§ Mr. Michael Meacher (Oldham, West)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely,
the latest developments in the seamen's dispute.It is a specific matter in that P and O's insistence that its package of 400 job cuts, increased working hours, less leave and a cut in pay should be implemented almost immediately has provoked a 14-week strike. It is equally specific and relevant that the National Union of Seamen has repeatedly made clear its willingness to accept the P and O proposals if they are phased in over three years—which is what the company itself originally asked—well in advance of the Channel tunnel. It is also a specific and relevant matter in that the NUS has been willing to accept binding arbitration and has been asking for it for 13 weeks, but P and O has turned it down.
It is an important matter because the safety of the public is at stake. Under P and O's proposals, if the Herald of Free Enterprise were sailing tonight from Zeebrugge, it would have 15 fewer crew than on the night of 6 March last year when it went down. Department of Transport officials have been checking the structural seaworthiness of the ferries, but the dangers involved in having untrained crews, reduced crewing levels and 18-hour shifts are outside their brief. It is critical for the public, as well as for the seamen, that the safety risks in the proposals, as revealed in the "Brass Tacks" television programme, are fully known and publicly scrutinised.
The matter is urgent because the possibilities of resolving the dispute by negotiation are coming to a head. Whether or not the current Sealink plan proves acceptable, there is now a real risk that the primary dispute with P and O at Dover may harden to the point where compromise becomes difficult, if not impossible.
The NUS has shown itself willing to compromise. The dispute could be resolved by further negotiations between the two sides. I submit that it is vital that all public pressure he brought to bear now to ensure that any intransigence on the part of P and O is not allowed to stand in the way of the wider public interest.
For all those reasons, Mr. Speaker, I earnestly seek your support for a full and early debate on this matter of crucial public concern.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely,
the latest developments in the seamen's dispute.I have listened with care to what the hon. Member has said. As he knows, my sole duty in considering an application under Standing Order No. 20 is to decide whether it should be given priority over the orders set down for today or tomorrow and also to consider the critieria laid down in the Standing Orders. I regret that under those criteria I cannot submit the hon. Member's application to the House.
§ Mr. SpeakerNo, there is another application under Standing Order No. 20 from Mr. Dave Nellist.