THE CLOSED SHOP: NOP SURVEY (Hansard, 20 December 1989)

§ Lord McCarthy

asked Her Majesty's Government:

With regard to the survey carried out by NOP Market Research Ltd. and reported in the November edition of the Employment Gazette:

(i) what was the wording of all questions posed;
(ii) how the replies of respondents employed in different forms of pre-entry and post-entry closed shop break down in terms of absolute numbers and percentages by:

(iii) what questions form the basis of Table Two of the report on estimates of union density and degrees of recognition in the establishment of respondents;
(iv) what is the basis of comparisons made with "virtually identical" questions posed in the BSAS Survey of 1983, which are said to suggest that the estimates in that survey of union density and recognition are in need of revision; and
(v) which replies relate to claims that future employees recruited to fill the post of respondents would be compelled to obtain union membership before "being considered" for a job or "taking up" a job, broken down by method of dues collection, size of workplace, organisational type and industrial activity of employer;

and

With regard to the survey carried out by NOP Market Research Ltd. and reported in the November edition of the Employment Gazette:

(i) what calculations were involved in "grossing up" the results of the survey to produce estimates of the number of employees covered by various types of closed shop in the total labour force such as "hard-pre-entry", "soft pre-entry" and "post-entry" closed shops;
(ii) what are the "preliminary weighted results" from the 1989 BSAS survey which the Gazette report suggests as "broadly confirmatory" of the NOP survey;
(iii) whether they will provide details of the 1978 study of the closed shop which produced an estimate of 837,000 employees in post-entry closed shops and a forecast of an 330 "anticipated decline" in the extent of the practice;
(iv) which studies are said to suggest that management estimates of the closed shop are confined to areas where the practice is jointly agreed and employer estimates are more likely to be "exclusively pre-entry" in form; and
(v) what are the data supporting the report's conclusion that "nationalised industries have the highest incidence of closed shops, both pre-entry and post entry" including "hard" and "soft" forms of pre-entry, such as the estimated numbers and percentages involved by union membership, job classification and industry or public corporation concerned;

and

With regard to the survey carried out by NOP Market Research Ltd. and reported in the November edition of the Employment Gazette:

(i) how the incidence of various forms of closed shop, including "hard" and "soft" forms of pre-entry in the "energy and water supply" industries, supports the suggestion in the Gazette report that "almost three out of ten" employees in these industries work in pre-entry closed shops —that is, by union, job category, industry and/or trade;
(ii) what were the details of respondents' answers to questions concerning likely sanctions if respondents in various type of closed shop give up union membership —that is, by union, industry or trade, or job category; and
(iii) what were the details of respondents' answers concerning different methods of collecting union dues —for example, by union, industry or trade, or job classification, and how these data support the conclusion in the Gazette report that pre-entry closed shops contain a higher proportion of union members who do not pay for "check-off than union members in post-entry closed shops and open shops.