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Friday, December 18, 1959

FEDERAL REGISTER

subparagraph may be reduced by not ing point or labor camp to the farm is more than 15 cents per hour, and the not compensable working time, hourly rate for Class B work in subb P roof of compliance. The pro division i o f this subparagraph may be ducer shall, upon request, furnish the reduced by not more than 10 cents per Area Office acceptable and adequate hour: Provided, That the training period proof which satisfies such office that all for such workers shall not exceed six workers have been paid in accordance work-weeks: And provided further, That With the requirements of this section.
the producer shall file with the Caribbean c Subterfuge. The producer shall .Area Agricultural Stabilization and Con not reduce the wage rates to workers be servation Office, Santurce, Puerto Rico low those determined in accordance with herein referred to as Area O ffice, a cer the requirements of this section through tified statement containing the names of any subterfuge or device whatsoever.
d Claim for unpaid wages. Any per all such workers, the hourly wage rate paid to each, and the period each was son who believes he has not been paid employed as a learner or as an in accordance with this section may apprentice.
file a wage claim with the Area Office iii Handicapped workers. For an against the producer on whose farm individual whose productive capacity is the work was performed. Detailed in impaired by age or physical or mental structions and wage claim forms are deficiency, the hourly wage rates pro available at that office. Such claim vided under subdivision i of this submust be filed within two years from the, paragraph may be decreased by not more date the work with respect to which the than one-third: Provided, That the em claim is made was performed. Upon re ployer shall file with the Area Office, a ceipt of a wage claim the Area Office certified statement containing the names shall thereupon notify the producer of all such workers, the hourly wage against whom the claim is made con rates paid to each, and the nature of the cerning the representation made by the iworker. The Area Office shall make handicap of each such worker.
iv Overtime Persons employed in such investigation as it deems necessary excess of 8 hours in any 24-hour period and shall notify the producer and or in excess of 44 hours in any one week worker in writing of its recommendation shall be paid for the overtime work at a for settlement of the claim. I f the rec rate not less than one and one-half times ommendation o f the Area Office is not the applicable hourly rate provided in acceptable, either party may file an subdivisions i, ii, and iii of this appeal with the Director of the Sugar subparagraph: Provided, That this pro Division, Commodity Stabilization Serv vision shall be inapplicable to workers ice, U.S. Department of Agriculture, who are employed under extraordinary Washington 25, D.C. All such appeals emergencies as defined in applicable shall be filed within 15 days after receipt Municipal or Territorial laws or regula of the recommended settlement from the Area Office, otherwise such recom tions.
v Piecework rates. I f work is per mended settlement will be applied in formed on a piecework basis, the rate making payments under the act. I f a shall be as agreed upon between the pro claim is appealed to the Director of ducer and the worker: Provided, That the Sugar Division, his decision shall the hourly rate of earnings for each be binding on all parties insofar as pay worker employed on piecework during ment under the act is concerned.
each pay period such pay period not to S tatem ent of B ases and Considerations be in excess of two weeks shall average a General. The foregoing deter for the time involved not less than the applicable hourly rate provided under mination establishes fair and reasonable subdivisions i, ii, iii, and iv of wage rates to be paid for work performed by persons employed on the farm in the this subparagraph.
2 Compensable working time. For production, cultivation, or harvesting work performed under subparagraph of sugarcane during the calendar year 1 o f this paragraph, compensable 1960, as one o f the conditions with which working time includes all time which the producers must comply to be eligible for worker spends in the performance of his payments under the act.
b Requirements o f the act and duties except time taken out for meals during the workday.
Compensable standards employed. Section 301c 1
working time commences at the time the of the act requires that all persons em worker is required to start work in the ployed on the farm in the production, field and ends upon completion of work cultivation, or harvesting o f sugarcane in the field. However, if the producer with respect to which an application for payment is made shall have been paid requires the operatorof mechanical equipment, driver of animals, or any in full for all such work, and shall have other class of worker to report to a place been paid wages therefor at rates not other than the field, such as an assembly less than those that may be determined point, stable, tractor shed, etc., located by the Secretary to be fair and reason on the farm, the time spent in transit able after investigation and due notice from such place to the field and from the and opportunity for public hearing; and field to such place is compensable work in making such determinations the Sec ing time. Any time spent in performing retary shall take into consideration the Work directly related to the principal standards therefor formerly established Work performed by the worker such as by him under the Agricultural Adjust servicing equipment, is compensable ment Act, as amended i.e., cost of liv Working time. Time of the worker while ing, prices of sugar and by-products, being transported from a central recruitincome from sugarcane, and cost of pro-

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duction, and the differences in condi tions among the various producing areas.
c 1960 wage determination. This determination continues unchanged the provisions of the 1959 determination.
A public hearing was held in Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, on Oc tober 13, 1959, at which interested per sons were afforded the opportunity to testify with respect to fair and reason able wage rates for the calendar year 1960.
A representative of the Virgin Islands Corporation, which is owned by the Fed eral Government and is the largest pro ducer of sugarcane in the Virgin Islands, stated that the Corporation had recom mended a five-cent per hour increase in wage rates for the calendar year 1959;
that this recommendation had not been adopted in the 1959 determination; that the Corporation had paid wages at the higher rates and planned to pay similar rates in 1960; that there had been no increase in labor productivity as a re sult of the wage increase; that the short age of field labor continued to be a serious problem; and that British West Indies workers were imported for both cultivation and harvesting work.
A representative of independent pro ducers recommended that wage rates be increased five cents per hour for each classification o f workers. He stated that the increase in wage rates would provide an incentive for workers to stay in the industry. A representative of workers recommended that the Virgin Islands Corporation furnish free housing to low-income workers, and that the time of workers who have to walk one mile or more to and from their jobs be considered as compensable working time.
Consideration has been given to the recommendations made at the hearing, to the economic position of the Virgin Islands Corporation and of independent growers and to other pertinent factors.
The returns, costs and profits of the sugarcane production operations of the Virgin Islands Corporation and of inde pendent producers have been obtained by field study for recent years. These data have been recast in terms of pro spective price and production conditions for the 1960 crop. The analysis shows that under average crop conditions the production of sugarcane is profitable, but substantial losses are incurred in the years when the crop is adversely affected by lack of rainfall. A drought during the growing season has affected the crop and prospects for the 1960 crop are not favorable. In view of this it is not considered equitable to adopt the recommendation of producers since this would require them to pay the higher hourly wage rates. However, the wage rates established by this determination are the minimum rates and producers may pay higher rates where necessary to obtain labor or for other reasons.
The Virgin Islands Corporation is a federally-owned corporation subject to Federal regulations, one o f which re quires the corporation to make a nomi nal charge fo r housing furnished to resident employees. Accordingly, the recommendation of a labor representa-