§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the present industrial dispute in the West End tailoring trade; whether he is aware that numbers of employés, both men and women, who are content with their wages and the conditions of their employment and anxious to work are being prevented by large gangs of so-called peaceful picketers who are both using and threatening violence to those who wish to work and to the property of the employers; and what steps he has taken or intends to take to preserve the liberty of the individual to work if he wishes to, and to protect lives and property?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe matter has been receiving the attention of the police. It is impossible to give the number of strikers who have assembled in the streets for peaceful persuasion, but not more than fifty strikers in small groups have been362W seen in any one street, and an adequate number of police has always been present. Arrangements have been made for the protection of those anxious to work, and where there has been violence or disorder arrests have been made.
§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a speech of the secretary of the London Society of Tailors and Tailoresses, in which he said that if the present strike continues he would not be surprised to see sewing machines come hurtling through the window; and what steps, if any, he proposes to take to stop incitements to violence in connection with the present dispute?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe Commissioner of Police reports that nothing is known of the speech beyond what appears in the Press. There will be police present when there is reason to anticipate violence.
§ Mr. LESLIE SCOTTasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has caused inquiries to be made for the purpose of furnishing himself with detailed information as to the acts of violence which have already taken place, and of the numbers of strikers who have collected for the purpose of peaceful persuasion in the various streets which have been picketed in connection with the West End tailoring trade industrial dispute; and whether he can inform the House of the result of his inquiries?
§ Mr. McKENNAAs already stated, it is impossible for the police to give the numbers of persons collected for peaceful persuasion, but not more than fifty, in small groups, have been noticed in any one street. The Commissioner reports that when there has been disorder or violence arrests have been made.
§ Mr. GEORGE ROBERTSasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Tailoring Trade Board have passed a resolution to the effect that, providing it can be shown that an employer pays the minimum rate to 80 per cent, of his female workers on any piece rate, then it shall be considered that he is not liable to be prosecuted for not paying the minimum; and whether he proposes to sanction this proposal?
Mr. BUXTONI am informed by the chairman that the Tailoring Trade Board have under consideration the question of framing a working rule for their own 363W guidance in regard to the meaning to be attached to the term "ordinary worker" in Section 8 of the Trade Boards Act for the purpose of proceedings taken by them under the Act. I understand that the question of adopting a rule for this purpose, based on a percentage of workers employed, has been discussed by the Trade Board, but that no conclusion has, as yet, been arrived at. In the event of a resolution being passed by the Trade Board, as Suggested by my hon. Friend's question, it would, of course, have no binding effect in law, and it would not therefore need the sanction of the Board of Trade.