HC Deb 13 December 1945 vol 417 cc609-10
53. Mr. Quintin Hogg

asked the Minister of Labour whether he has considered the protest of the employees at Morris Radiators, in which they express concern over the recent redundancy in the Oxford area; and whether he will make a statement on this matter.

Mr. Isaacs

Yes, Sir. As the reply is rather long I will circulate it in the Official Report.

Following is the reply:

I am informed that the workers' representatives disagree with some of the selections made by the employer of workpeople to be discharged to clear a redundancy at the firm named by the hon. Member. In view of misapprehensions which appear to exist, I should explain that, under the procedure for clearing redundancies agreed by both sides of industry, officers of my Department consult the management and workers' representatives with a view to obtaining their full co-operation in operating the release arrangements. These arrangements provide for my officers, in the first place, to select workers in certain clearly specified categories which include men required for call-up to His Majesty's Forces.

If, after this selection has been completed, further discharges have to be made to clear the redundancy, the responsibility of my officer is limited to asking the management to nominate the balance indicating that in selecting nominees the management will no doubt be guided by any relevant industrial agreements to which they may be a party. He has also to make it clear that, in the ordinary way, the permission of the national service officer will be required before the individual workers may be discharged. While this is the limit of the responsibility which my officers have at this stage of the pro- cedure they are, of course, always available to assist, on request, as for instance by ascertaining the view of the workers' representatives on the nominations made by the management. If any worker nominated by the management is aggrieved, he may make representations to the national service officer in the ordinary way, and retains the usual rights of appeal to a local appeal board.