HC Deb 21 October 1968 vol 770 cc862-3
9. Sir G. Nabarro

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity how many days were lost due to industrial disputes during the first nine months of 1968, compared with the corresponding periods of 1967, 1966 and 1965, respectively; and what improvement otherwise is occurring in strike losses.

Mr. Hattersley

The number of working days lost due to stoppages of work arising from industrial disputes during the first nine months of 1968 was 3,874,000 compared with 1,751,000, 2,043,000 and 2,511,000 during the corresponding periods of 1967, 1966 and 1965 respectively.

Sir G. Nabarro

Again, do not these figures demonstrate that the aggregation of days lost due to industrial disputes is steadily rising and this year has reached a crescendo? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that to date in the motor industry alone £60 million of exports have been lost this year? What does he propose to do about it?

Mr. Hattersley

I do not minimise the importance of the figures which the hon. Gentleman has elicited from me. Neither does my right hon. Friend, who is adopting a policy of attacking the causes rather than the symptoms of the strikes. However, I quarrel with the hon. Gentleman's analysis. The crescendo, if crescendo it was, was reached in 1959 or 1962 when appreciably more days were lost. However, I give that as a statistical correction and not in any way to minimise the importance of the figures which I have quoted today.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Has my hon. Friend any comparison of days lost through strikes in other countries? Is he aware that the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell) has clearly shown that this country is no worse for industrial disputes and strikes than America?

Mr. Hattersley

That is a statistical fact, comparing days lost with totals of the working population, but my right hon. Friend has said in the past and I say again today that that is only one of the considerations to be borne in mind and that analysis and that comparison should not make us complacent about days lost in this country. My right hon. Friend is committed to adopting a policy which reduces the days lost here.

Mr. R. Carr

Can the hon. Gentleman tell the House when we are to have not words but action? Does not the Donovan Report clearly show that the trend of wild-cat strikes has been heavily rising over the last decade? This is the scourge of British industrial relations which must be tackled.

Mr. Hattersley

I am sure that on reflection the right hon. Gentleman will agree that he has had a great deal of action during the last three weeks concerning both the motor industry and the general engineering industry. However, I say now as I said in my main Answer that my right hon. Friend is attacking causes rather than symptoms, which is not so politically dramatic, but certainly more likely to bring a pause to this unfortunate figure.