NEW CLAUSE.—(Amendment of Schedule II., Paragraph 7, of the Principal Act.) (Hansard, 4 January 1916)

§ Mr. HODGE
I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a second time "
When this question was brought up on the Committee stage the right hon. Gentleman said that in his opinion it was unnecessary, as the point was provided for in the Act as it stood. If he has no objection to the Amendment, and it is going to carry conviction to those who have their doubts, I hope that he will see his way to accept it. Thousands of men in every organised trade in the country have joined the Colours, and in the great "majority of instances the employers have guaranteed them their old places when they come back. As a consequence of that, a great many trade unions have refused to enrol within their ranks the temporary labour which is taking the place of the men who have gone to the front. We desire to protect these workmen now at the front against any employer who does not at the conclusion of the War redeem the promise he has made to them. If this Clause is accepted, it will be an easy thing for the trade unions to enforce that condition and premise upon the employers.

§ Mr. GALBRAITH
I beg to second the Motion.

§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGE
The difficulty which arises is that which arose in the case which is very well known to hon. Members as the Thornycroft case. I am afraid that it might arise in a good many cases under war conditions. We have got a considerable number of men who have been released from the Colours for the purpose of assisting us in munition work, and some of them are non-union men. We sent some of them down to Thornycroft's I yards, and the men there immediately laid I down their tools and refused to work with these men who had been brought back from the front for the purpose of assisting in the construction of torpedo-boat destroyers. We have now got about 20,000 I of these men, and it would be almost impossible for us to pick and choose and to I insist in every case that there should be: negotiations with the local trade union leaders as to whether men who are soldiers and who remain soldiers should or should not be allowed to work in these yards.

§ Mr. HODGE
That is not the point.

§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGE
That is the only point which has ever arisen.

§ Mr. HODGE
That is not the point that I made. I thought I made it clear that we do not want to enrol the temporary man as a member of the union to the prejudice of the soldier when he is discharged at the conclusion of the War.

§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGE
I do not see any objection to the Amendment if it is con fined to that, and so long as it does not involve our giving notice every time we send men released from the Colours down to the yards. If men are going to refuse to work when we get men back from the Army to work for Army purposes because they are not trade unionists, the position will be impossible. But if my hon. Friend wishes to confine it to a statutory assurance that at the end of the War—

§ Mr. HODGE
That is the point.

§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGE
That at the end of the War, although the bringing in of these men released from the Colours involves a change in trade union practices, those practices shall be restored—I am just having a consultation now to see whether it is possible to confine it merely to that operation—I will tell my hon. Friend what I will do. I am afraid of doing something which may hamper and embarrass our work in getting these men fixed, but I will see whether it is possible between now and the end of the Report stage to devise a form of words which will confine it exclusively to that point. With your permission, I should then ask to recommit the Bill in order to insert those words.

§ Mr. SPEAKER
It is quite open for the right hon. Gentleman to move to recommit at the conclusion of the Bill.

§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGE
Then I will see between this and the end of the Report stage whether I can find a form of words to carry out my hon. Friend's object.

§ Mr. HODGE
On that understanding, I beg leave to withdraw the Clause.