asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that the British and Irish Steam Packet Company proposes, during the coming months, to require the members of its clerical staff to take one month's leave without pay, and if he will state whether any intimation has been received by him from the company to this effect; and, if so, whether he has made any representations to the company as to the estimated cost to the Unemployment Insurance Fund of such action, and the hardship likely to be caused, in view of the difficulty of maintaining families at the present time, even where it is possible to maintain normal income; and if he will state whether he has made representations or addressed any inquiries to the company in the matter, with a view to discouraging such action as is proposed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - British and Irish Steam Packet Company's Clerical Staff.
My Department has received a communication from the British and Irish Steam Packet Company, Ltd., that owing to present trading conditions it has been compelled to adopt an arrangement for short-time working by its clerical staff under which each clerk will be unemployed for one month in each year. In reply to an inquiry, the company has been informed that, if the insured members of its staff are unemployed and available for work, there does not appear to be any reason why they should not be entitled to receive unemployment benefit so long as they comply with the statutory conditions and are free from disqualification. No estimate has been made of the cost of paying unemployment benefit to the company's workers.
Employers generally have been urged on behalf of the Government to maintain their workers in employment as far as possible and, in cases where this proves impossible, to prolong employment by adopting short-time working as an alternative to total unemployment. Emergency Powers (Nos. 103 and 104) Orders, 1941, were made for the purpose of relaxing the provisions of the Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment Assistance Acts with a view to making it possible for workers engaged under certain systems of short-time working to qualify for unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance in respect of the recurring days of unemployment. I have no power, however, to interfere with the discretion of individual employers in any decision they may have to make in regard to the continuance or otherwise of the employment or the curtailment of the working time of their employees.