§ 95. Mr. W. Shepherdasked the Minister of Fuel and Power how much money, in the form of wages, has been paid to Polish and other nationals who have been trained and who are ready for work in the mines but whose employment has been objected to by the trades unions concerned.
§ Mr. GaitskellAs my right hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service has explained on a number of occasions in this House, local trade union objections resulted in placing delays in a proportion of cases during the early stages of the campaign to recruit Polish workers to the mines. In the majority of such cases the delay involved was less than a week. The amount of wages paid in these cases in respect of the period between completion of training and placing in colliery employment could not be ascertained without a disproportionate amount of work which I do not propose to ask the National Coal Board to undertake. I am informed by the National Coal Board, however, that no Pole or other foreign national who has completed training and is ready for work in coalmining is now unemployed as a result of objection by the trade union concerned.