§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide a full list of all organisations and operations known to be operating a closed shop; and if he will estimate the number of employees involved.
§ Mr. GummerI am afraid that it is not possible to give the information in the form requested. Recent research on the closed shop carried out for the Department of Employment by Professor John Gennard of Strathclyde university estimated that the number of employees working in closed shops in Great Britain fell from 5.2 million in 1979 to 4.5 million in mid 1982. In the course of his research Professor Gennard noted over 2,000 formal closed shop agreements, but these were not identified individually in his report.