................................
Service period not specified_________
Total....................... .........................
Require Require
ment for ment for
minimum maximum
period
period
Graduated plan i
(2)
2
17
61
5
12
3
100
8
84
3
31
64
5
5
100
<*>
100
8
84
3
31
65
4
(2)
3
18
60
4
11
4
100
5
100
1
8
67
4
17
3
100
(2)
100
2
88
4
34
48
17
1
5
100
1
100
1,414,039
1,309,508
104,531
2
14
57
10
16
1
100
2
14
57
11
15
1
100
1
10
58
3
27
1
100
NONUNION ESTABLISHMENTS
All selected industries.................................
Manufacturing...... ..............................
Nonmanufacturing...............................
All selected industries: Service of—
Less than 1 year....................................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years..........................
6 and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over..................................
Service period not specified.................
Total..................................................
Manufacturing industries: Service of—
Less than 1 year................. .................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years.........................
6 and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over...... ............................
Service period not specified......... „......
Total..................................................
Nonmanufacturing industries: Service o fLess than 1 year...................................
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years.........................
6 and less than 10 years........................
10 years and over................................ .
Service period not specified.................
Total............... .................................
3,321
2,206
1,115
1,404
1,404
344,702
470,122
852
852
276,314
361,394
552
552
68,388
108,728
Percentage distribution
11
72
3
(2)
(2)
(2)
( 2)
42
52
4
(2)
13
100
2
100
12
69
4
46
45
7
(2)
15
100
2
100
9
79
2
35
62
1
w 10
100
2
100
(2)
4
29
51
3
9
4
100
6
30
43
4
12
5
100
1
26
63
1
5
4
100
19
70
3
(2)
55
40
4
(2)
(2)
8
100
100
21
68
3
57
37
5
(2)
(2)
I
(2)
8
100
1
100
9
78
4
49
49
1
9
100
100
(2)
I
470,122
361,394
108,728
6
21
45
13
13
2
100
8
23
41
17
10
1
100
2
14
58
1
22
3
100
1The minimum service period under a graduated plan represents the shortest service period required
before any paid vacation is showed whereas the maximum is the shortest service period required before
the maximum paid vacation is allowed.
3 Less than 0.5 percent.
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES,
17
1 9 43 AND 19 4 4
GEOGRAPHICAL V A R IATIO N
Geographically, the Southern and Border States had the lowest
proportion of establishments (less than half) with paid-vacation pro
visions for plant workers (table 2). In other regions, from 68 to 77
percent of the establishments provided some vacation for their plant
employees, and from 85 to 96 percent of the workers were found in
these plants.
Vacation Provisions fo r Office Em ployees
Paid vacations have been provided for office workers for a much
longer time and much more generally than for plant workers. In
fact, this type of perquisite has been considered one of the advantages
of office work. Because of the more general acceptance of paidvacation provisions for these workers, discussion and presentation of
data on their current situation is of less immediate significance than
the data relating to plant employees. This section, therefore, gives
only a brief summary of paid-vacation data applicable to office
workers and is included merely to round out the picture with respect
to the establishments studied.
About 11,000 of the establishments included in the study reported
definite information on paid-vacation provisions for office workers
(table 10). These establishments employed almost half a million
office workers, of whom 80 percent were in the manufacturing indus
tries. Banks are included in the office-worker tabulations in addition
to the industries studied in connection with plant employees.
T able 10.— Type of Paid-Vacation Provision for Office Employees, by Type of In
dustry, April 1943-April 1944
Total
Type of industry
Establishments: All selected in
dustries 1.....................................
Manufacturing industries___
Nonmanufacturing industries.
Employees: All selected indus
tries...........................................
Manufacturing industries___
Nonmanufacturing industries.
Paid-vacation provisions
Paidvacation
provisions
No provi
sions
9,370
7, 265
2,105
1,499
1,187
312
14
14
13
97 13,839
97 11,193
97 2,646
3
3
3
Single
Graduated
To
plan
plan
tal:
Per
Num Per Num Per Num Per cent Num Per Num Per
ber cent ber cent
ber cent ber cent ber cent
10,869
8,452
2,417
446,779
355,366
91,413
100
100
100
100 432,940
100 344,173
100 88,767
86
86
87
100
100
100
6,847
5,448
1,399
100 192,770
100 164,028
100 28,742
73
75
66
2,523
1,817
706
27
25
34
44 240,170
47 180,145
32 60,025
56
53
68
i Excludes 2,003 establishments reporting no office employees, 1,113 not reporting on vacations for office
employees, and 1,187 for which provisions were not designated as being applicable to plant or office employees.
The latter are included only with plant data.
Although only 86 percent of the establishments had regular vacation
plans for office workers, 97 percent of the office employees studied were
working in these establishments. In general, the paid-vacation period
allowed for office workers was more liberal than that for plant employ
ees. Almost half of the single-plan establishments, employing almost
three-fourths of the office workers covered by such plans, provided for
from 8 days to 2 weeks of paid vacation. Two weeks was the most
common maximum under graduated plans, although 133 establish
18
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
ments with over 30,000 office employees allowed a maximum of more
than 2 weeks.
One year was the most usual service period required for any paid
vacation under the single-type plan. Under graduated plans tne
service requirement for the minimum paid vacation was generally
less than a year, except in metal mining, and for the maximum paidvacation period, 1 year and from 2 to 6 years were almost equally
common requirements.
T a ble 11.—Percentage Distribution of Establishments and Office Employees, by Type
of Paid-Vacation Plan, April 1943-April 1944
Establishments having—
Length of paid-vacation period
All selected industries.................................
Manufacturing......................................
Nonmanufacturing...............................
Employees covered by—
Graduated plan1
Single
plan
0,847
5,448
1,399
Mini
mum
period
Maxi
mum
period
2,523
1,817
700
Graduated plan1
Single
plan
2,523
1,817
706
192,770
164,028
28,742
Mini
mum
period
Maxi
mum
period
240,170
180,145
60,025
240,170
180,145
60,025
Percentage distribution
All selected industries: vacation of—
1 week or less........................................
Less than 5 days......................... .
5 days..............................................
1 week (0-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days.........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Over twd weeks______ ____ _________
Vacation period not specified------------
53
0
(2)
0
Total..................................................
Manufacturing industries: vacation of—
1 week or less........................................
Less than 5 days.............................
5 days.............................................
1 week (0-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days.........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Ovftr 2 weeks . ,,
Vacation period not specified...............
Total..................................................
(2)
8
0
2
100
100
53
98
19
18
61
2
7
45
47
10
37
(2)
0
( 2)
98
19
15
64
2
(2)
(2)
Total..................................................
Nonmanufacturing industries: vacation
of—
l week or less........................................
L a s s than 5 days r _
_ _ ____
5 days
1 week (0-7 days)...........................
8 days-2 weeks......................................
8-10 days.........................................
2 weeks...........................................
Over 2 weeks______________________
Vacation period not specified________
0
47
47
9
38
(2)
1
0
1
6
86
17
69
5
1
9
0
2
7
87
20
67
3
1
100
100
55
97
16
9
72
3
1
2
5
( 2)
100
100
5
84
10
74
10
1
100
6
21
73
10
63
0
0
100
100
1
53
44
5
39
1
27
0
0
0
5
0
2
0
100
100
27
99
24
19
56
1
8
19
73
11
62
0
0
0
0
98
24
18
56
2
0
0
0
2
3
81
20
61
13
1
100
6
0
3
3
86
24
62
7
1
100
100
100
28
92
22
14
56
8
2
6
1
28
71
6
65
1
0
100
100
1
67
7
60
31
1
100
1 The minimum vacation period under a graduated plan represents the shortest paid vacation period pro
vided after a specified minimum service period, whereas the maximum is the longest paid vacation period
provided after a specified longer service period.
* Less than 0.5 percent.
PART I— SELECTED INDUSTRIES,
T
able
19
1 9 43 AND ^ 944
12.—Percentage Distribution of Establishments and Office Employees, by Length
of Required Service Period, April 1943-April 1944
Establishments having—
Employees covered by—
Graduated plan1
Length of required service period
All selected industries__________________
Manufacturing.
.
... .
Non mami fantiiring
Single
plan
6,847
5,448
1,399
Graduated plan1
Require Require
ment for ment for
mini
maxi
mum
mum
period
period
2,523
1,817
706
Single
plan
2,523
1,817
706
Require Require
ment for ment for
mini
maxi
mum
mum
period
period
192,770
164,028
28,742
240,170
180,145
60,025
240,170
180,145
60,025
Percentage distribution
All selected industries: Service of—
Lass than 1 year
__ .
1 year and less than 2 years_________
2 anA loss than fi years....... _ _ .
6 and less than 10 years___ ____ _____
10 years and over___________________
Service period not specified _
Total
_ .... .
_
___
12
69
1
18
3
4
44
40
1
6
5
100
100
100
11
69
1
53
43
(1
2)
Manufacturing industries: Service of—
Less than 1 year___________________
1 year and less than 2 years. _________
2 and less than 6 years______________
6 and less than 10 years_____________
10 years and over___________________
fiervice period not specified
Total
________ . . . .
Nonmanufacturing industries: Service of—
Less than 1 year___________________
1 year and less than 2 years.................
2 and less than 6 years______________
6 and less than 10 years....... ............ .
10 years and over___________________
Service period not specified___
Total
55
41
1
(2)
100
100
8
86
68
30
1
100
100
16
73
65
30
100
60
37
13
3
4
46
36
1
9
4
100
100
100
(2)
2
100
(2)
100
100
(2)
(!) r
100
3
12
73
2
8
48
27
1
12
4
6
19
(2)
67
30
1
9
53
27
1
6
4
4
44
41
1
5
5
1
9
84
(2)
'
(2)
1
(2)
10
5
7
32
27
1
28
5
100
100
100
1
(2)
(2)
1 The minimum service period under a graduated plan represents the shortest service period required
before any paid vacation is allowed, whereas the maximum is the shortest service period required before the
maximum paid vacation is allowed.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.
20
P art
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
II.— Paid-Vacation Provisions in Union Agree
ments, November 1944
Summ ary
Clauses providing for vacations with pay have become a standard
feature of union agreements in most of the major industries, and
recent efforts of the unions have been directed toward liberalizing
such vacation allowances. At present, approximately 85 percent
(11K million) of all workers under agreement are covered by paidvacation clauses. In manufacturing industries nearly 90 percent
(7.8 million) and in nonmanufacturing industries nearly 75 percent
(3.7 million) of the workers under collective-bargaining arrangements
are now covered by paid-vacation clauses. The smaller proportion
in nonmanufacturing is due to the fact that agreements for buildingtrades workers, longshoremen, actors, and musicians are almost
entirely without paid-vacation provisions.1
Extent o f P aid Vacations
Early in 1943 about 60 percent of all workers under union agree
ments were covered by paid-vacation provisions, as compared with
only 25 percent in 1940. Although the nonoperating employees of
railroads have received vacations with pay since 1941, operating
employees were granted their first vacations by the terms of the agree
ment which settled the railroad dispute in December 1943. Prior
to 1944 only a small proportion of the workers in the clothing industry
were employed under agreements providing paid vacations, but
recently negotiated agreements covering a large number of workers in
both the men’s and the women’s clothing trades have included paidvacation clauses. Other industries in which the proportion of workers
eligible for paid vacations has increased considerably in the past year
are lumber, machinery, cotton textiles, shoes and other leather
products, furniture and finished wood products, and pottery. Coal
miners were first granted vacations and vacation bonuses by their 1941
agreements. Vacation allowances also became widespread during
1941 and 1942 in the shipbuilding, aircraft, steel, and other metal
industries.
Vacations with pay are least prevalent in seasonal industries and
occupations (such as the building trades) in which the workers are
employed by a number of different employers during the course of the
year. However, the difficulty presented by diversity of place of
employment is sometimes solved by pooling employers’ contributions
and paying vacation allowances from a central fund. Several agree
ments covering large numbers of workers in the men’s and women’s
clothing trades, for example, provide such plans.
A few agreements make the granting of vacation rights contingent
upon the financial status of the company. In such cases vacations
are allowed only if the company’s profits, sales volume, or dividends
reach a specified level.
1In general, paid vacations are more common in nonmanufacturingthan the above figures indicate since
there is comparatively little union organization in retail trade and offices in which vacations are most
common.
21
PART II— UNION AGREEMENT PROVISIONS
T
able
1.—Percent of Workers Under Agreements in Effect in 1944, Who Were Covered
by Paid-Vacation Clauses
Paid vacation clauses covering60-90 percent of workers
90 percent or more workers
40-60 percent of
workers
Manufacturing industries
Breweries
Canning and preserving
foods
Clay products, structural
Clothing, men’s
Clothing, women’s
Concrete, gypsum, and
plaster products
Cotton textiles
Dyeing and finishing textiles
Furniture and finished wood
Leather tanning and finish
ing
Lumber
Machine tools and acces
sories
Newspaper printing and
publishing
Paper and pulp, primary
Pottery
Shipbuilding
Shoes
Steel products
Tobacco
Agricultural machinery
Aircraft
Automobiles
Baking
Blast furnaces, steel works, rolling mills
Cement
Chemicals
Clocks and watches
Confectionery products
Electrical machinery
Flour and other grain products
Glass, flat
Hosiery
Jewelry and silverware
Machinery, excluding machine tools
Meat packing
Nonferrous metals
Paper products
Petroleum refining
Rubber
Sugar refining
Woolen and worsted textiles
Book and job printing
and publishing
Glass containers
Leather products, ex
cept shoes
Silk and rayon textiles
Nonmanufacturing industries1
Building service
Bus and streetcar, intercity and local
Coal mining
Crude oil and natural gas
Electricity, water, and gas
Hotels and restaurants
Iron mining
Laundry and dry cleaning
Newspaper offices
Nonferrous-metal mining
Office, technical, and professional
Railroads, operating and nonoperating personnel
Telephone and telegraph service and maintenance
Trade, wholesale and retail
Maritime, licensed and un
licensed personnel
NonmetalHc mining and
quarrying
Trucking, local and inter
city
i Building-trades workers, longshoremen, fishermen, actors, and musicians are almost entirely without
paid vacations.
Vacation Provisions in N onm anufacturing-Industry
Agreements
M IN ING IN DU STRY
The agreements in both anthracite and bituminous-coal mining
provide a lump-sum vacation payment of $50 to all employees with
service records of a year or longer. In the anthracite agreement, pay
ment of the full amount is predicated on an employee’s having worked
in each of the 24 semimonthly pay periods; employees who have not
worked during all the pay periods receive a vacation allowance pro
rated according to the number of pay periods worked. The Appala
chian agreement for the bituminous miners contains no specific rule
other than the year’s service requirement but states that the various
district conferences shall adopt their own “ proper rules and regula
tions.” Both the anthracite and bituminous agreements provide for
10 days’ time off; during 1943 and 1944, however, the miners agreed
to accept a bonus in lieu of vacation, in order to take care of war pro
duction needs.
22
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
Practically all of the iron-ore miners are employed under paidvacation clauses which allow 1 week after 3 years' service and 2 weeks
after longer service. For about three-fourths of these workers the
service requirements for 2 weeks' vacation is 15 years, and for the
remaining workers 10 years.
Agreements covering about two-thirds of the nonferrous-metal
miners under paid-vacation clauses allow 1 week's vacation after 1
year of service and 2 weeks after 5 years. Most of the remaining
one-third of the workers are employed under single vacation plans
which provide 1 week's vacation after a year of service.
About 60 percent of the workers employed under paid-vacation
clauses in non metallic mining and quarrying are eligible for a maxi
mum of 1 week's vacation, usually after a year of service. Most of
the remaining workers are employed under graduated vacation plans
which allow 1 week after a year of service and 2 weeks after service
varying from 2 to 15 years.
T R AN SPORTATION IN DU STRY
Both operating and nonoperating employees in the railroad in
dustry receive a week's vacation with pay, provided they have worked
160 days within the year. Railroad clerks' and telegraphers' agree
ments also provide 9 days' paid vacation after 2 years' service and 12
days after 3 years.
Although a considerable number of agreements in the trucking in
dustry allow 2 weeks' paid vacation after 1 year of service, and some
provide 2 weeks after longer periods of service, over half of the workers
under paid-vacation clauses in this industry are covered by agreements
which allow a week's vacation after a year of service.
In the street-railway and bus industry, the major portion of the
workers are employed under agreements allowing a maximum vaca
tion of 2 weeks; for about half of these workers the service require
ment for 2 weeks' vacation is 1 year, while the remaining workers are
employed under graduated vacation plans which allow a week's vaca
tion after service varying from 6 months to 1 year and 2 weeks after
service varying from 2 to 5 years.
Because the nature of their work requires prolonged absences from
home, the vacation allowances for most maritime employees are com
paratively liberal. Union agreements covering personnel on tankers
commonly allow 30 days' paid vacation after a year of service for
licensed officers and 21 days after a year for unlicensed personnel.
On dry-cargo ships, officers usually receive 2 weeks after 1 year and
the unlicensed personnel 1 week after 1 year and 2 weeks after 2 years.
PU BLIC U T ILITIE S
In the light and power industry, most of the workers are employed
under agreements allowing a maximum of 2 weeks' paid vacation.
The service requirement for a considerable number of these workers
is 1 year, but the majority receive only a week's vacation after a
year's service and must work from 2 to 5 years to be eligible for 2
weeks' vacation.
M ost of the telephone and telegraph operating and maintenance
workers under paid-vacation clauses are eligible for 1 week's vacation
after 1 year of service, 2 weeks after 2 years, and 3 weeks after longer
PART II— UNION AGREEMENT PROVISIONS
23
periods of service; for about half of those eligible for 3 weeks, the
service requirement is 15 years, but for employees of the Western
Union Telegraph Co. it is 30 years.
T R A D E , C L ER IC A L, AN D PR OFESSION AL W O RKERS
In wholesale and retail trade the most prevalent type of vacation
clause is that which grants 1 week’s vacation after 1 year of service,
although many agreements allow a maximum of 2 weeks, usually after
2 years’ service.
Nearly all agreements covering office, technical, and professional
workers provide for at least 2 weeks’ paid vacation, usually after a
year of service.
Vacation Provisions in M anufacturing-Industry
Agreem ents2
LEN GTH OF PA ID VACATION S AND SERVICE REQUIREM ENTS
During 1944 there was not only a great increase in the number of
manufacturing workers covered by vacation provisions but also a con
siderable liberalization in the length of vacations allowed. As already
noted, nearly 90 percent of all manufacturing workers employed under
union agreements are covered by agreements which grant paid vaca
tions. A year ago the most common type of vacation clause was that
which granted a maximum of 1 week’s vacation with pay after 1 year
of service. At present 2 weeks’ paid vacation, after specified service
requirements, is provided in agreements covering about 56 percent
(4.4 million) of those employed under paid-vacation clauses, while 37
percent (2.9 million) are under agreements providing a maximum
allowance of 1 week. Two percent are eligible for a maximum of 3
weeks’ vacation; for 1 percent the maximum is between 1 and 2 weeks;
and for 4 percent the maximum allowance is not known.3
One-week maximum.—Agreements covering 28 percent of the work
ers under paid-vacation clauses allow a week of vacation after a year
of service. An additional 5 percent are employed under agreements
which allow 3 days’ paid vacation to employees with 6 months’ service
and 1 week to those with 1 year of service. A few agreements allow a
full week’s vacation after only 6 months’ service and a few require
employees to work as long as 5 years for a week’s vacation.
In the following manufacturing industries, the majority of the
workers covered by paid-vacation clauses are employed under plans
providing for a maximum of 1 week after 1 year’s service: Ship
building; textiles; men’s clothing; shoes and other leather products;
canning and preserving; stone, clay, and glass products; and lumber.
Two-week maximum.—Most agreements which provide for a maxi
mum of 2 weeks’ vacation have graduated plans which allow 1 week’s
vacation to employees having less service (most commonly 1 year)*
* Based on an analysis of over 2,000 union agreements in manufacturing industries. In the baking and
printing and publishing industries, data on vacation provisions were compiled from questionnaires which
were confined to provisions regarding the amount of vacation allowed and the length of service required.
s In the few cases in which agreements allow a specified amount of time off with pay and give employees
the option of using this time either as vacation or sick leave, the entire amount of paid time off is considered
a vacation allowance in this report. However, if agreements allow both vacation and sick leave, only the
vacation allowance is included in this report. Several agreements, particularly in the tobacco industry,
provide a split vacation, 1 week of which is to be taken at Christmas. In such cases, if the agreement speci
fies that the second week’s pay is a Christmas bonus, such bonus payment is not included in this report
as a vacation allowance, even though the plant may actually be closed during the holidays.
24
1?AID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
than is required for the full 2 weeks. For example, agreements cover
ing over 40 percent of the workers employed under paid-vacation
clauses provide for 1 week’s vacation after 1 year’s service and 2 weeks
after 5 years.
In the following industries the majority of the workers covered by
paid-vacation clauses receive a maximum of 2 weeks after meeting
specified service requirements: Automobiles, aircraft, basic steel,
machinery, rubber, aluminum fabrication, industrial chemicals, petro
leum refining, and tobacco.
T ab le 2.—Percentage Distribution of Manufacturing Workers Covered by Paid-Vacation
Clauses, by Length of Vacation and Service Requirements, 1944
Length of vacation and service requirements
Per
cent
Plans providing maximum vacation of 1 week
1 week after 6 to 10 months......................
8 days after 6 months, 1 week after 1 year..
fcweek after 1 year....................................
1 week after 2 to 3 years...........................
1 week after other periods of service........
Plans providing maximum vacatioif of over
1 week but less than 2 weeks *_....................
Plans providing maximum vacation of 2
weeks................................. . .............. . ........
1 week after 6 months, 2 weeks after 1
year........................................................
2 weeks after 1 year..................................
1 week after 1 year, 2 weeks after 2 to 4
years.................................................
1 week after 1 year, ? weeks after 5 years.
37
1
5
28
1
2
1
56
2
1
3
41
Per
Length of vacation and service requirements cent
Plans providing maximum vacation of 2
weeks—Continued.
1 week after 1 year, 2 weeks after 6 to 10
years....................... .............................
1 week after 2 years, 2 weeks after 4 to 6
years____________________ __________
2 days after 6 months, 2 weeks after 6
years1_____________________________
2 weeks after other periods of service___
Plans providing maximum vacation of 3
weeks__________ ______ ________________
1 week afterll year, 2 weeks after 5 years,
3 weeks after 20 years5..........................
Maximum not known.....................................
Total workers under paid-vacation clauses.. .
2
2
3
2
2
2
4
100
1Nearly all of these agreements allow a maximum of 8 days’ vacation after specified lengths of service rang
ing from 1 to 10 years.
* In addition to the minimum and maximum allowances, workers employed under this vacation plan also
receive intermediate allowances graduated according to length of service.
* For female employees the service requirement for 3 weeks’ vacation is 15 years.
Three-week maximum.— Practically all of the workers under agree
ments providing for a maximum of 3 weeks’ paid vacation are em
ployed in the meat-packing industry. These agreements allow 1
week’s vacation after 1 year of service, 2 weeks after 5 years, and 3
weeks after 15 years for female employees and 20 years for male
employees.
M INIM UM W O R K R EQU IREM EN TS
Service requirements for vacation eligibility refer to the time an
employee has been on the company pay roll, regardless of absences
caused by personal reasons or temporary lay-offs resulting from slack
work. In addition to service requirements, 20 percent of the agree
ments providing a week or more of paid vacation, covering 30 percent
of the workers under such agreements, specify that an employee must
actually have worked a specified minimum time during the preceding
year in order to be eligible for the paid vacation. In industries which
are unable to provide all their employees with continuous employment
throughout the year, stringent work requirements may deprive many
employees of the vacation benefits earned through length of service,
even though they regularly report for work whenever they are needed.
A number of agreements make allowance for absences beyond the
employees’ control by excluding from minimum work requirements
time lost through lay-offs and sickness; in other words, in determining
vacation eligibility such absences are counted as time worked.
25
PART II— UNION AGREEMENT PROVISIONS
Agreements providing vacation payments which are based upon a
percent of annual earnings automatically reflect absences from work
and therefore seldom set minimum work requirements. Since
vacation pay equivalent to 2 percent of annual earnings approxi
mates 1 week’s pay based on a full year’s work, employees who have
lost more than a few days’ work during the year do not receive a full
week’s pay under this type of vacation allowance unless, of course,
they have worked sufficient overtime during the year to offset their
absences.
Almost half of the workers in manufacturing industries covered by
agreements with work requirements (most of them employed in the
shipbuilding industry) must work a minimum of 1,200 hours during
the year to be eligible for a vacation. For over a fourth of the
workers covered by agreements with work requirements, the minimum
specified is 60 percent of the pay periods during the year. Many of
the agreements covering large steel companies have this requirement.
Table 3 shows the distribution of workers by minimum work re
quirements, expressed in various time units. Since very few agree
ments specify “ full days,” “ full weeks,” or “ full months,” it is im
possible to convert all the work requirements to the same time unit.
Only if the requirements are expressed in hours is there certainty
that the number given signifies actual work time; where the time is
stated in minimum days, weeks, months, or pay periods, the employees
usually receive credit for the entire time unit if they work any part
of it. Thus, an agreement with a minimum time requirement of
32 weeks might conceivably allow an employee a vacation if he worked
only 1 day in each of those weeks.
T a b le 3.—Percentage Distribution of Manufacturing Workers Covered by Paid-Vacation
Clauses, by Type o f Work Requirements
Type of work requirements
Specified hours per year__ __ ________ _
480 to 600 hours...... ........................
760 to 960 hours...... ........... - ........... .
i,000 to 1,120 hours....... ...................
1,200 hours.........................................
1,250 to 1,560 hours....... _ ................
1,600 hours.......... .......... .............
1,650 to 1,920 hours... ....................
2,040 to 2,350 hours...... .................
Specified days per year________________________
75 days........... ............................
90 days........ .......................................
100 to 120 days................... ................
150 to 180 days___________________
195 to 225 days....................................
Percent
63.4
.1
1.0
2.8
48.3
3.7
2.0
4.9
.6
2.1
(2)
(2)
Type of work requirements
1
.2
1.3
.6
Percent1
Specified weeks per year
12 to 17 weeks____________________
20 to 30 weeks....... .............. ...........
32 weeks..... ............. .... ........... ........
35 to 39 weeks..............................
40 to 42 weeks...............................
44 to 48 weeks........... .......... .........
Specified months per year_____________ ______
3 mouths
to 6 months _ _ _
8 to 9 months______________ ______
Specified percent of pay periods..
_
50 percent _ __
60 percent . . _ _
65-75 percent......................................
All types of work requirements___
6
4.0
.2
1.6
.5
.5
1.0
.2
2.0
.1
1.5
.4
28.5
2.0
26.2
.3
100.0
1 Percentages are based on the number of workers covered by agreements specifying work requirements.
As indicated in the preceding discussion, no work requirements are specified in the agreements under which
70 percent of the workers eligible for paid vacations are employed.
* Less than a tenth of 1 percent.
W O R K RE Q U IR E M E N TS IN R E LA TIO N TO T Y P E OF V ACATION PLAN
The stringency of the specified work requirements seems to have
no relation to the liberality of the vacation allowances; although almost
all (97 percent) of the workers covered by the comparatively low
requirement of 1,200 hours per year receive a maximum of only 1
26
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
week’s vacation, almost an equal proportion (92 percent) of those
covered by 1,600-hour requirements also receive the 1-week maximum
vacation. Of those who must work between 1,250 and 1,560 hours
per year in order to be eligible for vacations, 42 percent are employed
under vacation plans which allow more than a week provided they
meet additional service requirements.
Table 4 gives the proportion of workers employed under the most
prevalent types of work requirements specified under the various
vacation plans. These include 88 percent of all the workers under
agreements with work requirements; 12 percent of the workers are
employed under agreements having other types of work requirements
(see table 3).
T a b l e 4.—Percentage Distribution of Manufacturing Workers Covered by Paid-Vacation
Plans With Specified Work Requirements, by Type of Plan
Work requirement
Hours per year1
Plan providing vacation of—
1,2501,560
1,200
1 week after 1 year
3 days after fi months, 8 days after fi years a
1 week after 1 year, 2 weeks after 2 years
1 week after 1 year, 2 weeks after 5 years............................
1 week after 1 year, 2 weeks after fi years
Other __ ____
_ _
__
______
Total workers under specified requirement..............
1,600
60 percent of
p?y
1,650 and periods
over
Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent
97
58
92
84
1
19
5
10
4
2
8
4
3
9
4
90
1
9
100
100
100
100
100
1 Work requirements expressed in days were converted to hours, on the assumption that full 8-hour
days must be worked to satisfy the requirement.
* In addition to the minimum and maximum allowances, workers employed under this vacation plan
also receive 5 days after 1 year and 6 days after 2 years.
EFFECT OF L A Y-O FFS ON VACATION E L IG IB IL IT Y
Many agreements provide that a lay-off in excess of a specified
period causes a break in continuous service and the forfeiture of all
rights based on seniority, including vacation rights. For example, a
typical clause reads: “ Length of service * * * will be computed
on total service with the corporation either continuous or intermit
tent; except that in the case of employees who * * * have been
absent from the corporation’s employment for a period exceeding 2
years due to being laid off for lack of work, then the service of such
employees shall be computed from the time they were reemployed
after such lay-off exceeding 2 years.” On the other hand, many
agreements make no reference to loss of seniority, and some specifi
cally provide that continuous service shall not be considered broken
by lay-off. For example, “ Service shall be considered broken when
an employee voluntarily quits or is discharged but shall not be con
sidered broken * * * by lay-off necessitated by production
requirements.”
Agreements covering 43 percent of the workers do not mention the
loss of accumulated service by lay-off; 6 percent are employed under
agreements which specify that seniority lights are retained during
lay-off, although most of these workers must notify their employers
27
PART II— UNION AGREEMENT PROVISIONS
at specified intervals that they are available for reinstatement on the
seniority list.
The remaining 51 percent of the workers are employed under agree
ments which provide that continuous service is broken by lay-off in
excess of a stated period. Agreements covering two-thirds of these
workers specify a definite period of time; for the remaining one-third,
the allowed maximum is related to length of service, as, for example,
a maximum of 3 years’ lay-off for employees with 5 years’ service
and 2 years’ lay-off for those with less than 5 years’ service. The
following tabulation shows the effect of lay-offs on seniority and
vacation eligibility.
Percent of
workers
No mention of loss of seniority when laid off______________
Seniority retained during all lay-offs_______________________
Seniority retained for specified maximum periods of lay-off1 year................ ............................. ..................................—
1/4 years--------------------------2 years-------------------------3 years............................................... - ----------- ---------------5 years________________________
Period related to previous length of service___________
43
6
51
14
1
17
2
1
16
Total workers under agreements examined__________
100
Most of the agreements examined are not clear as to whether
service continues to accumulate during a period of lay-off; they
either do not mention the point or merely say that seniority is “ re
tained” during lay-off. About 12 percent of the workers are em
ployed under agreements which specify that service accumulates dur
ing lay-off; time so lost is credited toward their service requirements
for vacation, provided the lay-off is not of such length as to constitute
a break in service. In contrast, 6 percent of the workers are employed
under agreements which specify that time lost because of lay-off is
not credited in computing length of service. These employees re
ceive credit only for time actually worked in accumulating the length
of service necessary for paid-vacation eligibility.
VACATION P A Y
Vacation pay is equivalent to normal or regular wages for about 60
percent of the workers covered by agreements providing paid vaca
tions; that is, vacation pay is based on a 40-hour workweek. The
rate of pay is either the employee’s regular rate at the time of vaca
tion, or his average hourly earnings exclusive of overtime calculated
over a specified period preceding the vacation. In the following
manufacturing industries 40 hours’ vacation pay is the prevalent
practice: Automobiles, men’s clothing, canning and preserving, shoes
and other leather products, machinery, shipbuilding, cotton textiles,
and tobacco.
For 8 percent of the workers covered by paid-vacation clauses,
vacation pay is based on a 48-hour workweek but usually at the
employee’s straight-time rate of pay. Very few of the agreements
which allow 48 hours’ pay include earnings based on overtime penalty
rates. Aluminum fabrication is the only industry in which the major
ity of the workers covered by paid-vacation clauses receive 48 hours’
28
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
pay. However, the large majority of all workers eligible for 48 hours’
pay are employed in the aircraft industry.
An additional 8 percent of the workers eligible for paid vacations
are employed under agreements which are not clear as to whether pay
includes an allowance for overtime earnings. These agreements
merely provide for “ a week’s vacation with pay” without specifying
the number of hours paid for.
Agreements covering 12 percent of the workers under paid-vacation
clauses provide that vacation pay shall equal the average weekly
earnings during a specified period, most commonly the month pre
ceding the vacation, although some agreements mention the socialsecurity quarter preceding the vacation. This form of payment
would include overtime, but any absences from work during the
period over which earnings are averaged would also be reflected in the
vacation pay. Many of the agreements in the steel industry base
the vacation pay on the average number of hours worked per week
during some period preceding the time of vacation, but not less than
40 hours or more than 48.
For about 8 percent of the workers eligible for paid vacation, the
vacation pay is computed as a percent of annual earnings, usually
2 percent but sometimes 2}i percent. Overtime earnings are generally
included in the annual earnings, although a few agreements specifically
exclude overtime earnings. Of course, this method of computing
vacation pay would reflect absences from work during the year.
It may be noted, in this connection, that 2 percent of annual earnings
would approximate a week’s pay, provided enough overtime was
worked to offset absences from work during the year.
A few agreements provide a flat amount of vacation pay to all
employees, regardless of length of service or salary level. Other
agreements mention other methods of payment, such as the average
earnings of all workers in the department during some specified week,
3 cents per hour for all time worked during the year, etc.
Practically all of the agreements which refer to the time of payment
of vacation allowances provide for payment prior to vacation, usually
the pay day preceding the vacation. Only a few agreements specify
payment on the first day of the employee’s return to work or on the
first pay day after his return.
BONUS IN LIE U OF V ACATION
In normal times the unions generally oppose the substitution of a
bonus for a vacation, and a number of agreements specifically prohibit
this practice. Because of war conditions, however, more than a third
of the agreements providing paid vacations, covering slightly over
half of the workers employed under such agreements, specify that
a vacation bonus may be given in lieu of time off, under certain
circumstances.
Over a fourth of the workers covered by agreements which mention
a bonus are employed under agreements which state, without qualifi
cation, that a bonus will be given in lieu of vacation. Agreements
covering more than half of the workers give the employer the option
of giving a bonus instead of a vacation, although frequently this option
is limited to considerations of war production requirements.
PART II— UNION AGREEMENT PROVISIONS
29
A relatively small number of agreements give the employee the
option of taking a vacation bonus instead of time off. Other agree
ments provide that a bonus may be given in lieu of vacation by
mutual consent of the employer and union.
V ACATION RIGHTS W HEN LE AV IN G JOBS
Agreements covering about a third of the workers eligible for paid
vacations provide that termination of employment through voluntary
leaving, lay-off, and in some cases discharge shall not result in loss of
vacation allowances already earned. The remaining two-thirds of
the workers are covered by agreements which either specifically
prohibit the granting of vacation allowances upon termination of
employment or do not refer to the matter.
Many agreements provide that men leaving for military service,
who have not received their vacations during the year, shall be
granted vacation pay upon induction, and some companies continue
to forward vacation pay checks each year to their employees in
military service.
TIM IN G OF VACATION PE RIO D
Agreements often specify the period during which vacations shall
be taken, usually the summer months. Ordinarily the employees are
allowed their choice of vacation time during the specified period, and
frequently employees with most seniority are given first choice. In
order to safeguard continuous production, some agreements specify
that no more than a given percentage of the employees of any depart
ment may take their vacations at the same time, although most agree
ments merely state that the employee’s choice of vacation time must
not interfere with the efficient operation of the plant. In such cases,
presumably, it is the foreman’s responsibility to schedule vacations
so that there is no interference with efficient production. Some
agreements, mostly in seasonal industries, provide that the company
will shut down the plant for the vacation period during the slack
season. The week of the Fourth of July is the time most frequently
mentioned.
Many agreements specify that the vacation must be taken in the
year in which it is earned; otherwise, vacation rights are forfeited.
A few agreements provide that employees may take their vacations
the following year if they forego their vacations at the request of the
company. Some agreements allow employees entitled to more than
1 week of vacation to split their vacation time into two or more
periods.
Sam ple Vacation Clauses in Union Agreem ents
2 -W E E K M AXIM U M
Clause A —Pay Based on Average Earnings
Each employee who, prior to June 1, 1942, and each subsequent calendar year
during the continuance of this agreement, has been in the employ of the company
for 1 year shall receive 1 week's vacation with pay. Each employee who has
been continuously in the employ for 5 years shall receive 2 weeks' vacation with
payA week's vacation pay will be the employee's average weekly earnings during
the preceding calendar year.
30
PAID VACATIONS IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
No vacation will be divided except with the consent of management, nor will
vacation time be retroactive or accumulative. The vacation period will be from
May 1 to September 1. Employees with longest continuous service will receive
first choice of vacation dates. All money due an employee for vacation time will
be paid on the regular pay day preceding the vacation.
Clause B—Minimum Work Requirement
Employees who complete 1 year of service as of July 1 shall receive 1 week's
vacation with pay and employees who complete 5 years of service as of July 1
shall receive 2 weeks' vacation with pay.
Promptly after the commencement of each calendar year each eligible employee
shall be required to specify the vacation period he desires. Vacations will, so far
as possible, be granted at times most desired by employees (longer service em
ployees being given preference as to choice), but the final right to allot vacation
periods, and the right to change such pllotments is exclusively reserved to the
company in order to insure the orderly operation of the plants.
It is agreed that the intent of this section is to provide vacations to eligible
employees who have been consistently employed. Consistent employment shall
be construed to mean the receipt of earnings in at least 60 percent of the pay pe
riods within the period intervening between July 1 of each calendar year. For the
purposes of this section, “ pay period" shall mean a 2-week period or a semi
monthly period.
Clause C
Vacation pay based on 48-hour week.— During 1944 the company will grant 1
week's vacation with 48 hours' pay at the employee's straight-time hourly rate to
employees who have 1 year of continuous service with the company and 2 weeks'
vacation with 96 hours' pay at the employee's straight-time hourly rate to em
ployees who have 5 years of continuous service.
Vacation rights when leaving job.— It is further agreed that any eligible em
ployee who should leave the employment of the company before the 1944 vacation
period begins shall be paid his accumulated vacation pay at the time he leaves the
mill.
Clause D
Vacation pay based on percent of annual earnings.— One week's vacation with
pay will be granted to employees who have been continuously on the pay roll for
1 year, and 2 weeks' vacation pay will be granted to employees who have been
continuously on the pay roll for 5 years, in both cases previous to the beginning of
the vacation period, which commences June 1 of any year. The amount of pay for
1 week's vacation and 2 weeks' vacation will be 2 and 4 percent, respectively, of the
wages paid the given employee by the company during the year ending June l.o f
the vacation year, which will include accident compensation if received by an
employee during the year.
vacation rights when laid off or inducted into military service.— In case of any
lay-offs on account of reduction in the force, in which any employees may be
included who have sufficient service to entitle them to a vacation in the current
year, vacations will be given to these employees before being laid off. Employees
who are inducted and accepted into the armed forces of the United States shall
receive their accrued vacation pay.
M INIM UM W O R K R E Q U IR E M E N T
Clause E
An employee who is enrolled on the employment records of the company as a
full-time employee on the eligibility date and who has been so enrolled for 1 year
or more, and whose absences from his regularly scheduled work, except for lay-offs,
sickness, and injury, in the year immediately prior to the first day of the vacation
period, have not aggregated more than 45 days shall be entitled to a vacation of
1 week during the vacation period with pay for 40 hours at his basic hourly rate,
exclusive of any premiums, on the date his vacation begins.
Clause F
For 1 year's service with the employer, 1 week's vacation per year with full pay
(40 hours) shall be granted. Vacation periods are not cumulative. Twelve hun
dred hours in the employ of the employer shall constitute a year's service and
qualify the employee for a vacation.
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 19 4 5
@FedFRASER