§ Mr. Spearingasked the Minister for the Civil Service on what dates Her Majesty's Stationery Office in High Holborn was closed in January; what the 124W reasons were for closure; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerHer Majesty's Stationery Office's London retail bookshop and mail order department were closed on 1st January because of a stoppage of work by the 170 bookshop assistants. Work was resumed on 23rd January and the Holborn bookshop will open at 2 p.m. on 24th January.
The closure resulted from staff protesting about the discontinuation by HMSO of an arrangement made in 1924 which linked the pay and some conditions of employment of bookshop assistants to agreements reached between the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) and the Federation of London Wholesale Newspaper Distributors (FLWND). That link is now considered to be inappropriate and for over two years HMSO negotiated with the union for an alternative agreement to cover all bookshop staff. This agreement would have been comparable to agreements reached for 3,750 staff in HMSO presses and warehouses. These negotiations broke down in June 1972 and in August HMSO gave notice to terminate the link with effect from 31st December 1972.
Against the background of the Government's policy announced in Cmnd 5205, HMSO have agreed that the notices should be suspended until 30th July and both sides have agreed that negotiations should be resumed to find an alternative basis for pay in HMSO bookshops.
I regret that because of the disruption caused by the dispute there will be delay in dealing with orders for a time.