§ 1. Mr. STEPHENasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that in certain cases sailors are only allowed to sign on on their ships on giving an I.O.U. authorising the shipowners to pay a sum of money to the National Union of Seamen; and whether he will take steps to prevent this practice?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister)I understand that many shipowners have agreed to employ as seamen in their vessels only members of the National Union of Seamen, and that an arrangement is in force by which seamen desiring employment who are not members of the union, or whose subscriptions are in arrear, can get the privileges of membership on signing an authorisation for the union entrance fee, or arrears of subscription, to be deducted from their wages at the end of the voyage. The matter is not one which calls for intervention by the Board of Trade.
§ Mr. STEPHENSeeing that the Government have taken steps to protect workmen against trade unions which they wish to join, would the Government not take steps also to prevent men being compelled to join unions which they do not wish to join?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERNo, Sir. Even accepting that as a statement of the case, I think it is wise for the Board of Trade in this Administration to follow the lines adopted by the Board of Trade in the Socialist Administration.
§ Mr. STEPHENIs the Minister aware that men who have been unemployed for a long time are sometimes compelled to pay as much as £2 or £2 10s. before they are allowed to obtain employment, and will the right hon. Gentleman not do something to protect these men?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI have no power to intervene between a trade union organisation and its members.
§ Mr. SHINWELLIs it not a fact that the amounts deducted from the men are returned in the account of wages, and that the account of wages is a Board of Trade document; and does not that fact give the Board of Trade power to intervene?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERNo doubt the hon. Member, when a member of the Socialist Government, made all these representations to his colleagues in that Government.
§ Sir ROBERT THOMASIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that 95 per cent. of all British sailors and firemen are voluntarily members of the Sailors' and Firemen's Union and that it is the only union in this country that has not had a strike during the last quarter of a century?
§ Mr. SHINWELLMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the question addressed to him does not relate to the proposed intervention of his Government; and will he reply to my question, as to whether his Department is not bound to intervene where the account of wages, an official Government document, is used for purposes other than that for which it is intended?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERNo, Sir. I am quite satisfied that the Board of Trade is not bound to intervene. If the hon. Member's argument is correct, it would have been as correct when addressed to his colleagues in the Socialist Government as it is addressed to the present Government.
§ Mr. STEPHENI give notice that I shall raise this question on the Adjournment.