Trade Unions and Other Organisations of Workers

Part of Clause 57 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 February 1971.

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Photo of Mr Emlyn Hooson Mr Emlyn Hooson , Montgomeryshire 12:00, 10 February 1971

With respect to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Attercliffe (Mr. Duffy), I cannot see that anything implied in registration will, of itself, make a trade union a more pliable instrument of the State, or in any way more amenable to employers. I do not think that it will. That was a grossly exaggerated fear of his. The nub of this debate was revealed in a speech of the hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Atkinson). It struck me that his distinction between what he described as the shop steward movement and the trade union movement was absolutely at the heart of the matter. Far from finding his speech perplexing, as did an hon. Member opposite, I thought that he was dealing with exactly what registration is aimed at.

The mischief which the Bill is intended to meet is the mischief which we have been talking about for many years now, whether under a Labour or a Conservative Government—that is, that many more industrial disputes are caused by unofficial action than by official action. The aim and purpose of the Bill, whether it is right or wrong, is to make unofficial action more difficult and trade unions much more responsible for their shop stewards.

Hon. Members like the hon. Member for Tottenham and the hon. Member for Salford, West (Mr. Orme) have kept an absolutely consistent line on this matter. They were equally against the Labour Government in this matter as they are against this legislation. They see this as a direct threat to the movement in which they have been brought up, which is not only the trade union movement but the shop steward movement within it.

As I see the requirements for registration, they will strengthen the trade union movement, but at the expense of the shop steward movement. What the Committee should be addressing itself to is the question of whether this is desirable in itself—it has many advantages as well as disadvantages—and whether, if it is desirable, this is an efficacious way of doing it.

The hon. Member for Norwood (Mr. John Fraser) did not do justice to his Amendment, since he dealt with it rather superficially, compared with the hon. Member for Tottenham. He spoke of "legal claptrap". That is no way to treat Clauses which, after all, if the Bill is passed, will govern the relationship of the trade unions on registration until at least the Bill is changed—[An HON. MEMBER: "Repealed."]—or repealed—whatever happens to it.

Therefore, it is very important to look at the effect of these Clauses and this Amendment. It is entirely academic to discuss this matter on the basis that unions will not register. Of course they will. Whatever they say now, no legal adviser could advise them not to register, because it will be advantageous to register and disadvantageous not to register. What the registration requirement and all that follows from it will hit is the splinter group, the chance of developing new unions, the shop stewards on the shop floor doing things at a remote distance from union headquarters, and union headquarters will be able to bring pressure to bear on them because they are the registered trade union and have to "carry the can" for the shop stewards.

7.0 p.m.

Anybody who has to study trade union rules is interested to find how much they vary. The hon. Member for Salford, West described his own union rules. I have not examined them, but from his description they sounded like what could be a model for other unions. Some unions have vastly different rules from those.

One of the matters with which we are for ever concerned in the Bill are the rights of a man to join a union and the powers of a union to get rid of a man. There is one easy device which has been accepted and used by some unions. When a man whom they do not want particularly applies for membership—it may be a 100 per cent. union membership shop—the method sometimes employed is for the union to enrol him, not as a member, but as a temporary member. He is issued with a different coloured card. He is entitled to a job, but not to the rights of a full member.