§ 56. Captain Crowderasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware of the shortage of labour in the laundry industry which is at present only able to provide an inadequate service to the general public; and what steps he is taking to remedy the position.
§ Mr. IsaacsI am aware of the shortage of labour in laundries and I am taking all possible steps to relieve the position. Laundry work is included in the national campaign for recruitment to essential services, nominated employees willing to return to this industry are being released from other work and the release from the Forces of up to 2,000 former laundry workers under Class B has been sanctioned. In addition, the filling of vacancies in London, where the situation is acute, has been given the highest priority.
§ Captain CrowderIn order to enable more women to be able to do public work, and to relieve some of the very hard-worked housewives throughout the country—who, I think the Minister will agree, have had a very hard time during the last six years—will he do everything possible to arrange for more staff for these laundries? It is becoming very serious.
§ Mr. IsaacsYes, Sir. I venture the opinion that this problem arises for all of us, especially with the domestic circumstances in our own homes. We are trying to do what we can. We have brought in another 229 women up to 31st January. We are making efforts to recruit workers from Ireland and South Wales, but there we are coming up against another problem—the problem of available accommodation—but we will press it as hard as we can.