New Moves in Five-day-week Markets
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FROM OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT
THERE were two new moves last week 1 in the fight for a five-day week at London's fruit and vegetable markets,. which was first reported in The Commercial Motor on March 20. The first was the signing of a conditional fiveday week agreement by he Covent Garden Market Tenants' Association and the Transport and General Workers' Union. The second was a visit by officials from London's five other markets to the Ministry of Agriculture.
First, the Covent Garden agreement. This conceded in principle the union's claim for a shorter working week. But it also laid down that Covent Garden would not close down on Saturdays while any of the other London fruit and vegetable markets remained open. It is this condition which was partly responsible for the second move, the call at the Ministry of employers' representatives from Borough, Brentford, King's Cross, Spitalfields and Stratford markets. They claimed that between them they handled considerably more fresh fruit and vegetables than Covent Garden. They also stressed that whereas Covent Garden dealt mainly with foreign supplies and was, therefore,, in a much better position to close on Saturdays, their supplies consisted in the main of home-produced goods, destined for the London area.
They claimed that the Covent Garden agreement undermined their own position, which was one of total opposition to Saturday closing.