HC Deb 27 January 1972 vol 829 c503W
Mr. Peter Archer

asked the Secretary of State for Employment, on the basis of information available to him from international sources, which European countries, other than the United Kingdom, have statutory provision inhibiting the right to strike, other than in specified industries, and the right freely to negotiate wage rates.

Mr. Dudley Smith

In most European countries participation in a strike in some circumstances or in certain types of strike may render the striker liable to civil action for breach of agreement or contract. In Spain and Portugal there are statutory restrictions on the right of the individual workers to take any industrial action. In most European countries, as in the United Kingdom, there is no direct Government interference with the right of employers and unions to enter into collective agreements.