§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will specify the periods during which there has been a statutory remedy of compensation for individuals claiming they have been unfairly dismissed because of the operation of a closed shop.
§ Mr. WaddingtonBefore the Conservative Government's Industrial Relations Act 1971 the concept of unfair dismissal did not exist in English law. The 1971 Act gave employees a right to belong to a trade union and a general right not to belong, and it provided a statutory remedy if either right was infringed. The 1974, and more particularly, the 1976 Trade Union and Labour Relations Acts removed the right not to belong to a trade union and, for the first and only time in our history, specifically declared it fair to dismiss an employee for non-membership of a trade union in a closed shop, save only in certain narrowly defined circumstances. The 1980 and 1982 Acts have restored an effective remedy for individuals unfairly dismissed because of the operation of a closed shop.