§ 44. Mr. Niall Macphersonasked the Secretary of State for Air whether, on closing down 18 Maintenance Unit, he will offer similar employment elsewhere to all Air Ministry civilian employees who have received training and hold qualifications in aircraft maintenance, irrespective of the trade union to which they may belong.
§ Mr. A. HendersonIt has been decided that No. 18 Maintenance Unit shall not be closed down, but is to change its functions and become a sub site of No. 14 Maintenance Unit, Carlisle, an aircraft equipment depot. It is expected that the reconstituted unit will be able to absorb a number of semi-skilled and unskilled grades now employed. But I regret that there is no prospect of the aircraft maintenance grades being retained. I am, however, communicating with the Ministry of Labour with a view to finding them alternative employment. In 1851 addition, we have a limited number of vacancies for fully skilled workers at other Air Ministry units and these will, so far as possible, be offered to fully skilled men who may become redundant at No. 18 Maintenance Unit.
§ Mr. MacphersonAs many of these skilled men have nine or ten years' experience of aircraft maintenance at great expenditure of public money, is it not common sense to find them jobs elsewhere in aeronautical engineering?
§ Mr. HendersonYes, Sir. I said that I was communicating with the Ministry of Labour in the hope that it might be possible to do something.
§ Squadron-Leader FlemingIs it not a fact that there are trained Air Force personnel on the maintenance side who can do the jobs that the civilians do; and is it the policy of His Majesty's Government to get rid of these civilians, because they are not part of the Air Force regular personnel?
§ Mr. HendersonNo, Sir. This particular difficulty has arisen because of the change of function at this particular depot.