§ Q12. Mr. Beithasked the Prime Minister, pursuant to her reply to the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed on 9 April, if she will set out how the law under the present Government is different from the law when the case of the three dismissed British Railways employees arose; and if she is satisfied with the protection afforded by the current law to such individuals.
§ The Prime MinisterUnder the last Government's legislation the only employees with a remedy for being unfairly dismissed for not being a member of a union were those who objected to union membership on grounds of religious belief.
The Employment Act 1980 has greatly increased the protection against unfair dismissal for individual employees who do not want to join a union. The new protected categories are: 2W
(a) any employee who was on the payroll when the closed shop was brought into operation and was not a member of a specified union then and has not been one since;(b) any employee who genuinely objects on grounds of conscience or other deeply held personal conviction to being a member of any or a particular trade union;(c) any employee working under a closed shop agreement effected on or after 15 August 1980—the day on which the closed shop provisions of the Act came into operation—which was not approved in a secret ballot by at least 80 per cent. of the employees covered by it.Had it been in effect, the Employment Act would therefore have provided a legal remedy for the sacked British Rail employees. As employees on the payroll when the British Rail closed shop came into effect, they would have been able to appeal against their dismissal to an industrial tribunal, which could have ordered their reinstatement and awarded compensation.
The question whether there should be further changes in the law relating to the closed shop is discussed in the Government's Green Paper on trade union immunities. I hope that all of those who have views on the subject will put them to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment.