§ 36. Mr. Pageasked the Minister of Labour what plans he has for overcoming the anomaly existing in Merseyside of, on the one hand, a level of unemployment above the national average, and, on the other hand, a dock labour shortage.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service (Mr. Harold Watkinson)The National Dock Labour Board is responsible for securing that there are sufficient dockworkers for the efficient performance of dock work, and I understand that the Board has authorised the recruitment of 1,000 additional men as a temporary measure on Merseyside.
§ Mr. PageMay I ask my hon. Friend whether there is any artificial restriction on entrants to the dock labour scheme by the presence of an agreement between the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board and the Transport and General Workers' 1569 Union that only those belonging to the union shall be entrants to the scheme? If that is so, does he not consider it an unwise policy, because the country may be paying unemployment benefit to men who might otherwise be doing useful work?
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe answer is that the responsibility for deciding the size of the dock labour registers, which is the relevant consideration, rests entirely with the National Dock Labour Board, and it always consults the local boards.
§ Mr. KeenanIs the Minister aware that the present position is the result of the docks stoppage in recent times? The responsible people in the matter which has been raised are the employers and the union—not the Dock Labour Board, which controls the recruitment of labour—and they have agreed to swell the register? Is not the difficulty the fact that under this arrangement there is liable to be a period of redundancy, which those responsible are trying to avoid?
§ Mr. WatkinsonThis is not the only difficulty that arose from the dock strike.