§ MR. DEVLIN (Belfast, W.)To ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to a case heard at the Belfast petty sessions on the 27th March, 1908, in which a number of female workers employed in a local hem-stitching factory sued the proprietor for a week's wages in lieu of notice and a discharge; whether it was proved that the girls had been employed on piece-work and that the size of the handkerchiefs had been increased without any increase in remuneration, and because these girls refused this extra work on the old conditions they were dismissed without notice; whether the bench decided the cases against the workers on the ground that, as the girls were engaged in piece-work, each piece of work was practically a contract in itself, and that it was open to the employer to vary the contract; and whether, in view of the hardship which such a decision moans to thousands of workers in Belfast, he will take steps to have the law amended in regard to such contracts.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) The facts are substantially as stated in the Question, except that the summonses were not decided against the workers, as stated, but were, by consent, withdrawn. The 910 Government are not prepared to introduce legislation to render employment by piece-work illegal, which would, so far as I can see, be the only method of providing the remedy which the hon. Member appears to desire.