INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS. (Hansard, 24 June 1930)

§ Mr. MANDER

I beg to move: That leave be given to bring in a Bill to encourage the formation of industrial councils and to legalise voluntary agreements when so desired. A Measure on the same lines, but rather more ambitious, was introduced in the 1924 Parliament. It was carried by an overwhelming majority on Second Reading at a time when there seemed a prospect of it going forward. The whole of the Conservative party voted for it, together with the whole of the Liberal party, and practically the whole of the Labour party. The object of this Bill is to encourage co-operation in the develop- 974 ment of industry on voluntary lines and in certain specific cases to give councils statutory power to enforce the agreements at which they have arrived. There are about 37 joint industrial councils in operation in this country at the present time, and about 47 bodies of a similar kind in all. They have not altogether attained the object which they were expected to reach by the Whitley Committee because they are working on voluntary lines, and there is a certain danger of these excellent bodies collapsing, because it has been found in some cases that, when an agreement has been unanimously arrived at by both sides, certain employers outside will not toe the line, but insist on undercutting rates to the disadvantage of the worker and of the good employer. The object of this Measure is to prevent that kind of thing, and to raise the standard throughout the industry wherever it is covered by bodies of this kind.

Many of these joint industrial councils are unanimously asking for powers of this kind to be given to them. I might instance one in my constituency, where there is the centre of the lock-making industry, and where the skill of many generations has placed the workers in the forefront of any workers in this country in work of that kind. The Lock, Latch and Key Industry Joint Industrial Council are unanimously in favour of being granted powers of this kind. The object of the Bill is to permit the formation of joint industrial councils on voluntary lines, to arrange for equal representation of employers and employed upon these councils; and it gives a schedule of subjects which can be discussed by the two sides by agreement. It permits the Minister of Labour, when a council asks for it and when both sides are agreed, to make an order giving the force of law to questions of wages or other matters on which the Council are agreed. Before that order is made, there is the right of appeal by persons likely to be affected, and either House of Parliament is able to bring to an end the proposed order if they pass a resolution to that effect, so that there is ample provision against any injustice. Then there is a penalty Clause. This Measure is almost wholly permissive. No joint industrial council need make use of its powers if they do not wish to do so, and it is only when the employers and the 975 trade unions on a joint industrial council come together to the Minister of Labour and ask for these powers to be put into effect, that the Minister will agree to what they demand in the joint interest of the industry which they represent.

I think the whole House will feel that a Measure of this kind ought to be introduced, and deserves to be carefully studied by all those concerned. I am aware that negotiations have been going on for some time between the Trade Union Congress and the persons interested in Joint Industrial Councils with the object of arriving at a complete agreement. I introduce this Bill in the hope that it will encourage and stimulate those negotiations, and I very much hope the Minister of Labour will be able to present a Bill to the House next year, perhaps a more limited one than that which I am introducing, but one which will be, I hope, agreed on by the employers and the trade unions. My object in introducing the Bill is to present concrete proposals in the form of legislation, which may be discussed by all those interested in industrial reforms. I think the Bill will tend to promote peace in industry within our own borders, which is just as important in its way as international peace in the larger world outside.