New pay deal for municipal busmen
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from our industrial correspondent
• A 5 per cent pay deal giving a '14s a week rise in basic rates for 77,000 municipal busmen and maintenance staff was agreed between unions and employers in London last Friday.
Some drivers of one-man buses will be paid 25 per cent rises as part of the pay and productivity package agreement. Men with seven years' service will get four weeks holiday a year and an increase in holiday bonus has been agreed for long service.
The deal, made between the municipal employers and the Transport and General Workers' Union, has still to be approved by Mrs. Castle's Ministry for Employment and Productivity. The Government may have strong misgivings on two grounds: 1. The busmen received their last increase of £1 a week over five months ago following a 12 months' freeze imposed by the Government and the Prices and Incomes Board.
2. The new rises are claimed to be justified chiefly in terms of "productivity" because the unions agreed to one-man operations, but employers felt that they had already "bought" this concession in the past.
if, however, the Government agree to regard the previous agreement as operating from its state of signature in 1967 they can argue that it is 17 months since the last rises were negotiated. This spreads the present 5 per cent over a longer period and brings them broadly within the 3÷ per cent annual pay ceiling imposed by the haulage policy.
It is also possible that the clauses on one-man-operation might be looked upon as "tidying up" the previous deal these give 20 per cent bonus on single-decker and 25 per cent on double-decker one-man buses.
Union leaders also claim that the present deal ends the penalty clause against unofficial strikers whereby a bonus of about £12 10s, paid twice a year could be withheld if busmen were involved in any unofficial action.
Mr. Alan Thomson, national bus secretary of the TGWU, said that the bonus would now be paid—and withheld—weekly. It would also be increased from an equivalent of 10s a week to 15s, but would not be given to busmen without a year's service, and overall costs of the scheme would not be affected.
With the inclusion of overtime, the new increases would be worth some 18s a week to most busmen, he said. But it was also agreed to allow local productivity bargaining on such issues as scheduling, standing passengers and signing on and off.
A delegate conference to ratify the agreement will be held once the Government's go ahead has been received. This will probably be at Transport House, Westminster.
Present basic rates are £13 8s 3d for conductors and £13 17s for drivers with average earnings between [23 15s and £24 per week, The holiday bonus is to be raised from £2 11 Is per week to E3 17s 3d for those with at least seven years' service.
• London's third "buses only" lane will come into operation in Brixton Road. Lambeth. on Monday. The two other bus lanes already in use are in Park Lane and on Vauxhall Bridge. The new lane will extend from north of Caldwell Street to a point between °they Road and Prima Road and will be reserved for northbound buses during the morning peak period 17 a.m. to 9.30 a.m.: Mondays to Fridays).