§ 56. Sir J. D. REESasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the postal employés feel aggrieved that the industrial agreement entered into at the Treasury conference on 17th to 19th 1638 March is not made applicable to them by the promulgation of a memorandum similar to that promulgated by the Treasury conference, but bearing the signature of the Postmaster-General in place of the signatures of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and of the President of the Board of Trade; whether he is aware that the whole of paragraph 5 of the said memorandum, with slight verbal alterations, is claimed by the postal employés as being entirely applicable to the conditions of their service, and that the evidence given by the workmen's representatives, which was accepted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President of the Board of Trade as sufficient to justify those Ministers in acceding to the demands made upon them, is held by the postal employés to be equally valid in their own case; and whether he will give this matter his attention in the light of these considerations now brought forward?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEAs explained in my reply to the question asked by the hon. Member on the 22nd of April, the terms of the agreement referred to are in many respects not applicable to the conditions of the Post Office service. The main provisions of the agreement are, however, to a large extent covered by the statements I have already made in this House that I have no intention of replacing permanent employés by casual labour or of determining questions as to employment after the War by reference to decisions arrived at in consequence of war requirements and necessities.