§ Dr. Owenasked the Secretary of State for Defence why bonus payments of £6 per day paid to merchant seamen on board commercial trade ships serving with the South Atlantic task force are not similarly being paid to merchant seamen on board Royal Fleet auxiliary ships who are also serving with the task force; and if he will take steps to end this difference.
§ Mr. BlakerCompensatory payments of £6 a day are being paid by agreement of the National Maritime Board only to masters and crews of ships chartered or requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence and which remain in the Falklands-South Georgia area for more than 15 days. The payments are in recognition of radical changes to the ships' normal tasks and operating patterns, and of the effect these have on such factors as the crews' normal work-leave cycle. There has been no such radical change in the use of Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels, which operate in support of the Royal Navy at all times. There would be no justification, therefore, in seeking to bring Royal Fleet Auxiliary merchant seamen within the scope of the National Maritime Board agreement. The reasons behind this decision were accepted by the maritime unions on the National Maritime Board.