§ 76. Mr. Osborneasked the Minister of Labour, in view of the fact that 8,412,000 working days were lost in 1957 through strikes, most of them unofficial, and since this is the worst record since 1926, what fresh steps he proposes to take to reduce industrial friction and prevent this waste of productive efficiency.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodAlthough, as my hon. Friend says, most of the strikes occurring in 1957 were unofficial, three major official strikes, in engineering, shipbuilding and provincial buses, accounted for nearly 7 million of the working days lost and involved 900,000 of the 1,360,000 workers taking part in strikes in that year. While the total working days lost in the one year was so much increased by these three strikes, I do not think they point to any general deterioration in industrial relations.