MR. KEIR-HARDIE (West Ham, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that on 21st January, 1893, the Kellham Rolling Mill Company, Limited, Sheffield, sent a notice to each of their employés, signed by the secretary and manager, informing them that unless they joined the yard club they would be dismissed; whether such action infringes the provisions of the Truck Act; and what action he proposes to take in the matter?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe answer to the first paragraph of the hon. Member's question is in the affirmative. I am advised that employers are entitled, on a revocable authority of the employés, to pay over a part of the wages to a sick 1856 and benefit club, but that a contract between employers and employed to make membership of such a club a condition of employment is illegal. In this case there clearly appears to have been an infringement of the Truck Act, and the employers will be warned accordingly.