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XCRI(79)1
It is relevant that the largest of the grade associations affiliated to the General Union has separately indicated its general acceptance of the Commission. It is considered sufficient to merely note the
views of the Union.
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Non-unionised staff
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Many heads of department also consulted non-unionised staff; they had no adverse comments to offer.
Summary of Views
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The main views expressed were as follows:
(a) the Chairman and members should be full-time so
that they can produce results quickly, especially as the terms of reference are detailed and extensive. Comment. Previous Commissions included full-time members because they were of limited duration but it would be difficult to find people of the right calibre able to work full-time on a permanent Commission. Moreover, a part-time commission should be able to tender advice fairly quickly if it is properly staffed and if it concentrates its efforts on those terms of reference which require most urgent consideration.
(b) The Commission should not be required to take
account of financial and economic considerations and this should be left to the Government (though some pointed out that if this was so and Government then rejected the Commission's advice because of financial and economic factors, the Commission would lose credibility). Comment. The requirement is to take into account wider community interests, not just financial and economic considerations, and it is left for the Commission to decide what interests are relevant. This is a very broad requirement which does not seem unreasonable.
(c) A target date should be set by which the Commission
would be expected to submit its first set of re- commendations on the problems which are causing the current disputes; this would help to persuade staff associations to behave in a more responsible manner and to await the outcome of the Commission's deliberations.
G.S. 84
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