HC Deb 09 June 1969 vol 784 cc971-2
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. John Diamond)

With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I should like to make a further statement about the industrial dispute at the Cornwall House publications warehouse of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

I am glad to say that a settlement has been reached and that the men returned to work this morning. The settlement was reached after the opening meeting of the committee of inquiry, of which I informed the House on 21st May.

I hope that service to hon. Members will now return to normal, but there will still be some delay in service to the public until the considerable arrears which have accumulated have been worked off. This is now being tackled.

Mr. Peyton

Could the right hon. Gentleman say something about the terms of the settlement? It is all very well to wave this away, but it has been a source of very great inconvenience to members of the public as well as to Members of this House and it has also been exceedingly humiliating.

Mr. Diamond

I am conscious of the fact that this was a possible source of considerable inconvenience, but I am sure that the whole House is glad, at all events, that a settlement has been reached.

To answer the first part of the hon. Gentleman's question difficulty arose out of a productivity agreement which provided, on the one hand, for a bonus by the employer, and, on the other, additional production by the employee; and difficulty arose about controlling the amount of the additional production. That difficulty has been overcome.

Mr. Thorpe

Has the successful outcome—which we all welcome—of the dispute caused the Government to reflect whether they have now evolved the best system of settling disputes of this nature?

Mr. Diamond

The outcome of this dispute enables the inconvenience which hon. Members temporarily suffered to be removed.

Mr. Edward M. Taylor

Is the Minister saying that the settlement is because the employers have conceded, after a strike, what they refused before the strike? If this is the case, as we see it, is this not just a further incitement—that the only way to get what one wants is to go on strike?

Mr. Diamond

No. The hon. Gentleman completely misunderstood or misheard what I said. What I said was that a difficulty arose over controlling or monitoring of the amount of the additional production in respect of which a bonus had been agreed. The monitoring process, the controlling process, has now been agreed.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

Would the Chief Secretary, in clearing up the backlog of material, seek to give priority to material which is necessary for considering legislation actually pending? I have in mind in particular such documents as the Income Tax Act, 1952, which is very necessary for drafting Amendments to the Finance Bill.

Mr. Diamond

I will certainly bear very carefully in mind what the hon. Gentleman has said.