4. Mr. Edward M. Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity how many unofficial strikes occurred in the essential public services in the first nine months of 1969 ; how many hours were lost as a result of these strikes ; and what were the comparable figures for the first nine months of the previous four years.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity (Mr. Harold Walker)In the official statistics, stoppages are classified according to the standard industrial classification. I am therefore providing figures for those groups which clearly cover essential services, that is, gas, electricity and water, transport and communication and public administration and defence. Separate figures are available only for stoppages known to have been official. We do not know whether all the remainder were unofficial but the great majority would have fallen within this category. As the reply consists of a table of figures, I will. with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Mr. TaylorIs the Minister aware that the concession of rather massive pay awards after recent unofficial strikes, especially in the public services, not only makes nonsense of the Government's pay policy but also makes it terribly difficult for trade union leaders to persuade their members to operate through constitutional procedures? Will not such damaging strikes continue to occur so long as blackmail and anomaly pay such large
1154 dividends, and so long as the public services and nationalised industries set such bad examples to the employers?
STOPPAGES OF WORK DUE TO INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES (United Kingdom) Number of stoppages beginning in Number of working days lost in all stoppages in progrees Total Known to have been official Total As a result of stoppages know to have been official Gas, Electricity and Water January-September, 1969* … … 21 — 10,000 — January-September, 1968 … … 7 — 2,000 — January-September, 1967 … … 9 — 6,000 — January-September, 1966 … … 6 1 2,000 400 January-September, 1965 … … 15 — 18,000 —
§ Mr. SpeakerI remind hon. Members that supplementary questions should be brief.
§ Mr. WalkerI would remind the hon. Gentleman that these settlements were arrived at after collective bargaining. The Government are not necessarily implicated or involved in the negotiations leading to a settlement. If it is suggested that these strikes have resulted from the Government's incomes policy and would not have occurred in the absence of such a policy, I must point out that there is no evidence to support that.
§ Mr. R. CarrDoes not the Minister agree that these strikes indicate prima facie the unsatisfactory wage structure and method of collective bargaining in local government and public services? Should not something be done about this, for example, by asking the C.I.R. to look into it?
§ Mr. WalkerThis has been the subject of debate in the House, and we have agreed that there are unsatisfactory wage structures in both the public and private sectors. There may be a case—but not at the moment—for asking the C.I.R. to look at some of these unsatisfactory wage structures.
§ Mr. HefferWould not my hon. Friend agree that the workers in these industries think that they have been getting lousy wages and that it is about time they got better ones?
§ Mr. WalkerThis is obviously their view, but I would remind my hon. Friend that low pay existed long before the incomes policy.
§ Following is the information: 1155
| Transport and Communication | ||||||
| January-September, 1969* | … | … | 352 | 2 | 519,000 | 88,000 |
| January-September, 1968 | … | … | 237 | 13 | 465,000 | 40,000 |
| January-September, 1967 | … | … | 118 | 3 | 276,000 | 47,000 |
| January-September, 1966 | … | … | 123 | 4 | 958,000 | 859,000 |
| January-September, 1965 | … | … | 140 | 6 | 255,000 | 16,000 |
| Public Administration and Defence | ||||||
| January-September, 1969* | … | … | 37 | 3 | 30,000 | 5,000 |
| January-September, 1968 | … | … | 35 | — | 25,000 | — |
| January-September, 1967 | … | … | 8 | — | 1,000 | — |
| January-September, 1966 | … | … | 16 | — | 9,000 | — |
| January-September, 1965 | … | … | 25 | — | 10,000 | — |
5. Mr. Edward M. Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity if she will take steps to inquire into the causes and origin of recent unofficial strikes in the public services ; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerIn the disputes in question, settlements have been reached following negotiations, or, in some cases, the issues are still being dealt with under the agreed procedures.
In the circumstances I doubt whether any useful purpose would be served by an inquiry of the kind suggested.
Mr. TaylorWould the hon. Gentleman agree that the main cause of these unofficial stoppages is that they pay big dividends? Are not the Minister and public authorities undermining the efforts of trade union leaders by conceding to unofficial strikers what they will not concede through genuine procedures?
§ Mr. WalkerThis has been one of the traditional practices in industrial bargaining over a long period of time. Certainly we are experiencing more unrest and militant action than has been the case. Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that the Government should take action to prevent people striking in this situation?
§ Mr. GoodhewIs the hon. Gentleman aware of the disruption to services on the Northern Line of the Underground railway as a result of an inter-union dispute, which is preventing anyone from repairing faulty rolling-stock? What is being done about this?
§ Mr. WalkerThe original Question is in general terms but if the hon. Gentleman would like to put down a Question on this dispute no doubt he will receive an answer.