§ 31. Mr. Hugh Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether, in view of the fact that labour costs in manufacturing industries in this country are lower than in Germany, Belgium, Holland and France, he will seek to encourage employers to grant wage increases freely so as to stimulate the economy.
§ Mr. BryanI doubt whether a very meaningful comparison of labour costs between different countries is possible since this would require careful definition and analysis of a very wide range of factors. Nor do I accept the implied relationship between high labour costs, however defined, and economic growth.
§ 60. Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for Employment what instructions or advice he has given to local authorities concerning wage claims by their employees.
§ Mr. BryanI have given no instructions to the local authorities concerning wage claims and, indeed, have no power to do so. The local authorities were given the same general advice about pay negotiations as all other employers.
§ Mr. Milneasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will introduce legislation to limit the amount of overtime worked in Great Britain as a basis for the establishment of realistic wage rates and earnings.
§ Mr. BryanNo. There may well be scope for employers and unions together to make arrangements to reduce regular overtime working but legislation to limit the amount of overtime working would impose too rigid requirements in a field where flexibility can be of advantage to employers, workers and the national economy.
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will take steps in order to ensure an annual review of pay rates approved by wages councils;
(2) what action he will take to ensure that pay rates approved by wages councils are not permitted to fall below the supplementary benefit levels approved by the Department of Health and Social Security.
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§ Mr. BryanWages councils are independent statutory wage fixing bodies representative of the two sides of the trades and industries they cover. I have no power to require them to carry out annual reviews of pay rates or to alter their proposals in any way, nor do I consider that such action would be appropriate.
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will take steps to increase the number of wage council inspectors.
§ Mr. BryanEach year about 10 per cent. of all establishments on wages councils lists are inspected by the Wages Inspectorate and the wages of approximately a quarter of a million workers are examined. Of this number about 5 per cent. on average are found to have been under-paid. The number of wages inspectors employed full time on visits to employers' premises varies between 145 and 155. Given the low rate of infractions I see no justification for increasing the size of the inspectorate.
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT details of the number of complaints submitted to his Department in the past year concerning pay and pay rates which are alleged to be below those laid down by wage councils; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BryanDuring 1969, 8,564 complaints were received by the Wages Inspectorate, of which 6,132 resulted in claims being made for underpayment of statutory minima. 3,971 of these claims concerned holiday or accrued holiday remuneration.
§ Mr. Hugh Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will refer to the Commission on Industrial Relations the question of the appropriate relationship between the remuneration of company chairmen and that of the lowest paid workers in their companies, with especial reference to the effects of these differentials on industrial relations.
§ Mr. BryanNo. The Commission on Industrial Relations is concerned with the institutions and procedures of collective bargaining and not with substantive matters of pay.
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§ Mr. Hugh Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will take steps to ensure that in future lower paid workers shall receive larger percentage increases in pay than higher paid persons.
§ Mr. BryanIt is not for the Government to determine the level of pay differentials except in those negotiations where they have the responsibilities of an employer. In some cases it would be appropriate for the position of the lower paid workers to be raised relative to higher paid workers in a particular industry or occupation. In others the reverse may be the case.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity whether he will make a statement on the settlement of the public employees strike and how this settlement compares with the awards made and proposed to the higher paid civil servants and chairmen of the nationalised boards.
§ Mr. BryanI would refer the hon. Member to my statement in the House on 6th November.
The settlement for the local authority manual workers provides for increases amounting to approximately 15 per cent. It followed an 8½ per cent. increase last year. The increases granted to chairmen of major nationalised industries and higher civil servants in April and July this year covered a number of grades and ranged from 8.5 to 21.4 per cent. and those announced for these groups for implementation in January, 1971 range from 3.6 to 17.6 per cent. These increases represent the final instalments of increases recommended as justified in 1969 and accepted for introduction in stages by the previous administration. The last increases for these groups were in 1964–65.