§ 4.29pm
§ Mr. Don Dixon (Jarrow)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter—I would be grateful if the right hon. Lady the Prime Minister would stay to listen to this because I am raising an extremely important issue—that should be given urgent consideration, namely,
the announcement by British Shipbuilders of further massive redundancies in the shipbuilding industry, and the Government's total disregard of the problems facing that industry.British Shipbuilders has recently announced that it is to sack another 3,695 workers in the next three months. Over 1,800 of those workers will be in the north-east. They will all be in areas that already have levels of unemployment that are far too high.In my constituency of Jarrow 6,300 people are on their bicycles chasing 32 registered vacancies. The hit list of British Shipbuilders is as follows: 510 to be sacked at Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Ltd, 53 at Clelands Shipbuilding Company Ltd, 46 at Clark Hawthorn Ltd, 752 at Austin and Pickersgill Ltd, 263 at Sunderland Shipbuilders Ltd, 110 at Sunderland Forge and 216 at the Smith's Dock Company Ltd on Teesside. These are part of the 9,000 redundancies that have been suggested for the next 12 months by British Shipbuilders.
Over the past few years the shipbuilding industry has suffered 25,000 redundancies. During the same period the men's wages have dropped from third place in the wages league to 19th while productivity has increased by 15 per cent.
The men are saying that enough is enough. Mr. Bob Glass, the chairman of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions in the northern region, is quoted in this morning's edition of The Newcastle Journal as saying:
My advice to Swan's workers is to stand up and fight to save your jobs.I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. They should be fighting to save their jobs and the industry. It is only just over 12 months since these men were working night and day to get the task force ready for the Falklands dispute. The general manager of Swan Hunter received a medal in the Falklands honours list for the efforts of the 2,000 men who worked so hard preparing the task force. These men are now getting their names mentioned in the Falklands honours list by getting the sack from British Shipbuilders.A debate is required urgently to discuss the Government's action, or inaction, in trying to save this important industry. According to the chairman of British Shipbuilders, the Government have turned down a request for crisis help. I want to know what the Government intend to do about the unfair competition that British Shipbuilders is facing. I want to know also whether British Shipbuilders will continue to fight in accordance with the Marquess of Queensberry rules while everyone else is indulging in all-in wrestling. The people are not prepared to accept the solutions of the 1930s to the problem of the 1980s. Therefore, we require an urgent debate.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Jarrow (Mr. Dixon) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House 425 for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he thinks should have urgent consideration, namely,
the announcement by British Shipbuilders of further massive redundancies in the shipbuilding industry, and the Government's total disregard of the problems facing that industry.I recognise that this is an extremely serious matter for the hon. Gentleman and his constituents, as are all redundancies for all hon. Members. As the House knows, under Standing Order No. 10 I am directed to take account of the various factors set out in the order but to give no reason for my decision.I have given careful consideration to all the representations of the hon. Gentleman, but I have to rule that his submission does not fall within the provisions of the Standing Order and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House. I trust that the hon. Gentleman will use his parliamentary ingenuity to raise the matter in another way.