§ Major HURSTasked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the National Federation of Women Teachers was unrepresented on the Burnham Committee on Teachers' Salaries; whether that Committee has recommended marked differences in pay between men and women who do the same work; and whether any opportunity will be given to the House for discussing the Committee's recommendations?
Lieut.-Colonel PINKHAMasked the President of the Board of Education why the National Federation of Women Teachers was not represented on the Burnham Committee, as the Whitley Committee held that all sections of people concerned must be represented when matters of wages were being discussed, the National Union of Teachers not in any way whatever representing the view of the National Federation of Women Teachers?
§ Mr. FISHERAs I have already explained in this House, the Committee is not a Committee appointed by the Board of Education but was established by agreement between the associations of local education authorities on the one hand and the National Union of Teachers on the other. I understand that the principle of 67W equal pay for men and women was raised by the representatives of the National Union of Teachers, but was rejected by the representatives of the local education authorities. The question of breaking off the negotiations then arose, but the representatives of the National Union of Teachers, in my opinion very wisely, decided to continue the negotiations, with the result that an agreement was reached which, at all events, includes a substantial improvement in the position of women teachers.