Company and London busmen reject pay offers
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A pay offer of 3+ per cent rises for 110,000 company busmen was turned down on Tuesday by the Transport and General Workers Union at a meeting of the National Council for the Omnibus Industry in London.
Further talks are to be held on the union's claim that company busmen should get the same rates as 77,000 drivers and conductors in the municipal services. This would mean, in general, a rise of 16s 2d a week.
The offer which TGWU negotiators rejected would have given drivers an extra 9s 3d on their weekly rate of £13 14s 10d and conductors a rise of about 9s a week.
About 60 per cent of the company busmen have now agreed in local level negotiations to the introduction of one-man buses. Their new claim is for a "substantial" pay rise and more holidays, affecting maintenance men as well as bus crews.
Mr. Alan Thomson, national bus secretary of the TGWU, said the employers' attention had been drawn to the widening gap between the pay of company and municipal busmen.
This was heightened by last month's deal which gave the municipal bus drivers a basic weekly wage of £14 11 s. Conductors get about 6s a week less in both cages.
Skilled maintenance men employed by the companies get £15 7s a week (basic) while those working for municipalities receive £16. The union also hopes to bring holidays for company workers into line with those of municipal busmen who now get three weeks after seven years' service.
An improved pay offer for 32,000 London Transport busmen was considered at a specially convened TGWU delegate conference in London on Wednesday. This followed lengthy talks between the union and London Transport.
The garage delegates have already rejected offers of 12s a week rises "without strings" and 17s a week in return for productivity concessions. They are demanding £1 a week without any further productivity.
The delegates voted last week to withdraw co-operation from further productivity measures, including the introduction of additional one-man buses, from tomorrow (Saturday) if no substantially improved offer was forthcoming.
They said they would also refuse to discuss improved schedules.
TGWU negotiators had recommended acceptance of the 12s a week increases; but they returned to press the claim for a full £1 rise at meetings with London Transport on Monday and Tuesday.
Mr. Thomson, leading the negotiations, warned that unless urgent action was taken to attract more staff, bus services in London could grind to a halt.