Trade Unions

Lord Morris of Handsworth Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2014 Grand Committee

[Lord Morris of Handsworth (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Monks. Unlike him, I welcome the tone of the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Balfe, to the debate. While I look forward to the Government’s response, it might help if I remind the Committee of one or two landmarks in the development of contemporary trade unionism.

I was proud to be a member of and then to lead a union whose general secretary in 1940 left his office in Transport House and walked into Downing Street to join the Churchill Government as the Minister of Labour. That general secretary was Ernest Bevin. So if we are talking about trade union contribution to the economy, we should pause here and pay tribute to the Bevin boys. I am pleased to say that it was a Labour Government under Prime Minister Brown that gave due recognition to the contribution that the Bevin boys made to the war effort. Ernest Bevin’s achievement on his return to Government in 1945 was a major contribution to the development of the United Nations as we know it today. But that was his political role. His industrial role as the then Foreign Secretary was to establish the International Labour Organization, based in Geneva. Lest we forget, as Foreign Secretary he was present when the State of Israel was born. As we speak, the Israeli trade union, Histadrut, remains a significant contributor to the development of that country.

It is to the trade unions’ contribution to our economy that the noble Lord’s question is directed. In my day, along with my noble friend Lord Monks and many others, we changed both the social and economic agenda of the workplace from politics to partnership. We developed an agenda for both social and economic change. We campaigned for partnership with employers and the wider community. We built an agenda for the workplace based on better health and safety, training and skills, investment in people, export and productivity. Together, we saw ourselves, certainly within the context of the TUC, as ambassadors for social change. Our agenda for social change was led by the pursuance of anti-discrimination laws, health and safety, employment protection, skills improvement and—above all—partnership at work.

The trade union agenda today is about investment. For example, I am proud of the contribution that workers make to the success of the Jaguar Land Rover partnership. I am proud of the contribution made by Bombardier, the train-building company in Derby—another great success. Frankly, anyone who asks the question about the trade union contribution really needs to look no further than at the partnerships that have developed. The days of industrial disputes are almost extinct within the context of day-to-day debate. Day in, day out, I know that management and unions sit down to discuss the issues and challenges of the day. These are productivity, training and skills, apprenticeships, investment and export opportunities. That is the modern, contemporary workplace agenda. What we need is support from government for that agenda. In today’s world, the company ambassadors include the trade unions. I spent more time in Japan seeking to persuade the Toyota motor company to come to Derby than any Cabinet Minister I know.

Yes, there are challenges ahead—zero-hour contracts, for example. I must ask the Government: what steps are being taken to give justice to the thousands of construction workers blacklisted by the Consulting Association? That is a must-have for social justice to be done. I feel a great sense of gratitude to have been supported by the trade union movement. Today, the trade union movement, with co-operation, is not the problem; it is very much part of the solution.