asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether, in view of the recent increases in the cost of bread, meat, eggs and other essential foodstuffs and the general increase in the cost of living, he will provide a special bonus for temporary clerks in employment exchanges whose wages do not exceed £4 11s. 0d. weekly.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment Exchanges' Temporary Clerks.
The grant to any class of civil servants of a bonus designed to offset an increase in the cost of living is a matter for the Minister for Finance. The Deputy in putting his question would appear to be unaware that, in common with certain other classes of civil servants, temporary clerks in employment exchanges had their wages revised in November last with retrospective effect to the 29th May, 1948. The effect of this revision was to give such temporary clerks, irrespective of the figure of £4 11s. 0d. per week mentioned, an increase of 11/-a week to men and 5/6 to women and juveniles.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether he has received any representations from the association of temporary clerks in employmen exchanges and whether he proposes to give any answer to these representations.
The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As to the second part, all representations from the association in question have been answered.
Can the Minister state the nature of the representations received in general on behalf of these temporary clerks and what action was taken in the matter?
The representations received from the Association of Temporary Clerks in Employment Exchanges covered five subjects: (1) continuous employment; (2) revision of certain regulations governing the order of dismissal in the event of redundancy of staff; (3) increase of overtime rates, and (4) revision of regulations which prescribe that temporary clerks lose continuity of employment for sick leave and incremental purposes if they are unemployed for a period of three months. The last question was that of increased wages.
Were these the only representations?
These were the only representations which were received and all these matters have been dealt with in this connection. The position, in respect of continuous employment, was that, in 1947, 192 temporary clerks were paid off during the currency of the Employment Period Orders. Last year it was possible to meet their natural claim for continuous employment to the extent that in 1948 only 62 were paid off, as compared with 192 the previous year.
The previous practice, in respect of overtime rates, had been that temporary clerks did not receive any extra rates for overtime but their normal flat rate. As a result of their representation, the overtime was increased from the flat rate to time and a quarter for the first 12 hours, time and a half for the next six hours and double time for hours in excess of 18.
On the question of the effect of loss of employment in respect of incremental and sick leave rights, the previous practice was that where the officers were paid off for a period of three months, they lost continuity of employment for the purpose of these rights. That regulation has now been revised to provide that they will not lose these rights unless paid off for a period of 12 months, and that is a contingency which is not likely to arise. Another claim dealt with the question of the basis of terminating the services of persons due to redundancy. In the past there appeared to be no defined method of selecting people for retention or dismissal. It has now been agreed that in the future the order of discharge will be determined on the basis of seniority, with due regard to efficiency.
The last claim was in respect of increased wages, and I have already furnished the House with information in the reply which I have just read.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether most of the temporary clerks in employment exchanges are performing duties which are normally carried out by established officers on a salary scale ranging from £380 to £540 per year; whether most of the temporary clerks thus engaged have had service with the Defence Forces during the emergency, and whether, in view of this, he will take steps to secure the establishment of all temporary clerks who show that they can perform their duties with efficiency.
Temporary clerks in employment exchanges do not perform the full duties of established employment clerks, whose scales of salaries range incidentally from £220 to £413 per annum and not from £380 to £540 as stated by the Deputy. There are 242 temporary clerks at present serving in the employment exchanges, 85 of whom had service in the Defence Forces during the emergency. The majority of these would, no doubt, already have had an opportunity of competing for established posts in the Civil Service through one of the competitions confined to ex-Army men held since the termination of the emergency.
The Deputy is, no doubt, aware that a wider scheme of social insurance is in course of preparation in my Department. It is not possible to forecast at this stage what effect this scheme will have on the staffing of employment exchanges and, in the circumstances, I cannot say what are the prospects of an examination, confined to temporary clerks, being held for appointments to established posts as employment clerk. The Deputy may rest assured that the interests of the temporary clerks have received and will continue to receive my sympathetic attention.