Trade Unions (Hansard, 5 June 1997)

§ 5. Mr. Fallon
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans she has to introduce new rights of statutory recognition for trade unions. [659]

§ Madam Speaker
Mr. McCartney.

§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Mr. Ian McCartney)
I am sorry, Madam Speaker. I still do not quite believe that we—Labour—are on the Government Benches. I am here, however, and I am enjoying it.
The Government will introduce legislation establishing a right to union recognition where a majority of a relevant work force vote in a ballot for a union to represent them. We shall consult fully on the most effective means of introducing this right.

§ Mr. Fallon
We can hardly believe that the hon. Gentleman is on the Government Front Bench, either. Nevertheless, I congratulate him on his appointment.
Given the Secretary of State's desire for a closer partnership with business, will the Minister name one business organisation that is in favour of wider rights of union recognition?

§ Mr. McCartney
First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on returning to this place. My constituents did not feel short-changed in booting him out. I welcome him back.
The position is simple: the Government believe in having a partnership with industry, a right to join a trade union and for that union to be recognised if a majority of the work force expresses the wish in a secret ballot for that to be the position. That is why we are consulting. It is clear that industry wants a fresh start. It wants a Government who are for partnership, who want to work with it in motivating the work force and working generally in a way that improves competitiveness in British industry.
I am confident that when we have finished the consultation process and bring forward legislation we shall have the wholehearted support of trade unions and industry generally on the basis that we are a Government 535 who offer fairness and not favours—unlike the previous Government, who always wanted favours for themselves while denying fairness to others.

§ Mrs. Mahon
I, too, welcome my hon. Friend to his new position. I am sure that he will undertake his responsibilities extremely well.
What message would my hon. Friend send to a company in my constituency, named Wescol, which has recently sacked the night shift for asking for recognition? Surely that is not the sort of partnership that we want.

§ Mr. McCartney
I thank my hon. Friend for her supplementary question, which illustrates clearly why it is important to provide a right for individuals to join a union and for that organisation to represent their interests. That is why 88 per cent. of the most successful companies in Britain recognise unions and provide opportunities for their employees to be represented by them. As for those companies which do not adopt that approach and which act unfairly, the legislation that we shall introduce will ensure fairness across the board. It will ensure that, when employees want recognition rights and vote for them, they will get them.

§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke
I join in welcoming the new Front-Bench team to their new posts, especially the Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry, the hon. Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney). When the hon. Gentleman gets used to standing at the Dispatch Box and facing questions, he may discover that he is there to answer them—unlike the response that he gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon).
Will the Minister confirm that the purpose of the proposed legislation is to increase the proportion of unionised firms in the United Kingdom from what it might otherwise have been, and to restore the influence of the trade union movement in our industrial and corporate affairs? I am sure that he would agree with that. It follows on Mr. Edmonds's advice to members of the Labour party when he said: Let us trust in the years ahead every time a Labour MP walks through the chamber of the House of Commons they remember the help they received from the GMB and so many other trade unions. The Minister speaks of partnership. Does he envisage a return to the so-called social partnership and the corporatist policies of yesterday, when a bigger trade union movement joined industry and Government in framing industrial and economic policies? I suspect that he personally agrees with that. Will that be added to the new social chapter with its proposals for works councils in every company with more than 50 employees? How does all that square with the Chancellor of the Exchequer's reference yesterday to flexible labour markets?

§ Mr. McCartney
First, when I stand at the Dispatch Box and answer for my Government, I know—unlike the right hon. and learned Gentleman—that the rest of the Government support me. Secondly, this Government are not looking to the past—unlike the right hon. and learned Gentleman, who is locked in the past. The Government are looking to the future. What can be wrong with the principle that someone joins a union and, in a secret ballot, seeks recognition? That is granted as part of a partnership in which we motivate the work force through 536 skills and investment in training so as to ensure that Britain becomes the number one economic driving force in Europe, whereas the right hon. and learned Gentleman tried to make it the sweatshop of Europe.