§ Mr. MORRELLasked the Postmaster-General whether the result of the application to postmen of the units-of-work system of classification, under the Report of the Hobhouse Committee, was to reduce the maximum wage of postmen at Burnley by 1s. a week, while the maximum of the sorting clerks and telegraphists, at the same office, was increased, under the same Report, by 4s.; whether the effect of the Report of the Holt Committee would be merely to restore to postmen the 1s. taken off in 1908, while increasing the maximum wage of sorting clerks and telegraphists by a further sum of 2s.; whether the maximum wage of postmen in Burnley would thus remain the same as it was in 1897, although wages in the staple trade of the town have advanced during this period by 15 per cent. and in other trades by amounts varying from 12½ to 20 per cent.; whether he is aware that the units-of-work system of classification causes discontent on the ground that the units of work do not represent fairly the actual work performed by postmen; and whether he will consider the adoption of a different system of calculating the wages of postmen or, in the alternative, arrange that a higher scale of wages should be attached to each class?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe existing system of classifying provincial offices for scales of pay of the outdoor force does not rest on units of work alone, as the cost of living is also taken into account. The recent Select Committee on Post Office Servants, in paragraph 148 of their Report, made certain suggestions for modifying the existing system, and their recommendations in the matter are at present under consideration. There is no intention of adopting a method of classification based exclusively on the volume of work. The case of Burnley will be considered in connection with the general review of outdoor classification, but, as the Select Committee contemplated, it may be some considerable time before all the details of a revised scheme can be settled. I cannot undertake to deal exceptionally with individual cases in the meantime. The598W particulars quoted of the changes under the Holt Committee's recommendation in the maximum wages of postmen and sorting clerks and telegraphists at Burnley are correct.