Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 4 Rhagfyr 1973.
There are many good reasons why we should reject this motion, not least because it is Early Day Motion No. 49, pre-Christmas wrapped in transparently clear polythene. Many of my learned Friends have mentioned this and no doubt the Attorney-General will have more to say. I say no more about it. It is the real reason for the choice of this debate. I want to address my remarks to the Act. Despite what the right hon. Member for Jarrow (Mr. Fernyhough) said, there is no doubt that this Act has worked in a number of ways.
First, there are a few thousand good reasons for its success, personified in people who have appeared before industrial tribunals and had their cases fairly tried and in some instances have been compensated by their employers for unfair dismissal.
Many unions have gained recognition under the Act. Many more employers have put their houses in order as a result of the Act, or possibly more particularly because of the working of the Code of Practice. This has been a measure of what they should be doing. It was based on good industrial relations practice which has happened and still happens, thank God, in so many industries, companies and factories. But those who were not practising what the code suggested have set their minds to it and have gradually given more attention to industrial relations. The code, as an appendix to the Act, has therefore also been successful.
Some unions have used the Act to very good effect, through the back door, perhaps, using individual members to fight the case of the unions. This will continue to happen because those unions have realised the benefits of the Act, but because they do not wish to go against TUC policy, they have had to find ways around the provisions in order to get the benefits that the Act allows them. One of the original criticisms of the Act was that trade union membership would suffer. But if the agency shop provisions have worked there can be no doubt that union membership must benefit. Those provisions are there to be used.
It would be equally right to admit that the Act has not worked as well as the Government expected. It would be fair to argue that they expected opposition in the early days but expected that good sense would prevail. Unfortunately, this has not happened. The reason that it has not worked as well as one might have hoped is that it has become an enormous political football, the hide of which has been nearly kicked off.
My hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mr. David Mitchell) admitted that the number of days lost through strikes increased sharply in 1971 and 1972, but drew attention to the fact that this was largely the result of strikes for political reasons. That is what one means by a political football. Legislation of this sort and the whole area of industrial relations are too vital, too important, to be debated in a prejudiced political atmosphere such as prevails today.
In the light of experience—those who were on the Front Bench at the time would be the first to admit that experience was bound to influence some points of detail in the Act—and in the light of opposition by some sectors of organised labour, there must be amendments. To list a few, there must be definite amendments to the registration provisions, to the emergency powers of the Secretary of State. It is wrong to require the Secretary of State to make out a case to the court, because, in emergency situations, politics is the most important criterion. The Secretary of State should be given powers to act without reference. The reason for this provision was to give legal backing to such acts, but that was probably wrong.
I should certainly want to add to the Act proposals on employee participation. They exist to a limited extent in the code, in the recommendations about consultative committees, but probably the code is not the vehicle for a further move down this road. It is an enormous subject, and I hope that in due course we shall have a chance to debate it.