HC Deb 10 April 1957 vol 568 cc133-4W
91 and 93. Brigadier Clarke

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty (1) if he will consider giving a bonus to workers in Her Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth, for their loyalty in remaining at work when all other shipbuilding workers were on strike.

(2) if he will give an assurance that the workers in Her Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth, will get the benefit of any wage increases granted to other workers in the shipbuilding industry.

Mr. T. G. D. Galbraith

The wages of Admiralty industrial employees are negotiated on the Shipbuilding Trades Joint Council, and any wage movements in the shipbuilding industry and other comparable industries are necessarily taken into account by that Council in accordance with the Fair Wages Resolution of this House. This disposes of the point mentioned by my hon. and gallant Friend in his second question.

Because the Shipbuilding Trades Joint Council, a body quite separate from the Shipbuilding Employers Federation and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Trades Union is the body on which Dockyard rates of wages are negotiated, and because the Shipbuilding Trades Joint Council had currently under consideration a claim from the Trade Union Side, the workers in the Royal Dockyards were not directly affected by the dead-lock which had been reached in the private shipyards. They were not affected by the decision of the Confederation to call out on strike the workers in the private shipyards.

I can assure my hon. and gallant Friend that the Admiralty fully appreciate the loyalty of their staff, which is the result of many years of harmonious industrial relations.

92. Brigadier Clarke

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty if he will consider transferring the building of nuclear ships for the Royal Navy to Her Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth, bearing in mind that their construction is less likely to be affected by strikes.

Mr. T. G. D. Galbraith

The primary function of the Royal Dockyards is to repair and maintain the Fleet, and their capacity for building ships is sufficient only for a limited proportion of the Naval building programmes. This capacity will be taken fully into account when orders are considered for the new construction of the future.