§ Mr. R. YOUNGasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that sub-office assistants in the Upper Edmonton district are receiving £1 17s. per week, with a war bonus of 6s. 4d. per month, and £1 11s. per week, with a war bonus of 5s. 5d. per month; whether these wages are the sole remuneration for the whole of the Post Office work which these women are called upon to perform; and whether he will issue instructions for a fair rate of pay to be given to the assistants concerned?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHI will have inquiry made on the subject if the hon. Member will furnish me with the full name of the office which he has in mind.
§ Mr. YOUNGasked the Postmaster-General the wages paid by good employers in the Bristol district which he regards as a criterion; whether the work of the sub-office assistant is similar in character to that performed by a female sorting clerk and telegraphist at a branch office; and whether, having regard to the similarity of the work, the disparity between the rates of pay, and the failure to maintain his own standard, so far as a comparison with the Bristol Co-operative Society is concerned, he will cause immediate inquiries to be made into the wages at present paid to the sub-office assistants in the Bristol area?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHThe district under the control of the Postmaster of Bristol covers localities of widely differing character, and it is not possible to lay down a standard rate of wages for sub-office assistants which would be applicable to the whole of the district. The work of a sub-office assistant is not, as a rule, either so exacting or so responsible as that of a female sorting clerk and telegraphist. If the hon. Member will furnish me with particulars of any individual case in which he considers that the assistants are underpaid, I will have inquiry made.