Secret Ballots

HC Deb 10 May 1983 vol 42 cc717-8

2. Mr. John Townend

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will expedite proposed legislation for secret ballots for strikes.

The Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Norman Tebbit)

I am still considering the responses to the Green Paper "Democracy in Trade Unions", but I hope to make known my conclusions on possible further legislation in the near future.

Mr. Townend

Does my right hon. Friend agree that secret ballots are a more democratic way of taking important decisions than mass meetings, where it is almost impossible to get a proper count and there is always the danger of intimidation? Does he further agree that in a secret ballot the men are more likely to take notice of their wives' opinions, which invariably are more sensible, than of their shop stewards' opinions?

Mr. Tebbit

Yes. There is little doubt that the vast majority of people would agree that it is right, wherever possible, to have secret ballots among members of trade unions before they are called out on strike. Indeed, I would go further and echo the words of Mr. Sidney Weighell, who recently said: I am leaving the trades union movement I joined 44 years ago with a stark warning to those who remain: get rid of the crazy Left before they get rid of you.

Mr. John Evans

Will the Secretary of State confirm that the overwhelming majority of strikes are settled within three days? Will he also confirm that he never had any intention of introducing legislation along these lines and that it was simply a propaganda exercise on behalf of the Tory party?

Mr. Tebbit

No, I cannot confirm the second of the hon. Gentleman's points, because it is not true. It is right that most strikes are settled very quickly, and the legislation that I shall bring forward in the next Parliament will take account of that.

Sir John Biggs-Davison

Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is nothing much wrong with British trade unionism that democracy cannot cure and that secret ballots for democracy are preferable to hands up for a dubious democracy at a mass meeting?

Mr. Tebbit

Yes, indeed. It is important that people should understand the issues that are involved. On 9 June electors will vote in secret and their votes will be counted by independent scrutineers. I think that people will find it extraordinary that the Labour party should stand on a platform which says that trade unionists should not have such rights by law within their unions.

Mr. Harold Walker

Will not the same electors find it no less extraordinary that a Secretary of State who promises ballots for officers in trade unions and other organisations should himself be a senior figure in a party that has no ballots for any of its senior officers?

Mr. Tebbit

They would if that were true, but it is completely untrue.