§ Mr. JAMESONasked the Minister of Labour if his attention has been drawn to the present strike of Edinburgh and Leith plumbers; whether this strike has been caused by a refusal of the master plumbers to adopt a scheme recommended by the Government for the resettlement in the industry of demobilised apprentices or by other causes; and, if caused by such refusal will he use the good offices of the Ministry to bring about a concession of good terms to ex-service apprentices and a consequent settlement of the strike?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAMy attention has been called to the present unfortunate dispute at Edinburgh. The scheme, referred to in my hon. Friend's question, to enable ex-service apprentices in the plumbing trade to complete their training, was prepared and agreed by the Joint Industrial Council for the building industry last year and aproved by my predecessor. The difficulty in the present case is due to the fact that the Edinburgh and Leith master-plumbers, whilst willing to adopt the scheme in other respects, are not prepared to give full effect to the retrospective provisions, which I understand are regarded by the Joint Industrial Council as an essential part of the scheme, and have been in general adopted elsewhere. The position taken up by the employers was disapproved by the operative plumbers, and accordingly the latter ceased work in the Edinburgh and Leith 875W districts on 5th April. I regret greatly that the position of ex-service apprentices should be the subject of a controversy of this kind, more especially after the agreement on the matter which was reached by the industry as a whole. My officers have been, and will continue, in close touch with the parties to the dispute, and I hope that a settlement will not long be delayed. I should add that a similar difficulty in another area was recently brought to an end by the adoption of the scheme.