§ 14 and 15. Mr. V. Yatesasked the Minister of Labour (1) how many workers are unemployed and working short time, respectively, in the Birmingham area; and what has been the effect of the action of the British Motor Corporation upon the employment situation in Birmingham and throughout the country;
(2) how many vacancies there are for employment in the Birmingham area for skilled and unskilled workers, respectively; and the occupations he is able to offer the displaced motor car workers and those likely to be displaced in the near future.
§ 16 and 17. Mr. Chapmanasked the Minister of Labour (1) how many vacancies exist in comparable employment for the 5,600 men being dismissed by the British Motor Corporation in the Birmingham area; and what emergency facilities he is providing at Longbridge to enable men to register for and be informed about other employment;
(2) whether he is aware that there was no prior consultation with workers before the announcement by the British Motor Corporation of 6,000 dismissals; and whether he will now use his good offices to invite both sides together to explore the possibilities of withdrawal of the notices and to avoid an industrial dispute.
§ 19. Mr. Shurmerasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that the British Motor Corporation has now dismissed 6,000 men, the majority of whom were employed in Birmingham; and what action he proposes to take to deal with this situation.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodOn 11th June there were 4,008 wholly unemployed persons in the Birmingham area, and in the week ended 30th June it is estimated that there were about 15,000 persons on short time. In addition on 29th June the British Motor Corporation discharged 4,800 workers in Birmingham and are putting a further number on short time this week.
Vacancies for men in Birmingham and within reasonable daily travelling distance totalled about 11,900 at 27th June. About 10,000 of these were for skilled and semi-skilled workers. Occupations in which vacancies are available are mainly engineering, road and rail transport and coal mining.
The qualifications of the dismissed men are becoming known as they register, and it is not yet possible to say how these compare with the outstanding vacancies. As I informed the House on Thursday last, my employment exchanges will place as many men as possible in vacancies which have been notified or which my officers will find for them. I have made arrangements to speed up the engagement of those who can be placed in transport or coal mining.
As regards Question No. 17, I am aware of the position, but there is in the engineering industry an agreed procedure for dealing with differences, and I am informed that a conference between union 1137 officials, the firm and the employers' association has been fixed for tomorrow.
§ Mr. YatesMay I ask the Minister two questions? First, this grave situation at Birmingham is one the possibility of which was brought to his attention on 6th March. I am referring to the Austin Motor Company thinking of discharging several thousand workers. Therefore, the Minister has had three months. I want to ask him whether he is aware now that a number of other firms, motor car accessory firms in Birmingham, including Joseph Lucas Ltd., have given notice, and that they employ very many workers in the motor car accessory industry? I want to ask the Minister if he will now make some survey in Birmingham of all these accessory firms, so that he can be aware of the situation which is developing before we are engulfed in an industrial catastrophe in Birmingham. My second question——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That is a very long supplementary question; I think it is quite enough for one.
§ Mr. Shurmerrose——
§ Mr. SpeakerLet us have one question at a time. The hon. Member has been on his feet for a very long time.
§ Mr. MacleodIf I may answer the question which has been put, it is, of course, true that there are, and will be, repercussions in the very complicated system of accessory and component firms which serve the motor car industry, and we have always tried to keep closely in touch with that; but the figures of unemployment in that respect have not in fact climbed, or only by a very tiny amount, in the four or five months of this year. The figure in the whole of the accessory industry is, I think, rather under one-half of 1 per cent.
§ Mr. ShurmerIs the Minister aware that, despite the statement which he makes regarding vacancies in Birmingham—of which many people are sceptical—one of his officials said yesterday that, whilst it might be easy to place skilled men, it would not be so easy to place semi-skilled men, and it would be harder to place unskilled men? Further, as a number of firms have already indicated 1138 in the Press this morning that they are going to make workers redundant in the very near future, where is this all going to lead?
§ Mr. MacleodOf course it is true, as I said last week, there is very little problem in relation to skilled men, and a much more serious problem in relation to semi-skilled and unskilled men. We do know that. But the great number of the vacancies to which I have referred are precisely in those categories.
§ Mr. ChapmanReferring to last week, what happened between Monday and Wednesday? The Minister said he was privately informed that the dismissals were going to take place. Did he just sit and wait for them to happen without trying to get the employers to give adequate notice? Did he sit on his behind and hope—[HON. MEMBERS: "Order."] Oh, yes—leaving Sir Leonard Lord to carry the Government's can for them?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Hon. Members must confine themselves to questions, and not make speeches.
§ Mr. YatesThe second question I want to ask the Minister is whether he is aware that it has been stated officially in Birmingham that it will take ten days before the displaced workers can be interviewed? Is not that a grave situation to have developed in Birmingham? Will the right hon. Gentleman take some action, although I realise the difficulty, to see if this matter can be speeded up?
§ Mr. MacleodAs I think my Answer indicated, we will do and we are doing everything we can to speed it up. A very substantial number of men have already been interviewed and a high percentage have already been submitted to employment.
Mr. LeeWill the Minister consider asking firms now indicating that they are getting into difficulties to define the numbers and types of workers liable to be rendered redundant in future, in order that there may be some pre-arrangement made by the Ministry to deal with the problem?
§ Mr. MacleodI agree that that is enormously important. The overwhelming majority of firms have done and will do the best they can to keep my officials in touch. The more information I can have on the future composition of the labour force the better.