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Lords amendment: No. 31, in page 23, line 33, at end insert
; and, without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred by this subsection, the provision made by the Certification Officer in exercise of that power shall include such provision as he considers appropriate for restricting the circumstances in which the identity of an individual who has made, or is proposing to make, any such application or complaint is disclosed to any person.
§ Mr. NichollsI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
The amendment allows the certification officer, in regulating his procedure, to include such provisions as he considers appropriate for restricting the circumstances in which the identity of any union member who approaches him is disclosed to any person. It thus permits the certification officer to continue to fulfil his functions with a workable and self-regulated method of restricting the circumstances in which the complainant's or applicant's identity is disclosed.
Union members should certainly not be put off from making complaints about a breach of statutory duty by the union and taking them up with the certification officer because they fear the consequences to themselves of doing so. The amendment assures an applicant that a certification officer can, where appropriate, take steps to prevent his identity being revealed, so far as this is consistent with the proper pursuit of the complaint. Clause 3 may also be expected to help, because it provides that union discipline imposed because of assertions by a union member in taking a complaint to the certification officer about his union would be unjustified discipline. The amendment reaffirms the Government's commitment to a union member's right to pursue effectively complaints about his union denying his statutory right, and I commend it to the House.
§ Mr. StrangWe see no justification for the amendment. The certification officer is a public appointment, and if people raise matters with him, or if he acts on their behalf, I see no reason why that should be kept secret. I do not believe that there is any evidence that trade union members have been, or are likely to be, deterred from taking up matters with the certification officer on the ground that it may be to their disadvantage if the matter becomes publicly known within the union.
We do not propose to make a major issue of this amendment, because other important matters remain to be discussed. Nevertheless, we believe that it is uncalled for, and nothing that the Minister has said this evening has convinced us that it is necessary.
§ Question put and agreed to.