1089
Factory Night Work
15 DECEMBER 1969
Mr. Howell: I am not sure who is kicking it through which goal. Per- haps the match should be abandoned. However, I could not resist the tempta- tion to talk about it.
With the support of the local authority associations, hon. Gentlemen opposite believe in the general grant system and wish it to continue. That means that we negotiate general grants in this way and not specifically, and there is no escape from that situation, at any rate, before a major review of local govern- ment finance, which is bound to follow shortly after the publication of the Government's views on the recommenda- tions of the Royal Commission on the future of local government.
The charge of hypocrisy is thrown at us by the hon. Member for Hove. In fact, whatever one may think of the system, it is a product of the previous Administration. There is a great deal of increased productivity among local authorities, and we should have more. In this Session, the Government have produced a Bill which will enable economies to be found in various direc- tions, such as bulk buying, so that local authorities can do a great deal
It being one and a half hours after the commencement of Proceedings on the Motion, Mr. DEPUTY SPEAKER put the Question, pursuant to Standing Order No. 2 (Exempted business).
Question agreed to.
Resolved,
That the Rate Support Grant (Increase) Order 1969, dated 21st November, 1969, a copy of which was laid before this House on 26th November, be approved.
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
Cumberland County Council Act 1964 (Extension of Operation) Order 1969 [copy laid before the House, 14th November], approved.—[Mr. Denis Howell.]
ACQUISITION OF LAND
West Riding County Council (General Powers) Act 1964 (Extension of Opera- tion) Order 1969 [copy laid before the House, 14th November], approved. [Mr. Denis Howell.]
8 H 16
(Women)
FACTORY NIGHT WORK (WOMEN)
1090
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Armstrong.]
11.44 p.m.
Mr. Maurice Edelman (Coventry, North): I welcome the opportunity to- night of raising the general question of women employed on night work; in par- ticular, the illustration of the practice of women being employed on night work at Shuresta, Ltd., of Exhall, which has been allowed by exemption of the De- partment of Employment and Produc- tivity to employ women in this way.
I raise this question because many of my constituents are employed at this fac- tory. Indeed, I am raising the matter at the special request of the district secretary of the A.E.F. and of other trade unionists in the City of Coventry who have been greatly exercised by the fact that Shuresta, Ltd., has made, with the consent apparently of the Department, what seems to them to be a dangerous breach of the principle by which women are not employed on night work. This principle was established by the I.L.O. Convention, to which Britain does not yet subscribe; but it also derives from various Acts.
The Employment of Women, Young Persons, and Children Act, 1920, first prohibited the employment of women at night. That Act was supplemented by the Factories Act, 1961, which was the basis of our present legislation, and was designed to protect women, among others, from the gross exploitation which so many of them had had to endure during the Industrial Revolution.
These laws, broadly speaking, are in line with the legislation of some of the most advanced industrial and democratic- ally progressive countries in Western Europe. Scandinavia, Norway and Sweden have banned night work for women. The E.E.C. countries have also
banned night work for women. It is, indeed, only the fact that we permit the possibility of exemptions for women on night work which prevents us from sub- scribing to the I.L.O. Convention.
It is significant that in 1967 there were 3,000 exemptions given for women to engage in night work. This year the
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