§ 24. Mr. N. Macphersonasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation whether he is prepared to avail himself of the powers conferred on him by Section 4 of the Civil Aviation Act, 1946, to direct each of the airways corporations to adopt an impartial attitude towards trade unions to which their 1372 employees belong, and forthwith to recognise whichever trade union has the largest membership within each corporation at the present time.
Mr. LindǵrenI would draw the hon. Member's attention to Section 19 of the Civil Aviation Act, 1946. The matter is one for the corporations.
§ Mr. Macpherson. Is the Minister not prepared to bring pressure to bear on the corporations to make certain that the corporations are model employers? Is it a mark of a model employer to refuse an organisation which represents 95 per cent. of the employees in one case and over half in the other?
Mr. LindǵrenI do not accept the hon. Gentleman's figures. but I am sure he will agree that this is a matter, in the first instance, for the trade unions concerned and the corporations who are the employers. A recognised form of machinery is now set up, and I am certain that it would be best to leave the normal industrial machinery to deal with normal industrial practices.