28. Mr. McNeilasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will take immediate steps to expedite a decision on the rates of pay to be made to skilled men employed in the tools, jigs and gauges departments of a Royal Navy torpedo factory, so that their earnings may be comparable with those of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in the same factory?
§ Mr. George HallThe tool-room men in this factory refused to be included in the system of piece-work payment which was introduced in the factory as a whole 1497 during 1940. Towards the end of last year, however, these men reversed their former decision and agreed to the introduction of piecework in their department. The work of pricing was put in hand, and the prices of many jobs have been agreed and are now current. The only point still to be settled is the method of pricing non-repetition work, but proposals put forward by the management are now being considered by the men concerned.