§ 6. Mr. Wintertonasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications whether he will issue a general direction to the Post Office Corporation to give details of the steps available to the staff associations in their endeavours to obtain official recognition by the corporation.
§ Sir J. EdenNo, Sir. A direction would not be appropriate. This is a management matter for the Post Office.
§ Mr. WintertonIs my right hon. Friend aware that the Telecommunications Staff Association, a constructive and reasonable association of employees within the postal services, is having great problems in negotiating with the Post Office over recognition? Does he consider that this is the spirit and intent of the Industrial Relations Act?
§ Sir J. EdenThe association has recently referred its case for recognition to the National Industrial Relations Court under the Act. In this situation comment would not be appropriate.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisWhile accepting that this matter is essentially one for the corporation, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman to discourage the corporation from encouraging recognition of new associations and trade unions which can serve only to undermine existing staff associations and trade unions which have served the Post Office and the nation so well?
§ Sir J. EdenNo, Sir. There is established machinery for dealing with this and under the Industrial Relations Act it is open to anyone claiming recognition to appeal to the court. This procedure has been put into effect in the present case and we ought to see how that proceeds.