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workers movements; that the terms offered to Trade Unionist Labour Officers do not promise the same benefits as those offered tɔ men selected for the Administrative Service, and that the bost Trado Unionist candidatos are not coming forward because of doubts felt by such candidatos that they may not, for one reason or another, be able to continuo in Colonial employment after an initial poriod, and having severed all their connections in this country would be without employment on their return to England.
6. In this connection it is of interest to note that the sovon Trade Unionist Labour Officers who were appointed to various Colonics in 1942-43 have now been absorbed into the permanent and pensionable establishment of their Colonios and cro serving on terms fully comparable with the Administrative Service. In two cases the officers have been promoted tɔ be Hoads of the Labour Departments and in another case the officer has been promoted to a super-scale post. Within recent months additional officers with wide Trade Union experience have been selected for appointment as Labour Officers in Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Konya, Tanganyika Territory, Malaya and Ceylon. In most of
those casos the engagemont has boun on agreement in the first instance with an initial salary, in the long scale for Administrative Officers. In assessing the starting salary account has been taken of the officers' experience and professional qualifications.
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7. I rogard it as important that Labour Officers recruited from this country should fool that they can make a caroor in the Colonial Service. I accordingly ask that you will consider reviewing the pensionable establishment of the territory under your administration so as to enable any Labour Officers recruited from this country to be appointed on toras which, as in the case of the Administrative Service, promise permanency and pensionability after a period of probation and I should welcome your concurrence in the view that starting salary should take account of experience and professional qualifications.
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8. I do not wish it to be understood from this despatch that in future only candidatos possessing Trade Union or industrial experience will be considered for appointment. On the contrary, the aim should be especially in the larger territories where a wide variety of labour conditions exists, to build up a balanced. Labour Department with staff suited to its particular needs. It might, for example, contain all or some of the following elements:-
(a) persons with experience of labour problems frɔm
the employees' standpoint (e.g. Trade Union Officials);
(b)
persons with experience of personnel management,
either in this country or overseas;
(c)
persons with an education and background similar
to that of Administrative Cadets:
(a) specialists (c.g. Factory Inspectors, Labour
Exchange Managers, Trade Testers, etc.).
/In
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