Industrial Relations Bill

HC Deb 29 April 1971 vol 816 cc168-9W

36. Mr. Mawby

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the Clauses in the Industrial Relations Bill which provide that a worker who calls a strike because of intolerable working conditions, for which his employers are responsible, will be liable to a heavy fine.

Mr. R. Carr

There are no such Clauses.

40. Mr. Tom King

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the provisions of the Industrial Relations Bill which will provide redress for a union member in circumstances where workers are disciplined by their trade union for failing to comply with a strike ordered by their union.

Mr. Dudley Smith

Clause 63(7) of the Bill provides that a union may not take disciplinary action which is unfair or unreasonable and which in particular arises from a member's failure to participate in an unfair industrial practice. A complaint alleging a breach of this provision may be made to the Registrar or to an Industrial Tribunal under Clauses 79 and 103. It is the Government's intention to move in another place an Amendment to apply similar provisions to other unlawful strikes, like political strikes, that are not in furtherance of an industrial dispute.