§ 23. Mr. Hugh Fraserasked the Postmaster-General what proportion of Post Office workers employed on his motor transport staffs now belong to the registered but unrecognised trade union known as the National Guild of Motor Engineers.
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThe latest figures submitted to me by the National Guild of Motor Engineers were equivalent to about 49.5 per cent. of the staff they seek to represent.
§ Mr. FraserIn view of this figure, will the Postmaster-General now recognise this union, having read the Treasury document produced in 1949 about staff relations in the Civil Service?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThis is a matter of major policy. One has to make up one's mind whether to encourage a multiplicity of unions and destroy trade unionism or whether to adopt a policy of conciliation and try to get the maximum co-operation and team-work inside this important service.
§ Mr. FraserIs it not known by the right hon. Gentleman that this union of motor transport staff in the Post Office, of which there are about 3,000 members, is completely absorbed at the moment in the larger union to which they are supposed to belong? The representations of these 3,000 men go almost unheard and are not put forward by the other 45,000 people in the P.O.U., who are concerned largely with telecommunications.
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsI invited this union to meet me. We had a discussion about the matter and I got for them all the means of representation they requested. Then, unfortunately, they would not agree to the final agreement, although they had given me authority to obtain a joint meeting of all parties concerned on the basis that there would be an agreement.
§ Mr. AwberyWill my right hon. Friend take particular notice of the fact that the Opposition are continually pressing for the recognition of unions which have broken away from other organisations?
§ Mr. Henry StraussIs not the real question that arises in this case, whether a man shall have the right to choose to which union he shall belong or whether that right shall be given to the employer?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThat has nothing to do with this matter. What has to be considered is whether there shall be effective trade union representation for the people engaged in the Post Office or whether we shall have a multiplicity of ineffective little groups.
§ Mr. R. V. GrimstonAre we to take it from the right hon. Gentleman's reply that he has decided to depart from the previous practice, and the practice which is observed in other Government Departments, that when a grade or a union can claim to represent a certain percentage of the grade they shall be recognised?
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsThe hon. Gentleman knows that that is a complete misrepresentation.
§ Mr. FraserIn view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment at the earliest opportunity.