1. Brigadier Clarkeasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty how many employees in His Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth, earn £4 15s. or less per week.
§ The Civil Lord of the Admiralty (Mr. Walter Edwards)Five hundred and four workpeople at Portsmouth Dockyard receive a regular weekly wage of £4 15s. or less. Overtime, work on payment by results and allowances for exceptional working conditions bring the weekly earnings of about 56 per cent. of this number to more than £4 15s. Juveniles and women are excluded from these figures.
Brigadier ClarkeDoes the Minister consider that £4 15s. is an adequate wage, bearing in mind that the lowest paid agricultural worker gets £5 a week?
§ Mr. EdwardsUp to the recent wage increase in the ship-building and engineering industries this wage was more or less 110 the same as that paid by private industry, but in any case the trade unions are now considering the question of wage increases.
§ Mr. Michael FootCan my hon. Friend say when the present negotiations for increases are likely to be concluded, in view of the natural anxiety of dockyard employees?
§ Mr. EdwardsAn offer of increased pay has been made to the trade union side of the S.T.J.C., and we are now awaiting a decision from the trade union side.
§ Mr. AwberyIs my hon. Friend aware that the unskilled workers in His Majesty's dockyards were the lowest paid unskilled workers in the country during the years the Tories were in power?