§ 54. Mr. John McKayasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that a number of Poles trained in this country for coalmining, have been refused work; if he will state the number that have not been employed and what the objection is to their employment, seeing that the miners' leaders are anxious that Poles passed through the training centres should be engaged; and if he will state the county districts in which this is taking place.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour (Mr. Ness Edwards)On 1st August, 857 Poles who had com- 1644 pleted their training had not been placed. The cause is misunderstanding by local lodges of the provisions of the national agreement, which the national and area officials of the National Union of Mine-workers are assisting to remove. The districts mainly concerned are Scotland, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and South Wales.
§ Mr. McKayCan my right hon. Friend tell us whether miners' agents have visited the branches of the miners' union where there has been a refusal to employ the Poles for the purpose of persuading the unions to agree that the Poles be engaged at the collieries concerned?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsYes, Sir. A meeting was held yesterday, and an official of the National Union of Mineworkers in each of the coalfields, together with an official of the Coal Board, is being detailed to see each one of these lodges to get this misunderstanding cleared up.
§ Mr. ScollanWould my right hon. Friend tell us if the Government have any plan for employing the 68,000 Poles who are each costing £10 per month for keep alone, and who are doing nothing?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThis is part of the plan to employ them. If our local lodges would remove this resentment, we should get on with it much more quickly.
§ Major Guy LloydWould not the Minister agree that this is, in fact, a criterion of the influence of Communists within certain miners' lodges?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsNo, Sir. I have gone into this matter very fully, and I have given an undertaking to the hon. and gallant Member more than once that there is no political discrimination in this matter. It is due to local misunderstanding and local resentment about the employment of certain men. We are getting that cleared up and I am satisfied we shall get this matter straightened out very soon. We had another request yesterday to recruit another 2,000.
§ Mr. HarrisonTaking into consideration the record of the East Midlands coalfield, will my right hon. Friend show great care in those coalfields, as between the miners and the officers of his Department, with regard to the future employment of Poles?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThe Midland lodges which have taken these men are highly appreciative of the contribution that they have made. The result in the East Midlands is generally very good.
§ Viscount HinchingbrookeWill the right hon. Gentleman repeat his statement of the other day, which has so far had no effect on the T.U.C., that one of the alternatives to the direction of labour is the employment of foreign workers?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsI do not desire to add anything more to what my right hon. Friend stated yesterday.
§ Sir W. DarlingWill the hon. Gentleman consult with his right hon. Friend in regard to placing Poles in a coalmine in which there are no British workers? One at Faldhouse, West Lothian, has been closed. Could it not be handed over entirely to the Poles to see what they can do with it?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsI am afraid that that is technically impossible. Even our technicians would not allow these men to go into a pit unless they went in under the control and superintendence of skilled miners.