§ Sir K. WOODasked the Minister of Labour whether, in connection with the provision of wagon building and locomotive work at Woolwich Arsenal, the Union of Wagon Builders caused a clause to be inserted in a contract at Horbury that discharged men were not to be taken back into employment unless the Government stopped building wagons at Woolwich; whether he can give particulars of 936W such contract, including the text of the clause before referred to; and whether he can also state the present position of the matter?
§ Sir R. HORNEI presume that the hon. Member refers to the agreement for the introduction of ex-Service men into the Railway Wagon and Repairing Industry. This agreement was the result of conferences arranged by my Department in consequence of a dispute at the works of Charles Roberts & Company, Ltd., Railway Wagon and Wheel Works, Horbury Junction, Wakefield. Employment of ex-soldiers by the firm led to a dispute which lasted from April to September, 1919. My Department intervened, and on the 18th September a conference was held of representatives of the railway companies, of the chief wagon building and wagon repairing firms, and of the unions concerned. Further conferences took place, in the course of which negotiations were entrusted by the other trade unions to the Amalgamated Society of Railway Vehicle Builders, Wheelwrights, Carpenters and Mechanics, as the trade union primarily concerned. Ultimately an agreement between this trade union on the one hand and the Wagon Builders' Association and the Wagon Repairing Association on the other was arrived at on the 17th December, 1919. This agreement set forth the conditions on which unskilled ex-service men should be eligible for admission as trainees into railway wagon building and repairing shops. Ex-service men up to the age of 23 years who had not acquired a skilled trade before joining His Majesty's Forces were to be admitted under the scheme, preference being given to younger men as far as possible. The period of training was to be for three years, and the agreement laid down the rates of pay and working conditions for the trainees. The Clause to which the hon. Member refers reads as follows
That we only agree to the above on condition that the Government cease to do our work at any of their Departments and give the work to our men who are ready to perform the same.This Clause is at variance with the views expressed by the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress at a deputation received by the Prime Minister on December 8th, 1919 (nine days before the date of the agreement), when 937W they urged that Government establishments, such as Woolwich, should be utilised for the production of railway wagons, &c. On the 24th December, 1919, and again on the 17th February, 1920, the attention of the Secretaries of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress was drawn to the inconsistency of the trade unions in this matter, and to the necessity of a reconsideration of this Clause in view of the great necessity for accelerating the repair and production of railway wagons. I understand that the Parliamentary Committee are in communication with the trade union concerned, but I have not been informed of the result of their intervention.