§ 48. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Minister of Labour the circumstances in which Mr. Albert Jones, a ballotee for service in the mines, ceased to be so employed at Rossington Colliery, Doncaster.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour (Mr. Ness Edwards)Mr. Jones was a coalmining ballotee employed at the Rossington Colliery, near Doncaster. In November, 1946, a strike was threatened if Mr. Jones and three other non-union workers at the Colliery were continued in employment. Mr. Jones was transferred to other colliery work for several shifts, but he was discharged on 23rd November. During the course of the next two or three months, efforts were made by our local officers to facilitate the return of Mr. Jones to coalmining employment, but on 28th April last, he stated that he had decided not to return to coalmining and that he would not join the National Union of Mineworkers. No action is, of course, taken by my local officers to persuade coal-mining ballotees or others to join a trade union. In the circumstances of the case, therefore, and despite the fact that, at this crucial stage, the industry cannot afford to lose any experienced underground worker, I do not propose to direct Mr. Jones to return to coalmining employment.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterDoes the Parliamentary Secretary's answer mean that the National Union of Mineworkers has succeeded in excluding from the coal industry a man who was directed into it by his own Department?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThe position is that the local private colliery 'management decided to terminate this man's employment. 379 The Ministry of Labour decided that it was not a proper case in which it should bring its influence to bear upon the private management to reinstate the man.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe Parliamentary Secretary, in his supplementary answer, puts the blame on the colliery management, but is it not a fact, as stated in his earlier answer, that this was merely because the National Union of Mineworkers threatened to strike for a closed shop?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThe hon. Member has failed to realise the last part of my original answer—that the man himself decided not to return to the mining industry.
§ Mr. MolsonIs it not the case that a man who is taken by ballot for coalmining is obliged to work in a coal mine?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsHe is certainly obliged to work in a coal mine if the Ministry of Labour can find him a job. In this case, the man went to the pit and refused to comply with the conditions, and the management, rather than have the colliery dissatisfied, decided to terminate his employment. The man was consequently unable to work in the mining industry.