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most people would agree that these days are gone forever,
and that our present ad hoc arrangements need to be replaced quickly by comprehensive machinery incorporating agreed procedures for the handling of pay and related claims.
15.
It is of course those staff who threaten or take
industrial action who attract attention. The public hears little of all the other civil servants, some 115,000 or so, who are not currently pressing a pay claim, nor, I might add, threatening the community with industrial action. I
am sure it will be agreed that we must look after the interests of this great silent majority, some of whom are deliberately refraining from any action which might embarrass the community in the expectation that we shall not overlook
their needs. This means, I suggest, that we should not
review the salary scales of staff who are threatening industrial action without at the same time being prepared to review the salary scales of the silent majority.
16.
I believe, Sir, that everything that has been said
in this debate points to the need to establish special
machinery to advise the Government on the class structure
and salary scales of the whole civil service, excepting only
Directorate posts.
17.
The new machinery needs to be set up quickly, and
to be continuously available. It should provide clear and
/agreed...
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